Hoover Two-A-Daze scandal continues
Gazette sports writer canned on Finebaum show
Hoover Gazette General Manager John Junkin fired one of the paper’s popular sports writers today — live on the Paul Finebaum Show. The writer, Hunter Ford, had been a guest on the show, on which he insinuated that Hoover High School football coach Rush Probst had been having an affair. Junkin told Finebaum that Ford could not substantiate the rumor and that he had been told not to talk about it unless he could prove the allegations.
UPDATE: Listen to Finebaum’s interview with Ford here.
UPDATE: Listen to Ford get canned on Finebaum here.
The termination is a tangential development in a growing scandal surrounding Hoover High School’s football program. Murmurings began Monday, when the school’s athletics director, Jerry Browning, resigned to take a job with Saint James School in Montgomery. Browning told The Birmingham News that he had differences with the program in Hoover and that he had expressed his concerns to Hoover Superintendent Andy Craig.
Since then, Craig has hired retired U.S. District Judge Sam Pointer to conduct and independent investigation of grade tampering benefiting Hoover High athletes.
Hoover High School’s nationally ranked football program became the focus of widespread attention last year after the MTV reality show “Two-A-Days” followed the program through two seasons. The abrasive, salty-mouthed Propst and his star athletes became celebrities as a national audience tuned in each week to the program. The last season ended with Hoover being defeated in the state 6-A championship.
During his show today, talk show host Finebaum alternately brushed off the rumors of Propst’s adultery while peppering his broadcast with double entendres.
“The name of the Two-a-Day show — I wonder where that came from?” Finebaum asked.
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More to come as the story develops. Hat-tip to Kathy for the heads-up. You can read more about today’s dustup on her blog Birmingham Blues and also at the Capstonereport.com.
— Kyle Whitmire
