Redlands Community College is not starting a football program.

“We do not have a football program and have no plans to start a program. The only club sport we operate is ESports. All the rest are sanctioned by the National Junior College Athletic Association and we have not declared or have any plans to declare football,” said RCC President Jack Bryant.

Gordon's Fine Arts and Sports Academy, which owner Kenneth Gordon says fields teams in both football and basketball, relocated to El Reno from Oklahoma City earlier this year. While academy players will be enrolled at Redlands, they will not be associated with the college outside of the classroom.

“We don't have the facilities to start football and it's a very expensive sport,” said Bryant.

Gordon is familiar with El Reno and Redlands after serving as an assistant coach under former RCC head coach Win Case. He said he started his academy in 2006 under the name of Milestone Prep Academy, but stepped away from those duties to work with Case.

“I ended up keeping the program alive under my son because I had to home-school. After I left Redlands I reopened the school and from that point on, for five or six years, I just ran it until my kids got into high school,” said Gordon.

The academy's name was changed to Raleigh's Finest Sports Academy and then to its current title in 2018, said Gordon.

“This is our first year (in El Reno). We used to be at several churches in Oklahoma City and I would use the city facilities like the public libraries to deal with the educational part of it and the city gyms and stuff like that,” said Gordon.

Gordon said this is the third year for his academy to offer football, but the second in which it will play a full schedule. He said the Fighting Cougars 2020 schedule was wiped out by the COVID-19 pandemic after the NJCAA moved all fall sports to the spring of 2021.

Two of the teams listed on Gordon's 2020 schedule, found on the academy's website, were NJCAA teams. He said the academy does fill open dates with junior college programs.

The academy is listed as a member of the National Post Graduate Athletic Association (NPGAA), which has 20 teams and is based out of Auburndale, Fla. The team plays out of the Midwest Post Graduate Conference.

Gordon says the academy's base is 1200 W. Elm, which serves as a team house and living space for coaches. Players live at an adjacent apartment complex.

Gordon said he and his staff of four other coaches oversee around 21 players, but expects to add 19 more players this week.

“I never want to go over 45 players because when you are dealing with a post-graduate program, you want the kids to play and you want the kids to get on film and not worry about if they are going to get to play,” said Gordon.

Gordon lists his academy as a Limited Liability Company (LLC), with players signing on for one season.

“The kids go to Redlands and we have them take three classes in the spring, summer and fall. Preferably they are three classes that will transfer so that when they are done they will have 27 credit hours.

“The reason they go part-time is so that the NCAA clock won't start. As long as they don't take more than 12 credit hours and they are going to a prep school, that clock won't start,” said Gordon.

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has a five-year clock in which Division 1 student-athletes can compete for up to four seasons.

Gordon said the basic cost for his academy is $8,300 a year per athlete. Parents are asked to pay a $2,300 deposit which can be broken up into as many as four payments. The remainder of the balance can be paid in installments of up to 10 months.

“It's (cost) a mixture on what background you come from. The reason we started going the college route is that it allows the kids that normally could not afford to come to our program to go ahead and come.

“They will get their Pell grants and loans and stuff like that. After Redlands gets their money for classes and stuff, the kids get a refund,” said Gordon.

Bryant confirmed the federal student aid program is set up to pay a student's financial obligation to the educational institution first. He said refunds are based on the number of course hours and other fees.

Gordon said it's up to the athlete and parents to use the refund toward their academy bill.

“Let's say they get $2,000 back, now it's up to the kids and the parents to say, go give that $2,000 to Coach Gordon. Next semester they will do the same thing so technically that's $4,000.

“Now the parent will pay the rest of that out-of-pocket via monthly payments,” said Gordon.

The academy then pays for food, housing, equipment and travel expenses while the students are playing. Gordon said parents are asked to fund-raise for any added expenses and the academy also takes monetary and non-monetary donations.

Confusion on the association between Redlands and the academy started after the two parties began showing up as linked on Gordon's website, emails and phone calls.

The academy's website showed links for both application and authorization forms which were rerouted to Redlands' website. Gordon said he had gotten prior verbal approval from the college to create the links, something Bryant denies.

“I spoke with Mr. Gordon and told him they were not authorized to use our name. He said that was a misunderstanding and assured me those were taken down off the website,” said Bryant.

Those links are no longer on the website www.gordonfasports.com.

Both Bryant and Gordon confirmed that academy players were enrolled at Redlands. Bryant said Gordon reported his players would attend classes in-person.

“Our program is separate from Redlands. Our kids take academics from Redlands and that is the only connection. It's not a partnership at all and I think that is the misconception a lot of people have.

“Redlands does not have a football program, but I do. I could have had classes in SAT prep for math and English, but I wanted them to have college courses,” said Gordon.

Gordon denies ever mentioning a partnership with Redlands or that his team is called Redlands football.

“Never said nothing about Redlands football. I have never told a kid or a parent that we are associated with Redlands outside of this is where we will be taking classes.

“People will assume, but they have never come to me and asked are you Redlands football. That has been a big misconception,” said Gordon.

So why bring the academy to El Reno?

“I could have done the same thing at Oklahoma City Community College or Rose State. But I was familiar with Redlands and in El Reno, the likelihood of them getting into trouble is small.

“And with the way the town is, they know they can contact Coach Gordon if they have a problem with anything,” said Gordon.

El Reno Public Schools Superintendent Craig McVay said the district was also confused with the association between RCC and Gordon after Athletic Director Rodney Haydon received an email inquiring about playing academy home games at Memorial Stadium.

The email, dated June 2 from Gordon's Yahoo account, stated: The name of my program is Gordon's Fine Arts and Sports Academy, a post-grad program dwelling on Redlands campus.

“I was stunned when I read the email because I didn't think Redlands had any interest in starting football,” said McVay.

McVay said the district had an encounter with several academy players on Aug. 6, after they had made unauthorized access to Memorial Stadium and were practicing on the new turf near the 50-yard line.

He said El Reno police were called after players became verbal with district administrator Matt Goucher, who had gone to the stadium to inform those players they were not authorized to be on-site. Due to recent spikes in COVID-19 case numbers, the district is not allowing any outside parties to use school facilities.

“Matt said a couple of the players got verbal with him and I told him to call the police,” said McVay.

The police report from the incident stated contact was made with the players, but they had moved to an area of Adams Park which is open to the public. The report stated the players were respectful.

Police officers informed the players, and later Gordon through a phone call, that they were not authorized to use school facilities.