The fallout from the Bishop Sycamore (Columbus, Ohio) football debacle continued Tuesday with reports its head coach has been fired and at least four future games canceled, including this Friday's scheduled contest at
Johnson Central (Paintsville, Ky.).
USA Today reported that Bishop Sycamore coach Roy Johnson has been fired by the online school's founder Andre Peterson following the Centurions' 58-0 loss on ESPN to defending national champion and current No. 2
IMG Academy (Bradenton, Fla.).
Since that game, a number of
disturbing facts have come out about the online charter school and third-year football program, including using fifth- and sixth-year players, playing two games in three days and misrepresenting facts about alleged recruits.
DeMatha (Hyattsville, Md.) president Fr. James R. Day told USA Today on Tuesday morning that its Oct. 1 game was canceled: "We have been doing a lot of researching, and after discussing it with our coaching staff, we decided to cancel that game with Bishop Sycamore because they have ineligible players and it would be a liability issue. We think this is the right decision."
So does
Liberty (Henderson, Nev.) coach Rich Muraco about the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association's decision Tuesday to
pull the plug on its scheduled Oct. 15 home game with Bishop Sycamore. The NIAA has to approve all out-of-state opponents and after researching that the Ohio program more closely — it doesn't belong to the Ohio Interscholastic Athletic Association for instance — it canceled the game scheduled near Las Vegas.
Later in the afternoon, Dallas Morning News reporter Greg Riddle broke the news that Bishop Sycamore's scheduled Sept. 10 game at
Duncanville (Texas) also has been called off. Duncanville opened the season No. 15 nationally in the MaxPreps Top 25 before dropping out after Friday's 45-3 loss to No. 1 Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.).
Shortly after that, Johnson Central confirmed via Twitter that it was also canceling.
Other games on the Bishop Sycamore schedule include St. Edward (Lakewood, Ohio) on Sept. 24, St. Thomas More (Oakdale, Conn.) on Oct. 8, national power St. Frances Academy (Baltimore) on Oct. 22 and Life Christian Academy (Chester, Va.) on Oct. 29.
Asked during a live national podcast Monday if Bishop Sycamore would consider folding the football program, Peterson said: "I can't. I have kids (who) are dependent on what we do. For me to start all over and send them home and say 'Hey, go work it out yourself,' would be a disservice to them. I just know that we have things to get right."
