Breaking news: Sad to announced as High school powerhouse Hoover has placed head coach Drew Gilmer and defensive coordinator Adam Helms on leave.

Drew Gilmer, a two-time state champion high school coach from Alabama who was hired last January to lead the prestigious Hoover High School (Alabama) program, has been put on administrative leave before even coaching his first game for the Bucs.

On Tuesday, Hoover City Schools revealed that both Gilmer and defensive coordinator Adam Helms—who previously collaborated with Gilmer at Clay-Chalkville High School, where they won two Alabama state titles—are being placed on indefinite administrative leave.

Dr. Kevin Maddox, Superintendent of Hoover City Schools, stated in the system release,

“The safety and well-being of our students and staff are our highest priorities. We are treating this issue with utmost seriousness and are committed to resolving it quickly and fairly.”

Hoover City Schools highlighted that the suspensions were implemented “to ensure a comprehensive and unbiased review of recent events.” The school district also promised to keep parents updated on the investigation and “notify them of any significant developments as it progresses.”

FootballScoop directly received two video clips from a Hoover practice late Tuesday afternoon, one clip which appears to show a Hoover coach briskly shove a player to the turf onto his backside:

Ryan Brown, a multimedia journalist in Birmingham, of which Hoover is a suburb on the city’s south side, shared a somewhat-startling video on social media from a recent Hoover Bucs practice”

The Bucs are just 20 days away from their upcoming season opener, where they will travel to Florida to play Western High School in the Broward County Football Showcase.

The Hoover program has garnered national attention throughout much of this century and was prominently featured in a reality TV series on MTV several years ago. The show highlighted notable players and coaches, including Jeremy Pruitt, who later became Alabama’s defensive coordinator and was dismissed as Tennessee’s head coach.