Texas native and IMG Academy offensive coordinator Richard Bartel defends and embraces his program.
Video: Jhamon Ausbon highlights
Highlights of 4-star receiver Jhamon Ausbon, ranked the 64th-best player in the country by 247Sports, who transferred from a Texas school to IMG Academy last season.
The continued long-distance debate and banter between Texas football coaches and
IMG Academy (Bradenton, Fla.) continues.
Last week, Brenham coach and President of the Texas High School Coaches Association Glen West wrote in Texas Coach magazine that IMG could "destroy our profession," and encouraged Texas players to stay in state.
West
later generalized his remarks in an attempt to avoid singling out the Florida program. But the veteran coach believes Texas players are best served preparing for the next level at home and shouldn't be used to attract tuition-paying teammates in a for-profit training program.
That excerpt was picked up in the
Dallas Morning News and stirred a national debate on the merits of IMG, which boards and trains elite young athletes in Florida. Three years ago it began a football program and some of the top players from throughout the country — including Texas — have left their local high schools and accepted the invitations.
IMG currently boasts 11 of the top 200 senior players in the country, according to the
247Sports Composite rankings.
On Monday, IMG offensive coordinator and quarterback coach Richard Bartel defended the program in a Twitter exchange between him and many in the Texas high school coaching community.
It's a community Bartel knows well. He was a standout high school quarterback in Texas at Grapevine and coached high school and trained quarterbacks in the Dallas area. He played at SMU and Tarleton State, and also in the NFL.
Bartel was hired as head coach at Fort Worth Southwest Christian in January 2015 before taking the job at IMG in June. He defended that decision and allegations that IMG is bad for the high school game, abides by no transfer rules and generally lacks integrity:
There's plenty more for those that care to read on Bartel's Twitter account (@RBquarterbacks).
