Paterson school district suspends Eastside basketball coach
PATERSON — The city school district suspended the boys’ basketball coach at Eastside High School on Monday, hours after the publication of a report alleging that that five players from overseas listed the coach’s condominium as their home address.
The coach, Juan Griles, was suspended with pay from his teaching position at the school and without pay from his basketball duties, according to an announcement by the district. Griles’ assistant coach, Alberto Maldonado, was suspended without pay.
The district also hired a retired state Supreme Court justice, John Wallace, to investigate the situation and monitor all Paterson Public Schools athletic programs for the remainder of the academic year as well as for 2017-18.
The district said it would reassign coaching duties for the basketball team, which is ranked among the Top 20 in the state and is the No. 1 seeded squad in the ongoing Passaic County tournament. However, the district did not reveal who would handle the coaching duties going forward.
NJ Advance Media reported Monday that the situation involving the six players — three each from Nigeria and Puerto Rico — is being investigated by the state Division of Child Protection and Permanency as well as by the organization that oversees high school sports in the state.
“I have no response at this moment,” Griles said when reached by phone on Monday afternoon.
The team, which has a 14-3 record, is scheduled to play its next game at Wayne Hills High School on Thursday.
In announcing the suspension, the district said it made the decision after getting “new information … regarding the Eastside Boys Basketball situation” and said it “takes this matter very seriously especially as it pertains to the well-being of our students.”
The NJ Advance Media report said that five of the players listed Griles as their guardian in their student files and the sixth player named Maldonado. The story said Griles and all six players were seen leaving Griles’ condominium on East 19th Street on at least four mornings in recent weeks.
The group includes Eastside’s point guard, a starting forward and a key reserve, according to the story.
Authorities reportedly are investigating how the players from Nigeria and Puerto Rico ended up at Eastside and the conditions under which they lived in Paterson. The district also has acknowledged that the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association, which oversees high schools sports in the state, is reviewing the situation for possible rules violations.
“I’m waiting for the district to conduct its own inquiry before I comment,” said Christopher Irving, the Paterson school board president. “Until I have all the information, I don’t feel comfortable making any comment.”
The interscholastic athletic association's executive director, Steven Timko, issued a statement on Monday night saying the organization had been alerted last week to "possible eligibility issues within the Paterson Public School district."
"We immediately contacted Paterson Public Schools to confirm the well-being of student athletes and to request an accounting of residency and eligibility information for select student athletes," Timko said.
Acknowledging a "complex situation," Timko said the association had now "requested a full accounting to assess the eligibility of various student athletes," but he added that any decision would await the the completion of the investigation by the Division of Child Protection and Permanency. "We take these matters very seriously," he said, "and will work diligently to collect information and, if appropriate, take action."
A spokesman for the state Department of Children and Families, which oversees the child protection division, declined to comment, citing state and federal confidentiality laws.
Under Griles, the Eastside boys’ team won the state Group 4 Public School championship twice in the past six years.
Last year, the Eastside girls’ basketball team also benefited from having a star player from Nigeria who lived with a Paterson teacher. The player lived in Paterson with Natalie Jordan while she attended school in the district, officials said.
When The Paterson Press asked district officials last year about the arrangement involving the female player, they did not given a detailed explanation as to how the player came to be enrolled in the district and living with Jordan. One official said Jordan had shared her home with other students from foreign countries over the years.
Jordan had said that the student’s status as a basketball star was unconnected to the living arrangement. The student told The Paterson Press she came to New Jersey so she could play basketball in the United States.
Ed Rumley of The Paterson Press contributed to this story.
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