Nate Hooks fired as MCC head football coach
Head football coach Nate Hooks was fired by Melbourne Central Catholic on Tuesday after one season.
Hooks said he was told he violated the terms of his FHSAA coaching suspension by attending a boys basketball game on Nov. 29.
MCC completed a 9-3 season on Nov. 24 in the FHSAA Class 1S regional final round with a loss to eventual state runner-up Trinity Catholic of Ocala. It was the program's best season in seven years and came after the Hustlers won two games in 2022, the year before his arrival.
Hooks attended a Hustlers boys basketball game five days later in the school's gymnasium against Synergy Magnet of Fort Pierce. He said he saw and acknowledged athletic director Johnmichael Thistle but was not told until a month later that attending a basketball game was a violation of the FHSAA ruling.
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Hooks was suspended from coaching at games in early October after an FHSAA investigation involving a claim of improper contact with players. He was originally suspended for 12 games, but that was reduced following an appeal by the school. The eventual suspension was for the rest of the 2023 season, which came to six games.
Hooks said Thistle informed him on Jan. 8 that he was not allowed to attend any FHSAA competition until the completion of the full football season, meaning until after the state championship games for all teams concluded in Tallahassee on Dec. 9. Hook asserted that, in that meeting with Thistle, he asked why the athletic director hadn't told him at the Nov. 29 game that he should leave the gym and that Thistle told him that wasn't his responsibility.
"I would have sprinted out of the gym like Usain Bolt," Hooks said. "I would have done that in a heartbeat."
Attorney Jonathan Templeton said Hooks "received no documentation" from the FHSAA or MCC regarding the suspension other than a transcript from an FHSAA meeting the coach attended.
"The only thing he received was a copy of the transcript of the appeals hearing," Templeton said. "He vehemently denies any wrongdoing in the original allegation of improper recruiting. In fact, there was no investigation that took place. The father of the individual (player) in question was not called to determine whether or not there was a rules infraction."
During the head coach's suspension, Hustlers assistant Knox Robinson handled sideline coaching duties at games, though Hooks still was allowed to run team activities during the week.
Thistle said the school has begun its search to fill the coaching and teaching jobs.
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Under Hooks, the Hustlers had their best season since 2016, when the team won 11 games and reached the FHSAA Class 3A state semifinal round. His top player, receiver DayDay Farmer, signed in December to play for West Virginia.
Hooks was announced as MCC head football coach on Jan. 3. He previously spent eight seasons as the head coach for the Hustlers' arch rival, Holy Trinity. During the one season between the two head coaching jobs, he was on the coaching staff at his alma mater, Cocoa, during its 2022 state championship run.
He was let go by Holy Trinity in June of 2022 when school officials told him that there were, in Hooks' words, "parents that complained about development of players."
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Nate Hooks fired as Melbourne Central Catholic head football coach
