Community college coach allegedly collected players' rent money and then didn't pay it
The football coach at Los Angeles’ Pierce College is under an internal investigation for a myriad of allegations, including accusations that he collected players’ rent money and then didn’t pay their landlords the monthly payments.
According to the Pierce College Roundup, the community college’s student paper, Carlos Woods is also accused of letting “at least four” players live in the locker room after they didn’t have housing, as well as playing ineligible players.
Unnamed players told the paper that Woods would tell them that he would secure housing for them and they could pay their share of rent and bills directly to him and he’d take care of the payments.
They also said last football season, there was a minimum of 30 players who resided together in an apartment building on De Soto Avenue and Vanowen Street. Some players living there said they were kicked out of the apartment due to Woods not paying the rent when he was said to have collected up to $300-$400 from some of the players.
Players who were at Pierce last year explained they slept stacked up in bunk beds and on cots in any available space in the apartment. Once they noticed eviction notices being left on their door, they decided to leave and fend for themselves.
A former player who said he was homeless after he got evicted from his apartment went on record to the paper and described players’ living situations like a camp or a jail.
“He promised actual living space, and it ended up being like a camp/jail with how many people were living in that house,” [Joe] Cordova said. “Lines Woods had crossed would be 30 guys in a three-bedroom and almost half of his recruits wouldn’t pay rent and bills wouldn’t be paid.”
Woods is also accused of recruiting out-of-state players. California community colleges are barred from recruiting athletes from outside the state and coaches cannot get housing for players that isn’t readily available to other students at the school.
The paper said Woods came to Pierce from Gavilan College, where he was an assistant coach. And he was accused of a similar scheme at Gavilan in 2017 and placed on leave.
Seventeen players were dismissed from Gavilan’s team in August of that year after the school found they were from out of state and staying in a three-bedroom house. Woods and another coach were allegedly involved in the scheme to house the players at the residence and the school self-imposed three years probation and a two-year postseason ban following the players’ dismissal.
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Nick Bromberg is a writer for Yahoo Sports.
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