| OAAscouts
October 3, 2008
10:37:34 AM
Entry #: 2932247
| Reports are swirling around the Oakland Activities Association that Oak Park football coach Tim Hopkins was suspended for two games.
"No, that's incorrect," Hopkins insisted. "I don't know where you got that from."
However, confirmation came from none other than Oak Park athletic director Rona Head.
When asked if Hopkins had been suspended, she replied: "Yes. He missed two games." When asked the reason for the suspension, she said: "Oh, well, come on now, I'm not really at liberty to discuss that."
Head said that Hopkins was suspended for the Lake Orion and Royal Oak games. Still, Hopkins maintains he was not suspended. "I'll be on the sidelines Friday, like I've been all year," he said. "I was on the sidelines for Brother Rice. I was on the sidelines for Southfield-Lathrup, Lake Orion, Royal Oak ... Troy High School."
Royal Oak coach Dave Potter recalled being told by Hopkins before last week's game that he would be coaching from the press box. "He had come up to me before the game and said that he had hurt his back and he was going to go up in the box," Potter said. "If he was suspended, then obviously he cheated. He was there."
Lake Orion coach Chris Bell said Hopkins was in the press box when the Dragons played Oak Park.
Head said she did not have to inform the Michigan High School Athletic Association about Hopkins' suspension. "It was strictly a local issue," she said. "I really don't have any other comments on it. It was a lesson learned, and we're just going to move forward."
But Hopkins contends he was not suspended. "I'm telling you it didn't happen," he said. "I don't expect to pick up the paper, man, and see some nonsense that didn't happen in the paper, man.
"My athletic director told me she told you: 'No comment.' That does not mean I was suspended, nor have I been suspended. No comments means, no comment."
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