ORLANDO, Fla. — Here’s hoping all of the vocal Teddy Bridgewater supporters both locally and nationally are right about the former NFL quarterback who has been suspended as the football coach at Miami Northwestern High School for apparently providing impermissible benefits — Uber rides, meals, etc. — to prep players in South Florida.
Bridgewater, who played at Northwestern High and won the state championship in his first year at his alma mater last season, has been vociferously backed by NFL players, ESPN personalities and one of the best sports columnists in the country — South Florida Sun Sentinel scribe Dave Hyde. He wrote earlier this week that Teddy Bridgewater should not be suspended, his compassion should be supported.
Again, I hope Hyde and everybody else is right, and the cynics like me are wrong when we suspiciously wonder why? Why, if there is not more to this story than meets the eye, why would Northwestern cast aside a famous alumnus, a beloved figure in South Florida and a state championship-winning coach such as Bridgewater?
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As a columnist who blasted The First Academy — an Orlando private-school powerhouse that was hammered last season by the Florida High School Activities Association for brazenly recruiting players and enticing them to transfer from other schools — I’m reserving judgment. I don’t want to believe it, but let’s see if this Bridgewater/Miami Northwestern story turns into a public school version of TFA.
Let’s not forget, the TFA scandal also had allegations of Uber rides and free meals being given to football players. On the surface, providing meals and transportation to some of your needy players — even though it’s explicitly against the rules — seems more heartfelt than devious. However, the problem with TFA is that they were providing these perks for players who were transferring from places like Leesburg, 40 miles away.
TFA shoddily flaunted the rules by filling its roster with more than 30 transfers before being found guilty by the FHSAA in November, getting fined $36,000, forfeiting eight wins and receiving a two-year postseason ban. The most egregious violation against TFA was that nearly a dozen players still enrolled in other schools took part in TFA’s preseason football activities last summer.
Bridgewater admitted in a lengthy social media post that he spent tons of money on his team in 2024, including about $700 a week on Uber rides, meals and $14,000 for a four-night preseason training camp.
Before we portray Bridgewater as some sort of hero, shouldn’t we let the FHSAA conduct an investigation and find out if those free Uber rides, meals and that preseason training camp were simply acts of generosity toward his own players — and not inducements to lure potential recruits enrolled at other schools?
Let’s be honest: It’s not exactly like Northwestern has a pristine image. It’s not like Northwestern doesn’t attract some of the most talented transfers in the state. It’s not like Northwestern hasn’t been accused of transgressions in the past. And when it comes to illicit recruiting, we all know that there’s a fine line between compassion and compulsion.
The First Academy was portrayed as a compulsive cheater
Bridgewater is being portrayed as a compassionate martyr.
In sports, the rules should apply to everyone — whether it be a Christian-based private school in Orlando or a beloved NFL quarterback coaching a public-school juggernaut in South Florida.
