Michigan high school football: Belleville under investigation for violation

The Michigan High School Athletic Association has opened an investigation into the football program at No. 1-ranked Belleville, the defending Division 1 state champion, the Free Press has learned.

At the center of the investigation is head coach Jermain Crowell and his alleged involvement with possible multiple undue influence violations.

The investigation was confirmed by Michigan High School Athletic Association executive director Mark Uyl.

“We are still waiting for Belleville’s response,” he said.  “But I can tell you that we are following our due process procedures and the review is ongoing.”

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The potential violations were exposed last week in a Free Press story on Detroit King senior wide receiver/defensive back Jameel Croft Jr.

Crowell categorically denied any wrongdoing while Belleville athletic director Joe Brodie said he is also investigating the allegations.

In the story, King coach Tyrone Spencer told the Free Press that he thought the youngster was going to enroll at Belleville as a freshman. “He actually didn’t go here,” Spencer said. “He actually, part of the summer, he was at Belleville and we weren’t going to get him.”

When asked what happened, Croft said Belleville made overtures to him and he initially was going to play there, beginning with summer activities.

“I was just practicing with them a little bit, had a couple of seven-on-sevens, stuff like that,” Croft told the Free Press. “They had reached out first. Their head coach was picking me up and stuff for practice. They were just the first ones to reach out.”

Making initial contact with Croft is violation of the undue influence rule. Providing transportation to a practice or a seven-on-seven event is an even more serious violation.

Crowell insinuated that the reporter repeatedly asked the youngster about the situation.

“When they talked to me, they said something like the reporter that was interviewing asked him several different times in several different ways how did he get picked up and who was doing it,” Crowell said. “In any case, it’s not true and what they said they didn’t give you that information.”

“I never picked him up.”

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For the record, after telling the reporter about being picked up by Crowell, the only follow-up question asked was to confirm it was indeed the head coach, which Croft did.

Croft said he eventually decided to attend King instead of Belleville because he knew fellow incoming freshman quarterback Dante Moore would be attending King. Moore is one of the top quarterbacks in the country and will soon sign a letter of intent with Oregon.

Brodie said he has been in contact with the MHSAA and received a copy of the Free Press story with the section of alleged infractions highlighted.

“I’m just asking people questions,” Brodie said. “I asked Jermain first, obviously. I asked him and he was like: ‘Absolutely not.’ All right, well, that was pretty specific. I asked why would the kid say that and he said: ‘I have no idea.’

“I showed it to my superintendent and my HR director. There was a discussion on that.”

This is Crowell’s eighth season at Belleville; he has an 81-10 record. Before that, he was the long-time defensive coordinator at powerhouse Detroit Cass Tech.

Belleville was a struggling program before Crowell’s arrival. The Tigers have made the state playoffs in each of his eight seasons and are currently riding a 20-game winning streak.

But coaches throughout the metropolitan Detroit area wonder how Crowell, without the use of undue influence, could have attracted so many talented players to Belleville, a school-of-choice district.

Over the years Crowell has maintained he doesn’t have to recruit because players and their parents want to come to Belleville because so many of his players wind up with college scholarships.

More than anything, Crowell said he is concerned with the timing of the story, as if it was planned to serve as a distraction. The state playoffs begin Friday.

“But the problem is just like the timing,” Crowell lamented. “Like, come on, man, I’m not thinking about this right now. No, no, I didn’t do it, but now you you’ve got me thinking, like, damn, what the hell?  Naw, I didn’t.

“I know people don’t think that we can’t lose. I know people don’t be thinking that, but I sure be thinking that.”

Brodie hopes to have his work completed quickly so the MHSAA can conclude its inquiry.

“I’m going to look into it, figure it out and give our response to the MHSAA and we’ll do whatever they say,” Brodie said. “It is what it is.”

Mick McCabe is a former longtime columnist for the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at mick.mccabe11@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @mickmccabe1.

Order his book, “Mick McCabe’s Golden Yearbook: 50 Great Years of Michigan’s Best High School Players, Teams & Memories,” now at McCabe.PictorialBook.com

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan high school football: Belleville investigated for violations