Camden Catholic football coach Nick Strom said Monday he thinks he was fired from his position at the school because administrators wanted him to put more white players on the team instead of minorities.
Strom was a football and golf coach at Camden Catholic High School and also taught history.
After he was given a letter telling him his contract would not be renewed for the next school year, Strom revealed he had been asked in 2014 to look for more white players to connect better with alumni, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
“I think this is from me not conforming with their viewpoints on what they want the student body and the football team to look like,” Strom told the Courier Post.” I’ve tried to build this program into one that’s based on kids being of ability, high character and high grades.”
“From day one, the administration told me they did not approve of the ratio of black to white students,” Strom continued, telling the Post the topic of race came up “10 to 20 times” with Camden Catholic President Mary Whipkey since his hiring in 2013.
The school said in the letter that Strom had violated the dress code by wearing sneakers to school, had been disrespectful to the president when it was brought to his attention, left class to talk to a college coach, confronted a faculty member in front of students, and allowed students to leave class before instructional time was over, the Inquirer reported.
Whipkey denied the allegations that the firing had anything to do with racial matters.
“We are not that kind of environment and we take it very seriously when those accusations are made,” Whipkey told the Courier Post. “This is a special community here. We embrace our diversity here. Those accusations are not true.”
According to CBS News, Strom’s former high school coach Tyrone Bellford said Strom had confided about the racial issues to him as well as some concerns about the school disciplining minority students and expelling some, while a white student who did something similar was not disciplined or expelled. “He had serious concerns,” Bellford said.
Strom was told Monday evening that he was being put on administrative leave for the remainder of the school year. Students and parents protested the coach's dismissal, CBS News reported.
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.