According to a lawsuit that was just filed against the University of Central Florida and their head coach George O'Leary, the 68-year-old coach routinely uses racist remarks while speaking with his assistant coaches during meetings and practices. Former UCF defensive coordinator Paul Ferraro—who joined O'Leary's staff back in December 2013 before leaving the UCF program in the spring—alleges that O'Leary "created a work environment that was permeated by bullying, threatening behavior, and repeated discriminatory epithets by O'Leary."
So what exactly did O'Leary allegedly say and do during Ferraro's time with UCF? Well, according to Ferraro, he:
- Referred to Ferraro as a "Guinea" on several occasions.
- Called the NFL "one big 'Ru-Ru' tribe."
- Urged his assistant coaches to check the gums of African-American recruits "to make sure their gums are blue, because they are bigger, faster, and stronger than [African-American players] with red gums."
According to the lawsuit, O'Leary and the UCF athletic department also received an email from Ferraro on February 25, 2014 with a list of his complaints about the work conditions under O'Leary. And Ferraro claims that, rather than responding to those complaints, UCF athletic director Todd Stansbury took Ferraro's email to mean that he was resigning from his defensive coordinator position. But Ferraro claims that that's not what he wanted to do—and he wants to be paid for getting cut off by the UCF program.
UCF has denied the claims made by Ferraro in his lawsuit. "UCF is an inclusive and diverse institution and our investigation shows that these claims are without merit," the school said in a statement sent to USA TODAY Sports.
But we're sure this won't be the last we hear about Ferraro's lawsuit. Stay tuned to see how it ultimately plays out in court.
[via USA TODAY Sports]
