Jube Joseph
MIAMI – A prominent South Florida football coach, who was let go by a Miami high school after its program was forced to forfeit all of their wins, has filed a lawsuit against his former employer for “unlawful employment practices.”
Plaintiff Gibudale J. Joseph, also known as Jube Joseph or “Coach Jube,” filed his lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, Miami Division.
In his 17-page lawsuit, Joseph, who is Black, contends race was the “motivating factor” in defendant Miami-Dade County Public Schools’ actions.
“MDCPS would not have subjected a similarly situated non-Black coach to the same adverse treatment under comparable circumstances,” the lawsuit states.
Joseph is widely known for leading the Miami Central Rockets to a Class 2M State Championship and was recognized as the Miami-Dade County Coach of the Year.
He was let go in February 2025 after the Florida High School Athletic Association, which governs and regulates all interscholastic activities of high schools in Florida, discovered the team had used an ineligible player.
This year, he joined the coaching staff at the private Miami Columbus High.
In his filing, Joseph alleges he was discriminated and retaliated against, wrongfully demoted and terminated, deprived of procedural due process, has suffered reputational harm, and MDCPS interfered with prospective job opportunities.
He notes that he was a member of the MDCPS union and a beneficiary of its Collective Bargaining Agreement, or CBA. The agreement guarantees the right to appeal terminations and imposes specific procedural requirements upon MDCPS before terminating an employee, including written notice and commencement of appeal rights.
According to his complaint, his troubles began after a student-athlete broke his leg during a seven-on-seven football event in July 2024. The boy’s mother and her attorney publicly threatened to sue the school system.
“Rather than accept responsibility, MDCPS deflected blame to Plaintiff by falsely alleging he hosted an ‘unsanctioned football practice’ in violation of FHSAA rules,” the lawsuit states. “The FHSAA investigated and cleared Plaintiff of any wrongdoing, finding he did not hold an unsanctioned practice.”
But then MDCPS allegedly accused Joseph of holding an “unauthorized field trip” under its written field trip policy.
Even after demonstrating he had not violated the policy, MDCPS allegedly produced a “new” written field trip policy that it claimed had been put into effect about two weeks before the incident.
“Plaintiff had never been trained on or notified of the alleged new policy,” the filing states. “When MDCPS was asked to produce records showing it had trained Plaintiff on the new policy, it produced none.
“The substantive changes in the alleged new policy appeared specifically designed to retroactively address the fact that Plaintiff had already demonstrated he did not violate the existing policy.”
Joseph also contends that it was MDCPS who enrolled and assigned the ineligible transfer student-athlete to his football team.
“The non-delegable duty to verify student-athlete eligibility and confirm eligibility to head coaches belonged exclusively to MDCPS, which had its own procedure for verifying eligibility that it was required to complete before confirming eligibility to the head coach,” the complaint states, emphasizing that the school system had confirmed to Joseph the player was eligible.
It was a parent who raised a complaint that the player was ineligible, Joseph alleges.
He contends he immediately reported the alleged regulatory noncompliance to MDCPS and removed the student from playing football, and then reported the school system’s noncompliance to FHSAA.
As a result of his reports to MDCPS and FHSAA, Joseph alleges the school system commenced a “sustained pattern of pretextual adverse employment actions” against him,
including: initiating a retaliatory investigation; demoting him from his position as head football coach with a salary reduction; issuing a written reprimand; reporting his educator credentials to the Florida Department of Education; and having the principal issue a written recommendation of termination while refusing to provide the CBA-required written termination notice and right to appeal.
He also alleges MDCPS, after terminating his employment, contacted another school he began working with and gave “false negative reports” about him, causing him to lose that employment opportunity.
Joseph contends he has suffered “substantial” monetary losses, lost earning capacity, reputational harm, career damage, and emotional distress.
He seeks back pay, compensatory damages, emotional distress damages, declaratory and injunctive relief, reinstatement or front pay in lieu of, restoration of benefits and seniority, pre-judgment interest and attorney fees.
The Law Office of T. Walls Blye PLLC in Miami and The Allen Firm PA in Ocoee are representing Joseph in the action.
