For decades, former 2 Live Crew frontman and current Miami New Times columnist Luther Campbell has been imparting his life wisdom on scores of young African American boys playing little league football in Liberty City. For the past three years, he's been a volunteer coach at Miami Central and Miami Northwestern senior high schools too.
But a bunch of fuddy duddies in Florida's Department of Education want to stop Campbell from being on the sidelines. Campbell won a victory in court yesterday but could still lose his fight to keep coaching.
Yesterday, state administrative law judge Robert Meale recommended Campbell should be allowed to coach football in Florida schools, the Associated Press reports. However, Education Commissioner Gerard Robinson could still reject Meale's recommendation. The state has refused to certify the 51-year-old ex-rap music producer even though he has been approved by Miami-Dade County Public Schools to coach.
Apparently, state education officials have a problem with Campbell's first amendment right to produce and perform raunchy lyrics. They cited his racy rap songs as one reason to deny him, as well as a string of arrests more than 20 years old and a performance in South Carolina with two women who removed their clothing.
Meale noted that most of the criminal charges against Campbell were dropped, except for a pair of misdemeanor gun charges from 25 years ago. The judge also noted that Campbell has been coaching kids without incident for years.
In 2010, Campbell helped coach defensive players on Miami Central's team that won the state title. Last year, he switched over to Miami Northwestern, where he is defensive coordinator.
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