Not surprisingly, the book is still very wide open on a disturbing-sounding development that has played out over the past several days at a Historically Black College and University.
Earlier this week, Caylin Newton, brother of 2010 Heisman Trophy winner, announced on Twitter that he had decided to transfer from Howard. A day later, a report surfaced in which Howard’s head coach, Ron Prince, was accused by anonymous parents of harassing, bullying and verbally and mentally abusing his football players since he arrived at the program this past offseason.
In a letter sent to not only the university’s president and athletic director but also to the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference as well as the NCAA, one parent acknowledged that while these are currently just allegations, they “sincerely hope that there is an investigation into what is being reported and that the hostile environment is addressed before a student has a mental breakdown or commits suicide because of this treatment.”
At the time of our posting, the university had not yet responded to CFT’s emailed request for a comment on the accusations; subsequent to that, we did receive a response confirming that the allegations are being investigated.
The 50-year-old Prince is in his first season as the head coach at Howard, with the Bison off to a rough 1-4 start to the season that included a 79-0 loss to Maryland in the opener. A longtime college football coach, Prince spent three years (2006-08) as the head coach at Kansas State after succeeding Bill Snyder following his first retirement.
This past season, Prince was an offensive analyst for Jim Harbaugh at Michigan.
