UPDATE -- Thursday, 12:30 p.m.: John Jay High School football coach Mack Breed has recanted an earlier statement saying that he ordered two players, Victor Rojas and Miguel Moreno, to tackle a referee during a game earlier this month, according to Kens5.com, a Gannett subsidiary. Breed has also resigned, ESPN's John Barr reports.
In a new statement, Breed writes that he "never told these players to hurt or injure anyone in that football game."
Breed went on to claim that during the bus ride home after the Sept. 4 game between John Jay High School and Marble Falls, he decided to commit to a false statement to protect Rojas and Moreno.
"I did that hoping the kids would still be able to play and not get expelled from school," Breed wrote. "Now that I have seen the video and see how they hit the referee, I can no longer take the blame for the incident," he continued.
The original story can be found below.
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An assistant coach for the two Texas high school football players who violently tackled a referee in a Sept. 4 game has admitted he ordered his players to make the hits.
Mack Breed, a football coach at John Jay High School in San Antonio, Texas, is said to have "directed the students to make the referee pay for his racial comments and calls," according to a signed statement written by John Jay High School principal Robert Harris. Breed was placed on administrative leave on Sept. 9.
"I later met with Coach Breed at John Jay High School ... in my office in the presence of Coach Gutierrez ... He wanted to take full responsibility for his actions. Mr. Breed at one point during our conversation stated that he should have handled the referee himself," Harris also wrote.
Harris' statement confirms claims made by the two players, sophomore Victor Rojas and senior Michael Moreno, who said they simply followed Breed's orders.
The suspended students appeared on ABC's "Good Morning America" last Thursday, where they placed the blame for the incident on Breed. But they also affirmed previous allegations that the referee in question, Robert Watts, directed racist language at black and Hispanic players on the field.
According to a source on the sidelines at the infamous game between John Jay and Marble Falls High School in Marble Falls, Texas, as well as four additional John Jay players, Watts used the N-word twice, once before the hit and again after it, and also directed racist language at a Hispanic player, according to ESPN. Watts continues to deny the use of any racist words.
Rojas, 15, and Moreno, 17, have been assigned to an alternative school and are barred from watching John Jay games, according to ESPN. They will attend disciplinary hearings on Wednesday.
While Breed hasn't publicly spoken about what he told his players, he's expected to attend a hearing of the University Interscholastic League on Thursday in Round Rock, Texas. There, the governing body of Texas high school athletics will decide on sanctions for Breed and John Jay's football program.
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