Athletic director Dwight Weaver and suspended coaches David Peavy and LeJeanna Howard were reassigned to other positions within the district.
DUNCANVILLE, Texas — Editor’s note: The video above is from a report on Oct. 31, 2022.
The Duncanville Independent School District’s superintendent has announced new reassignments for athletics officials following UIL penalties that included the high school boys basketball 2022 championship being stripped from the team.
More than a week ago, UIL’s state executive committee suspended boys coach David Peavy and girls coach LeJeanna Howard for a year over violations. The two were also given three years of probation and a reprimand from the UIL.
The penalties also included the championship forfeiture and the girls’ team being banned from this season’s playoffs.
Superintendent Dr. Marc Smith on Thursday announced that he has made changes within the district’s athletics department in wake of the UIL penalties.
“This change in leadership is the first of a multi-step plan to strengthen our athletic programs and our national reputation as a powerhouse athletics organization,” Smith said in a statement.
In a news release, the district said Peavy and Howard will be “reassigned to fill vacancies within the district that are in alignment with their teaching certification areas.”
Athletic director Dwight Weaver, who was also reprimanded by the UIL as part of the penalties, was reassigned to fill a vacancy as a campus administrator.
The district did not specify the positions the three officials would take over.
Smith also announced that assistant athletic director Kenya Larkin-Landers has been named the interim athletic director. She was previously an assistant AD at Corsicana ISD and an assistant coach at Louisiana State University and Oklahoma State University.
The district said it will also create a new athletic compliance officer position within the department.
According to the UIL, penalties were imposed on the boys’ basketball team due to an ineligible player. The top-ranked team was forced to forfeit all games in which then-senior point guard Anthony Black played, which included the 2022 state championship game.
The UIL had ruled that Black was ineligible to play after he transferred from Coppell to Duncanville in 2021.
The girls’ team, which was ranked No. 4 in coaches’ rankings, was penalized over a recruiting and “school practice and game restrictions” violation, according to the UIL. Further details were not released.