Former Saint Augustine's football coach files lawsuit, alleges he was intimidated into silence before firing
Former Saint Augustine's University (SAU) football coach Howard Feggins has filed a lawsuit against the university months after his firing.
The lawsuit is seeking $50,000 in a complaint that was filed on Dec. 19. Feggins alleges he was intimidated into silence when bringing up concerns with how the football program was run and eventually fired unlawfully, according to the lawsuit.
Feggins was fired in October for playing ineligible players, according to the university. Days after his firing, he held a news conference where he scalded the university to local media, alleging the program didn't have adequate support from SAU and had to operate under unacceptable conditions.
In his suit, Feggins claims he was told "to keep his mouth shut" in no uncertain terms when he raised concerns to SAU leadership and he would face "swift repercussions" otherwise.
His attorney claims Feggins was terminated under "the most bogus of circumstances."
Demarcus Angelo D. Williams II, St. Augustine's associate vice president of global marketing and communications, said the university would not comment on the lawsuit.
Earlier in December, SAU was accused of wrongfully terminating its most recent president, Christine McPhail, amid accreditation challenges the university has faced for years.
Feggins' complaint goes into detail about how the university failed to provide for the football program. He claims:
- The university didn't reimburse football recruits for campus visits.
- The university refused to pay laundry bills for football players' uniforms.
- The university risked the health of its student-athletes by refusing to provide the football team with full-time athletic trainer and/or necessary medical treatments.
- The university refused to provide adequate meals for its student-athletes.
- The university failed to obtain a Certificate of Insurance for its football players until September 15, 2023, a day before the program's third game of the season.
One passage in the complaint states "Instead of working with Coach Feggins and supporting the University's student-athletes, the University and the Individual Defendants advised Coach Feggins in no uncertain terms that he needed to stop publicly raising his concerns and keep his mouth shut; otherwise, there would swift repercussions."
"None of this from a rational point of view seems to make any sense," said attorney Nick Sanservino, who's representing Feggins. "He didn't want to have to go this route but feels left with no choice."
Feggins did not deny that there were two players on the roster that he knew were ineligible to play. But Feggins said the university overestimated how much the two – Cameron Page and Nyron Campbell-Adams – actually played. Feggins said Page only played three snaps of one game.
After spending 2022 as an assistant with Fayetteville State, Feggins became SAU's head coach in 2023 and went 0-6 before his firing. Several Saint Augustine's players showed up to his post-firing news conference on Oct. 16 and said they were caught off guard by the decision.
At the time, wide receiver Kevin Brewington said Feggins tried to address cafeteria issues beginning in the spring. Players told their coach that they went hungry or spent their money for meals off campus because the university didn't provide enough food to fuel football practices and games.
The Falcons finished the 2023 season 0-10 after going 1-9 in 2022.
