Roosevelt Football Scandal: Coaches Falsely Labeled Athletes as Homeless to Get Around Transfer Rules

Coaches Adams and Patu built "administrative onboarding process purpose-built to falsely enroll transfer athletes as homeless students in order to circumvent transfer and eligibility rules"

“What sickens me is the adults playing victim, saying they just did it to give these kids an opportunity. No, they gave themselves an opportunity.”

- Marcus Harden, family and student advocate.

SEATTLE — As readers of J425 are well aware by now, Roosevelt High School's football program was the subject of a comprehensive investigation by the Washington Interscholastic Athletic Association (WIAA) into alleged recruiting violations and systemic failures.

The investigation, initiated by J425 reporting and a complaint from a Metro League school, was supported by over 30 witnesses and whistleblowers…and ultimately uncovered a culture of corruption and widespread non-compliance with WIAA rules and district policies. 

Key findings include the illegal recruitment of at least 18 highly-touted student-athletes, the misuse of McKinney-Vento homeless student provisions to establish false residencies, ties to a private trainer who was also mentioned over 25 times in the Bellevue recruiting scandal, and the operation of an exclusive "Kennel" academic support program for football players as an inducement. 

The final report details how Roosevelt staff, including Principal Tami Brewer, Head Coach Sam Adams, Assistant Coach Saul Patu, and Athletic Director Danny Thompson, exhibited a lack of cooperation throughout the fact-finding process and failed to acknowledge or address the violations. The report recommends severe penalties, including forfeiture of games and potential suspension, due to the systemic nature of the failures and the blatant disregard for rules — and severe penalties were disbursed, with the top two coaches and the principal at Roosevelt all currently removed from their posts, and fines and probation levied as high up as the district office of Seattle Schools.

And while numerous local  outlets (including J425) reported on the fines and suspensions handed out, no one has dug into the depths of the rot at Roosevelt. So deep is the systemic rot that it’s far too much to cover in one post. So J425 will break it down into the following categories: Today we tackle the abuse of McKinney-Vento, second we’ll talk about “The Kennel”, and finally we’ll cover the corrupt actions and abdication of responsibility shown by adults in supervisory roles: coaches, trainers and adminstrators.

Setting the Stage: A Quick Review of the Roosevelt Allegations and Scope

The Roosevelt investigation, according to the fact-finder’s report, stemmed from "allegations of improper recruiting at the Roosevelt football program," with at least "a dozen highly-recruited players transferring in prior to season".

A Metro League school filed a complaint — a complaint that was twice found to be unsubstantiated by both Roosevelt and District 2-led whitewashes of the true corruption running rampant at Roosevelt.

J425’s reporting stimulated much of the whistleblowing — we know because we referred at least six witnesses to the fact-finder — and our reporting broke the key findings of the final report in October of 2024.

We began investigating FSP and Roosevelt transfer corruption in December of 2023, after hearing a trainer and a coach speak derisively about 425-area coaches.

At that time, J425 publisher Kevin Thomas Hulten confronted Tracy Ford about this behavior via a Direct Message conversation in June of 2024, referencing text messages sent to students (and obtained by J425) in which Ford appeared to infer to black players that white coaches wouldn’t treat them fairly or understand them.

Ford declared himself a great leader, said he’d pray for J425, and said the text messages weren’t from him, and were in fact probably fake text messages. Kids often made things up for attention.

However, the final WIAA report into the Roosevelt scandal found that coaches and trainers did "entice students to join Roosevelt’s football program" by "speaking poorly of other schools coaching staff and promised scholarship offers and acceptance to colleges".¹²³

The fact-finding confirmed that in total, "eighteen (18) students transferred into their football program for the 2024 season⁴.” Further, the report concluded that "the recruiting of (the eighteeen football players) to Roosevelt High School occurred in violation of WIAA eligibility rules contained in WIAA 27.0"⁵

The recruitment of players occurred out in the open, in front of students, staff and parents. One Roosevelt staff member called the recruitment of "stellar" football players a "well known secret.”

"Students and staff at Roosevelt just call the transfer football players as ‘the recruits’.”

Head Coach Sam Adams and Assistant Coach Saul Patu were identified by student and staff whistleblowers as central to the recruiting efforts — and central in the efforts to misapply the federal program designed to assist homeless school children in an effort to circumvent WIAA rules.

"The preponderance of the evidence weighs heavily that Mr. Patu and Mr. Adams recruited students in violation of WIAA rule 27.0. They used their personal and professional contacts and experience to recruit football players knowingly and intentionally from other high schools in Washington and out of state"⁶.

Adams and Patu operated with the backing of Principal Tami Brewer, the top administrator at Roosevelt. According to the report Adams — who apparently didn’t even have a contract as the appointed head coach of the football team — felt empowered to direct staff to circumvent policy and law in furtherance of his goals. This provides some context as to how a guy who wasn’t even technically employed at Roosevelt ended up directing both students and staff to falsify registration to circumvent Federal policy.

