High School

Hall of Fame coach placed on administrative leave in Michigan

Anchor Bay coach Mike Giannone was previously fired from De La Salle Collegiate as a result of an alleged hazing incident

Gary Adornato

Mike Giannone has been placed on administrative leave from his position as head football coach at Anchor Bay High School in Michigan.
Mike Giannone has been placed on administrative leave from his position as head football coach at Anchor Bay High School in Michigan. / Bryan Mitchell, Special to Detroit News, Mississippi Clarion Ledger via Imagn Content Services, LLC

Mystery surrounds the status of Anchor Bay head football coach Mike Giannone, who missed his team's game with Eisenhower last Friday after being placed on administrative leave on Sept. 18 by the Anchor Bay School District.

The district declined to discuss the situation, calling it a "personal matter" when contacted by MichiganLive.com.

Giannone was inducted into the Michigan High School Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2018 and he was named a MHSFCA regional Coach of the Year 10 times and a three time state Coach of the Year during his time at Chippewa Valley and Warren de La Salle.

His tenure at De La Salle ended abruptly in 2019 after allegations of hazing engulfed the school's football program and seven players faced criminal chargers which were all later dropped. The incident also resulted in school president John Knight being fired.

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Gary Adornato
GARY ADORNATO

Gary Adornato began covering high school sports with the Baltimore Sun in 1982, while still a mass communications major at Towson University, and in 2003 became one of the first journalists to cover high school sports online while operating MIAASports.com, the official website of the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association. Later, Adornato pioneered market-wide coverage of high school sports with DigitalSports.com, introducing video highlights and player interviews while assembling an award-winning editorial staff. In 2010, he launched VarsitySportsNetwork.com which became the premier source of high school media coverage in the state of Maryland. In 2022, he sold VSN to The Baltimore Banner and joined SBLive Sports as the company's East Coast Managing Editor.

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