Drew Gilmer, a two-time state champion high school coach in Alabama hired last January atop the nationally renowned Hoover High School (Alabama) program, has been placed on administrative leave before he's coached his first game for the Bucs.
On Tuesday, Hoover City Schools announced that Gilmer and defensive coordinator Adam Helms, who worked previously with Gilmer at Clay-Chalkville High School where they won two Alabama state titles together, were being placed on indefinite administrative leave.
"The safety and well-being of our students and staff are our top priorities," Hoover City Schools Superintendent Dr. Kevin Maddox said in the system release. "We are taking this matter seriously and working diligently to resolve it promptly and fairly."
Hoover City Schools, which emphasized the suspensions were "made to ensure a thorough and impartial review of recent developments," also vowed in their release to keep parents apprised of the investigation and "informed of any significant developments as the investigation progresses."
FootballScoop directly received two video clips from a Hoover practice late Tuesday afternoon, one clip which appears to show a Hoover coach briskly shove a player to the turf onto his backside:
This is gross. https://t.co/XUVVdFqF3J
— Matt Freeman (@mattfreeman05_) August 6, 2024
This video clip @FootballScoop received is brief but hardly a good look as prep powerhouse Hoover investigates its new HC & DC: https://t.co/uCgS1y1vW9 https://t.co/pRqk8h4Tcd pic.twitter.com/b7ePy07nwo
— John Brice (@JohnDBrice1) August 6, 2024
Ryan Brown, a multimedia journalist in Birmingham, of which Hoover is a suburb on the city's south side, shared a somewhat-startling video on social media from a recent Hoover Bucs practice"
This video is from a practice on the Hoover field. I am not saying any coach involved is one of the two coaches placed on leave. It is a quick video, you’ll see an adult/coach rip off a players helmet and throw it while another adult/coach does something odd to the players head.… pic.twitter.com/fRlAFLhFLR
— Ryan Brown (@RyanBrownLive) August 6, 2024
The Bucs are just 20 days away from their scheduled season opener, which sees them set to travel to Florida to face Western High School in the Broward County Football Showcase.
The Hoover program has been nationally recognized most of this century and was the much-discussed focal point of a reality TV series that aired years ago on MTV and featured notable players and coaches, one of whom was eventual Alabama defensive coordinator and fired former Tennessee head coach Jeremy Pruitt.