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Paterson Eastside Basketball Coach Benched After Reports Of Foreign Players Living With Him

PATERSON, N.J. (CBSNewYork) -- A New Jersey school district has benched its basketball coach, after reports that he broke the rules by manipulating the eligibility of some of the players.

Paterson Eastside High School is investigating a published report that claimed that up to six players from overseas might have been living with coach Juan Griles at his condo.

Reporters staked out Griles' Paterson condo over several mornings and spotted several players -- three from Puerto Rico, three from Nigeria -- routinely leaving for school in the morning, their departures staggered over a span of about 30 minutes.

As of last week, five of the boys listed Griles as their legal guardian, while another listed an assistant coach as his guardian.

State Sen. Richard Codey (D-Essex County), himself a longtime basketball coach, called the situation disgraceful.

"All of a sudden these six kids show up? Come on now -- where are the other parents? Where are the adults in the school system? Where are the adults at the board of ed?" Codey said.

One player, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said Griles did not provide enough food in the house, giving an example of two people sharing a loaf of bread for two weeks. The boys would sometimes seek food at a local church, NJ.com reported.

One of the boys was exiled from the house permanently and was found by a teacher inside a Dunkin' Donuts alone and hungry, a source told NJ.com.

Griles denied any wrongdoing. He admitted to being a legal guardian for two players from Puerto Rico. He said he used to live in Puerto Rico, has "lineage" there and is the godfather to one of the players.

Griles, however, denied that more than two players had ever lived with him or that he is the guardian to more than two players.

A school district spokeswoman told NJ.com that officials had confirmed Griles was the guardian to two players and assistant coach Alberto Maldanado was the guardian to two others. The spokeswoman said Griles had two other players living with him temporarily because they had nowhere else to live, adding they have since moved.

The team record so far this season is 14 and 2. It is unclear how this will affect their standing in the league.

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