Club president: Shadowens asked to resign after booster investigation

Former Blackman High football coach Philip Shadowens was asked to resign after an investigation by Rutherford County Schools of the football booster club, the president of the club told a support rally for Shadowens on Thursday night.

Club President Wayne Armstrong, who said he was one of the people the county questioned, refused to give details on what the alleged investigation detailed, but said the investigation lasted about two weeks.

Armstrong said he's been told that Blackman High first-year Principal Leisa Justus went into the Feb. 13 meeting with Shadowens with the full support of the county, Schools Director Don Odom and his staff, and the entire school board.

"They supported Ms. Justus' decision to ask for his resignation," said Armstrong at the meeting. "That was the culmination of the investigation."

County Schools spokesman James Evans declined to comment on whether an investigation occurred.

In an email to The DNJ on Thursday night, Justus wrote: "I appreciate you giving me the opportunity to talk, but I can't discuss this anymore than I have. My focus now is on moving the program forward in a positive way for our students."

Shadowens did not attend Thursday's meeting, but he told The Daily News Journal after the meeting that a booster club investigation was not the reason for his resignation and he did not know of any improprieties with the booster club.

"There was some questions with paperwork not being turned in by the booster club," said Shadowens, 47. "Some things have not been turned in. But that is because they are volunteers with full-time jobs."

Shadowens said to his knowledge no one has "taken a dime from the booster club fund."

"I don't have anything to do with that in my role," Shadowens said. "I don't have authority to write checks. Nobody has taken a dime from the booster club as far as I know. There was no misappropriation of money."

Blackman parent Dewayne Bryant, who helped organized the meeting to support Shadowens, said he wants answers to questions regarding the resignation.

Both Shadowens and Justus have said the resignation stems over a difference of philosophies.

"We want answers," Bryant said. "We want answers within reason that they are able to give us. There are boundaries that I know they can't discuss. We can't push past the legal issues that they can't disclose.

"Dr. Justus is great at what she does. Coach Shadowens is the absolute best in what he does. Sometimes, what we'd love to see is them to sit down and say, 'It's a difference of this, or that.'"

Bryant said regardless of what led to the resignation, parents deserve to know what happened.

"I feel like there should be some type of disclosure," Bryant said.

Shadowens said Thursday that despite resigning as coach, Justus "made it perfectly clear she didn't want me there."

Justus declined comment on whether Shadowens was asked to resigned in an afternoon email to The DNJ, referring only to her original comments in a press release sent last week.

Shadowens coached at Blackman the past six seasons, amassing a 59-17 record and making the Class 6A playoffs each year. The school made the state semifinals in 2013 for the first time in school year.

"I appreciate the fact that the kids love me and know I love them," Shadowens said. "I think at this point there is nothing they can do to rectify the situation in their minds.

"But I don't want this to be about me. People that know me know it's always has been about the kids. I want it to continue to be that way. I know that God has a plan for Philip Shadowens and his family."

Shadowens compiled a 179-78 record in 21 years as a head coach in Rutherford County, spending 14 years at Smyrna High, his alma mater, and a year at Middle Tennessee Christian School before replacing Bobby Wells at Blackman prior to the 2009 season. Shadowens, a Smyrna High alum, has been a teacher in the county for 24 years.

He won 5A state championships at Smyrna in 2006 and 2007 with quarterback Sonny Gray and receiver Rodiguez Wilks. Gray is now a starting pitcher for the Oakland A's. Wilks, a former Mr. Football winner, went on to play at Tennessee.

Several Blackman High parents at the meeting said they want Shadowens back as coach if he wants to be the head coach at the school.

"I love the kids there," Shadowens said of Blackman. "But at the same time, the principal of any school has the ability to do anything with coaches that they choose to do."

He added, "They want to go in a different direction."

Justus said at the time of the resignation she plans to form a search committee "consisting of a variety of stakeholders" in finding a replacement for Shadowens.

"The committee will be charged with conducting a wide and thorough search to identify the very best candidate that exemplifies Blackman's tradition of distinction," Justus said in a release.

Justus said in an email Thursday afternoon that the school will immediately begin searching for its next football coach.

Contact Tom Kreager at 615-278-5168 or tkreager@dnj.com. Follow him on Twitter @Kreager.