JaMarcus Russell out as high school coach, sued for allegedly stealing donation to school

JaMarcus Russell, the former No. 1 overall pick of the Oakland Raiders and a former volunteer assistant football coach at Williamson High School in Mobile, Alabama, was relieved of his duties in that capacity last season due to suspicions that he cashed a $74,000 donation to the school for his own use.

“JaMarcus Russell was relieved of his volunteer coaching duties at Williamson High School during the fall of last year,” Mobile County Public School officials told WKRG Sports.

The details, from WKRG:

According to court documents, JaMarcus Russell deposited and cashed a $74,000 check at Navigator Credit Union in July 2022.

Chris Knowles wrote the check.

He tells WKRG Sports Director Simone Eli that the money was a donation to the Williamson football program on behalf his business Selwonk Enterprises, a local building company.

Sources close to the Williamson program, with knowledge of the situation, say the Lions never saw any of the money.

Knowles said that Russell approached him in 2022 about making a donation to the school to help purchase weight-room equipment for the football program. Knowles later put a stop payment on the check when Russell wouldn’t provide a receipt for the purchases, and then wouldn’t return his phone calls.

However, Navigator Credit Union mistakenly paid Russell a portion of the amount — $55,000 — and is now suing Russell for that. Russell has since countersued Knowles for stopping payment on the check in the first place.

Russell was selected first overall in the 2007 draft out of LSU, and became one of the more unfortunate bust stories in NFL history. He finished his professional career in 2009, having completed 52.1 of his passes for 6.0 yards per attempt, 18 touchdowns, and 23 interceptions. The six-year, $61 million contract he received from the Raiders is one of the primary reasons the NFL now has a rookie wage scale.