More than a year since descending into a deep depression, Dee Brown is on the rebound.
A Lake Brantley graduate and former NFL running back, Brown said he hit rock bottom last September after losing his job as head football coach at West Orange High School.
That’s when, in a span of seven days, Orange County Public Schools placed him on “relief of duty” with pay for allowing “unauthorized individuals to act as assistant coaches” and then fired him for failing to report a subsequent arrest for possession of an unlicensed firearm.
“I felt my entire world crumble,” said Brown, 42, during one of several interviews with the Orlando Sentinel.
“I had never been in that place mentally. I’ve read about it, but I never thought I’d be in that place. Maybe five years ago it would’ve been hard for me to admit,” he said. “I just wasn’t in a mental place strong enough to talk about it and share what had transpired, but I understand the importance of being able to accept that it was a painful bout of depression. It was debilitating.”
Brown said sleep deprivation, weight loss and anxiety worsened in the months following his separation from West Orange. He described it as “despair, confusion, hurt and emptiness.”
Once the gun issue was resolved, those feelings were replaced with hope of one day coaching again in Florida. Brown, who continues to train youth quarterbacks while pursuing a master’s degree, said he’s had offers to coach at “three or four school districts.”
Perhaps most therapeutic for him in recent months has been shining a light on mental health issues in sports as co-host of the Blow The Whistle Podcast.
Recent guests on the show include former pro football players DeShaun Foster, David Tyree and Ike Taylor, who played defensive back for Pittsburgh Steelers. Taylor also was on Brown’s staff at West Orange.
“I’m going to continue to walk in my calling and use my background and education and this game of football to help young men,” Brown said.
To move forward, Brown had to come to terms with all that went wrong during his short and truculent tenure at West Orange, which ended amid bizarre circumstances.
In February, five months after his firing, he decided to begin telling his side of the story.
What went wrong
Brown looked forward to being inducted into Lake Brantley’s athletics hall of fame last October during a bye week in West Orange’s schedule. Among the Class of 2019 was the late Fred Almon, Brown’s football coach in the early 1990s.
That honor was soon rescinded.
Brown learned of his West Orange suspension via conference call before he was escorted from school grounds on Sept. 11.
“That was the hardest thing in the world to do, to have to go in [my classroom] and grab my bag and be escorted out while my kids are looking at me — and I can’t say anything to them,” he said.
Brown sulked poolside two days later at his Longwood home while hearing the Lake Brantley marching band play in the distance. His family recommended he leave town for the weekend to clear his mind. That was his plan.
Brown was taken into custody at 4:10 a.m. at Orlando International Airport, according to an arrest affidavit. An unlicensed handgun and magazine clip were discovered in a carry-on bag during the screening process.
“I grabbed the wrong bag, and when I got there, I put it through the X-ray machine,” Brown said. “I distinctly remember being at peace and thinking that I can’t wait to get on the plane so I can get some rest. Never even thought about the gun being inside the bag.”
Despite not having a concealed weapons permit in Florida, Brown said the case was dismissed “without even a file being created and no court appearance.” The Sentinel confirmed that June 29 via background check through the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
Brown was terminated from his position at West Orange four days after the gun incident for failing to disclose the arrest within 48 hours, as mandated by OCPS.
But his separation from the school had been months in the making.
Brown, who played college football for Syracuse and was selected by the Carolina Panthers in the sixth round of the 2001 NFL Draft, added former college and pro players to his staff after taking the West Orange head coaching position in April 2019.
A standoff ensued almost immediately with the school district and, eventually, with West Orange administrators when Brown sought answers to why three assistants were not approved to coach.
OCPS records show former West Orange athletic director Jerry Shafer and former principal Bill Floyd made repeated attempts to get Ike Taylor cleared by the district. Former Jets cornerback Kyle Wilson was deemed ineligible for hire on April 22. The school didn’t realized until Aug. 1 that another assistant, former University of Florida and NFL wide receiver Louis Murphy, had yet to submit paperwork. None of the assistant coaches were ever approved for employment.
Even so, those coaches took part in team activities, including a preseason community gathering with administrators and parents the morning of Aug. 6.
“They knew these guys were around the program,” Brown said. “Anyone who knows the chain of command could never say that a [high school] coach has all the control. I felt like I became the scapegoat for some mishandlings of others.”
