Report: New Jersey High School Coach has Six Players Living in His Condo, Can't Feed Them

The state of New Jersey is investigating the legal custody and wellbeing of six teenage boys who play for a powerhouse high school basketball team in Paterson, N.J. after several concerned parties called into question the guardianship and living arrangements that the children reportedly have with their coach.

Six players living with their coach in a condominium six blocks from Eastside high? It sure sounds unlikely, and coach Juan Griles says it's not true, and that no more than two of his players live with him. But New Jersey Advance Media has been staking out the apartment and interviewing those who would know—including one of the players, who says far more than two players live in the condo and that there's often not enough food to eat.

Among the findings at NJ.com:

• One player, a source within the district said, was told he needed to leave the condo because the food now belonged to another player who had just arrived. Another player was in tears at school because he feared being sent away.

• One player said Griles did not provide enough food in the house and that dinner was spaghetti for "a whole two weeks" or "just a loaf of bread to last two people for like two weeks." The player, who also spoke on the condition his name not be used, said the teens sometimes would seek out food at a local church, often had to fend for themselves on weekends and that "we didn't eat anything" on Thanksgiving.

Griles' condo is said to be comfortable enough to sleep six extra bodies; the biggest complaint among those interviewed say the coach can't afford to keep feeding them all. One player who reportedly was exiled from the condominium was found by a district teacher alone and hungry overnight at a Dunkin' Donuts.

Basketball is king in Paterson, and it's probably the most popular high school sport in New Jersey. The sport's status has led to a highly competitive environment—first among prominent private schools like Jersey City's legendary St. Anthony's but also public ones such as Eastside—in which teams compete for transfer students. The students in question at Eastside came from Puerto Rico (where Griles has ties) and Nigeria. As of a week ago, NJ Advance found, five of them listed Griles as their legal guardian and his home as their legal residence.

If that sounds excessive and exploitative to you, it does to Eastside's competitors as well:

"It's absolutely ridiculous what's going on in this state," said Phil Colicchio, the long-time coach at Linden High, one of Eastside's biggest rivals in the Group 4 section. "Is winning a state championship that important to people's lives that you'd have six kids living with you?

"I don't care if you gave me LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Chris Paul, they're not living with me."

Griles and his defenders say he's trying to help kids who have been temporarily displaced. Investigators want to know if Griles is simply another in the line of user adults among whom the displaced basketball players have been passed since coming to this country.

[NJ.com]