Misuse of McKinney-Vento and False Residencies

Athletes were enrolled via "an administrative onboarding process purpose-built to falsely enroll transfer athletes as homeless students in order to circumvent transfer and eligibility rules" — Fact-Finder Report

Before we get into the specifics of McKinney-Vento Act corruption at Roosevelt, perhaps it’s a good idea to give a primer on why federal homeless school kid legislation is applicable at all to athletic eligibility — and why its often at the center of transfer scandals.

The McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act is a federal law designed to ensure that homeless children and youth have equal access to a free, appropriate public education.¹

The core purpose of the McKinney-Vento Act is to remove barriers to education for students experiencing homelessness. The fundamental goal is to minimize the disruption that homelessness causes to a child's education and ensure they have the same opportunities as their peers.

Key provisions that relate specifically to this story include:

• Immediate Enrollment: Homeless students must be immediately enrolled in school, even if they lack typical enrollment documents like birth certificates, immunization records, or proof of residency.

• Access to Services: Homeless students have a right to immediately access all school services, including extracurricular activities and sports, and barriers to their participation must be removed. This can include dropping eligibility or attendance requirements, waiving rules of fees, and/or assisting with necessary items like uniforms or medical exams.

• Identification and Support: School districts are required to designate a McKinney-Vento liaison to identify homeless students and connect them with appropriate services and resources. This point of contact has the power to decided whether a student is availed of the McKinney-Vento resources.

How McKinney-Vento is Used to Circumvent Athletic Transfer and Eligibility Rules in Washington State

In Washington, like many other states, athletic associations (such as the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association - WIAA) have rules regarding student transfers and eligibility for sports. In the case of Roosevelt, the WIAA eligibility rules are codified in WIAA 27.0. The eligibility rules were written to prevent "recruiting" of athletes and to promote competitive balance and academic stability.

Prior to 2025, a student transferring schools faced a one year period of athletic ineligibility, unless the transfer was due to a full family relocation or a documented hardship.

One can understand how a coach attempting to port in 18 star athletes in one offseason might need a solid loophole to make sure the “recruits” arent stuck on the bench for a year.

Enter the McKinney-Vento Act, which, by its federal nature, supersedes ALL state and local rules that create barriers to the education and full participation of homeless students.

This is where the alleged "circumvention" comes into play:

How it's used: Because the McKinney-Vento Act mandates that homeless students can enroll immediately and participate fully in all school activities, including sports, they are generally exempt from the standard transfer eligibility rules that might require a sit-out period. If a student is identified as homeless by the district's McKinney-Vento liaison, they can often transfer schools and play immediately without penalty, even if the primary reason for the move appears to be athletic.

At least twelve players "used false addresses and false claims of McKinney Vento eligibility on New Student Packets". - Roosevelt Investigation Fact-Finder Report.

Why it's controversial:

"Athletic Transfers in Disguise": Critics and some within the athletic community have long expressed concern that the McKinney-Vento provision, while well-intentioned, can be exploited. They’ve alleged that in some cases, coaches or individuals might encourage a student-athlete (or their family) to declare themselves homeless, even if their housing situation is ambiguous or temporary, solely to gain immediate athletic eligibility at a new school.

Lack of Scrutiny: Because the act prioritizes immediate enrollment and barrier removal for homeless students, districts may be limited in their ability to question the validity of a homelessness claim, especially if the student meets the broad federal definition (e.g., living in a shelter, motel, car, or with others due to loss of housing). District McKinney-Vento liaisons are primarily responsible for determining homelessness based on the federal definition.

Competitive Imbalance: If some schools or coaches are perceived to be exploiting this loophole, it can lead to allegations of unfair competitive advantage and an imbalance in athletic programs, as teams might gain talented players without them having to sit out.

While the WIAA and school districts strive to uphold the spirit of both the McKinney-Vento Act and their athletic integrity rules, the intersection of federal protections for vulnerable students and state-level athletic regulations can create complex situations that are challenging to navigate and can lead to allegations of misuse that are difficult to prove in individual cases. As a result, in April of this year, the WIAA amended its transfer rules to provide more flexibility, potentially aiming to reduce the perceived need for students to utilize the McKinney-Vento Act solely for athletic transfers, while still preserving the act's intended protections for genuinely homeless students.

Cheating: Roosevelt Leadership Falsely Claimed Athletes Were Homeless to Get Around Transfer Rules

"An administrative onboarding enrollment process purpose-built to falsely enroll transfer athletes as homeless students in order to circumvent transfer and eligibility rules"

Now that we understand the practical application of McKinney-Vento Act policy, and why it’s attractive to a coach attempting a mass-import of talented recruits, let’s evaluate what the fact-finder discovered at Roosevelt.

The report found that at least a dozen falsified homeless student designations were applied to transfer athletes, and that the athletes were enrolled via "an administrative onboarding process purpose-built to falsely enroll transfer athletes as homeless students in order to circumvent transfer and eligibility rules"⁷.

At the surface level, the deception began…

Hit the jump to learn the depths of the deception, and read Principal Tami Brewer’s all staff email sent the day after J425 first alleged McKinney-Vento violations in early October, 2024. Spoiler alert: she’s know out of a job.