OCPS said in an email it “does not comment on personnel matters” when asked what prevented those coaches from being cleared. The school district requires background checks for coaches that go beyond the district’s ADDitions volunteer program, which permits adults to chaperone students on field trips, among other things.
The coaches continued to work with West Orange players, even after the spotlight grew brighter Aug. 26 when a player’s dad sent an email to Floyd and assistant principal Kim Santana alleging one of the assistant coaches was involved with his wife.
The same father blew the whistle when a player workout took place during hurricane shutdown at a local fitness center. The workout was facilitated by the mom of another player and advertised as “voluntary” for the team.
“My fault is that I did not look and comb through every detail as I was transitioning from North Carolina back to Florida, and I should have,” Brown said. “The narrative that I was going against the grain in a rebellious manner is profoundly false.”
Brown reached out to school administrators during the first week of September and asked for “an administrative investigation” into allegations against him and his staff. They crafted an agreement Brown signed that reaffirmed no coaches who had not been cleared would be working with the team.
But things got more complicated Sept. 9 when West Orange was less than two hours from taking the field for a hurricane make-up game. Brown did not know it yet, but three other assistant coaches, who had already been with the program when he took the job, were told by the athletic director not to show for the game due to their uncertain OCPS status. That left Brown with only four coaches.
“The fact that these other coaches, who were presumed to be legit, didn’t call me and were told privately not to come, there was something fishy about that,” he said. “It was tough not getting a chance to prepare for that.”
Brown turned to Taylor and Murphy, who were at the game as spectators, and asked for help “one last time.” Taylor called defensive plays over a headset from the parking lot. Murphy coached from the press box. They showed up again the next day for a practice that took place behind locked gates, according to OCPS reports.
“Looking back on it, I wish I would’ve done something different,” Brown said. “In my mind, I was thinking I’ve got to [put on] the best face I can on that stage.”
Three games into the season, that was Brown’s final week as West Orange football coach.
Best intentions
Brown was intrigued by the thought of coaching on a bigger stage when contacted about the West Orange vacancy in early 2019. He was four years removed from winning two independent state titles in four years at Victory Christian of Charlotte, N.C.
Once hired, Brown said he quickly realized he stepped into a situation where the kids needed “a lot of love and attention” on and off the field.
“I used to tell the kids, ‘I know why I’m here. It’s for more than football. I’m going to show you guys and be a living model of how you fight and walk through a storm’,” Brown said.
Coaches acted as a support system that summer for players who were dealing with the murder of a 16-year-old teammate and the theft of equipment.
A study hall was implemented at the start of the school year as eligibility issues hampered some players, including the team’s reigning leading rusher.
An email from an English teacher to West Orange faculty in August highlighted early improvements.
“I have never seen our football players more engaged in class than I have this school year,” wrote Tabitha Eastham. “They are showing up in dress code, sitting up front, actively participating in discussions, and they are very determined to do well in class.”
But off-the-field issues troubled the program.
At least one football player was involved in a group chat during which violence was threatened at West Orange, resulting in weapon screenings during the first few days of school. Another player was suspended for suspected marijuana possession.
Concerns over the due process, procedures and how administrators handled those cases were amplified a month later when questions persisted about assistant coaches.
OCPS declared in October, after Brown had been fired, that the principal and athletic director demonstrated a lack of program oversight. Floyd retired weeks later following 31 years of service with the district. Shafer finished out the year as A.D. and remains in the system in a different capacity, according to OCPS. Neither agreed to be interviewed for this story.
“I have great respect for Mr. Floyd,” Brown said. “We had a conversation about the legitimacy of the volunteer coaches before the season started and we kept trying to get a meeting with those that were making that decision, but that was denied.”
Brown still maintains close relationships with some players and parents from West Orange.
“You would’ve thought I’d been there for five years instead of just maybe five months,” he said. “They had the opportunity to take whatever they had heard and believe whatever they wanted, and they believed in my heart and what I was instilling in those kids.”
Brown said affirmation such as that helps him believe his painful experience can be turned into a positive.
“This is not the end of my story, just a part of it.” Brown said. “God has told me many times before that this is my calling, so I’m going to continue using this platform to continue to love on our youth and use the game of football to teach them about life.”
This article originally appeared on OrlandoSentinel.com. Email J.C. Carnahan at jcarnahan@orlandosentinel.com.
