Jacksonville fallout
- Updated: October 1, 2026
Suspended coaches, families of players ruled inligible sue AHSAA, seeking to stop penalties, receive compensatory damages.
By Joe Medley
East Alabama Sports Today
JACKSONVILLE — While Jacksonville High School officials seek to appeal stiff penalties handed down by the Alabama High School Athletic Association last week, individuals directly impacted have filed a lawsuit.
A filing made in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama, obtained by East Alabama Sports Today, lists Jacksonville coach Jeremy Sullivan and assistant coach Phileepae Holloway among plaintiffs suing the AHSAA and Jacksonville City Schools superintendent Michael Barber, seeking to prevent him from enforcing the AHSAA’s penalties in his official capacity.
Other plaintiffs include Matthew and Amy Land, parents of a player under age 19 listed as C.L. in the filing, and Tamela Patrick, mother of a player listed as B.C., and the athletes.
The AHSAA placed Jacksonville’s football program under restrictive probation, making the Golden Eagles ineligible for this year’s playoffs, and levied one-year suspensions on Sullivan and Holloway.
The AHSAA also ruled affected athletes ineligible to compete for Jacksonville High School.
The AHSAA cited violations of recruiting rules governing improper contact.
Jacksonville High principal Jonathan Skinner released a statement expressing the school’s intent to appeal. The school’s District 6 level appeal on Wednesday was not successful, Skinner said, “so we will appeal to the Central Board.”
The complaint claims that AHSAA rule cited for the penalties was adopted outside of the normal legislative process and violates the constitution.
“This action is brought to protect the rights of coaches, students, and parents from arbitrary, capricious, and selective enforcement of the Recruitment Rule developed by the Alabama High School Athletic Association (“AHSAA”),” the complaint’s introduction reads. “The original intent of the Recruitment Rule was to stop harmful recruiting, i.e., efforts to entice or persuade students to transfer to another school for the purpose of playing athletics. This rule has been improperly extended by Notes so that it now purports to forbid any contact or communication between any school, including its proxies (parents, volunteers, etc.) and any student who is enrolled at a different school or any member of their family, regardless of the content or purpose of the communication or contact.
“If this rule were enforced consistently and evenly according to its own terms, there would be virtually no eligible coaches or players left. But the rule is not enforced consistently, evenly, or fairly. It is instead weaponized to the detriment of coaches, student-athletes, and parents and the supposed goal of sportsmanship and fair play.”
The filing requests the following relief:
—A temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction against enforcement of the AHSAA’s penalties;
—A declaration that the AHSAA’s expanded recruiting rule “is facially unconstitutional and violates the First and Fourteenth Amendment;”
—A declaration that the AHSAA’s investigation was launched without probable cause;
—Injunctive relief against Barber, preventing him from enforcing penalties against Sullivan, Holloway and the impacted athletes.
—Compensatory damages for “embarrassment, stress, disappointment, and fear for their future that its decision has caused them” and attorneys fees and cost.
According to a report from Birmingham’s WBRC-6, the AHSAA filed motions to dismiss the lawsuit or transfer it to the U.S. Distirct Court for the Middle District of Alabama in Montgomery, citing mandatory forum-selection clauses in the AHSAA’s official handbook.
U.S. District Judge Madeline Hughes Haikala held a telephone conference with attorneys for both sides Thursday afternoon the WBRC report said, to take up competing motions, including the plaintiffs’ emergency request for a temporary restraining order.
“The AHSAA does not comment on ongoing litigation concerning the association or member schools,” read a statement from AHSAA spokesman Scott Griffin.
This story will be updated as more information becomes available.
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