UPDATE: An earlier version of this post incorrectly reported that Luther Campbell had been denied his certification to coach high school football; in a telephone conversation with Uncle Luke, we misunderstood the result of the state's appeal. He will in fact be allowed to coach. Hooray! We do apologize for the confusion. The corrected post follows:
Uncle Luke has been cleared to coach high school football in Miami-Dade County Public Schools. The former 2 Live Crew frontman and current Miami New Times columnist won his final round with state officials who were blocking him from being the defensive coordinator for the varsity football team at Miami Northwestern Senior High this upcoming school year. Siding with a recommendation from state Judge Robert Meale that Campbell be allowed to continue coaching, the Florida Education Practices Commission today gave him his coaching certificate for the second time this year.
The Florida Department of Education had moved to stop Campbell from coaching because he allegedly "lacks the required good moral character" to coach student-athletes. "That's it," Campbell said shortly after his hearing this morning. "There are no more appeals."
Campbell's battle to keep coaching drew national headlines. In June, Sports Illustrated ran a piece favorable to his plight. He also appeared on CNN with Soledad O'Brien and the SI article's author Andy Staples to plead his case.
After all, with all the problems with the FCAT, it seemed silly that the state education department was hellbent on stopping Campbell from mentoring young football players, something he's been doing with inner city boys from Liberty City for more than 25 years via his Pop Warner football club. Initially, state education bureaucrats believed the man behind Me So Horny and other raunchy songs during the 1980s and 1990s shouldn't be influencing high schoolers who were not even born when he made his raunchy brand of hip-hop.
This year is Campbell's fourth season as a high school assistant coach.He spent his first two years at Miami Central Senior High, including the team's 2010 state championship season, before transferring to Northwestern last year.
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