Kevin Parrom’s career at St. Raymond’s High School is over and his immediate future is uncertain.
This much is clear: the 6-foot-5 Parrom will not attend a public school for his senior season and will likely go to one of the Catholic or prep schools in New Jersey or New York.
“He’s not going to go to public school,” said Gary Charles, Parrom’s AAU coach with the New York Panthers. “At this point, any school within the area is an option. We haven’t really sat down to discuss it.”
Parrom, ranked No. 141 in the Rivals 150 for the Class of 2009, was kicked out of the Bronx school after an altercation Tuesday with St. Ray’s coach Oliver Antigua in which he ended up hitting Antigua in the face and then being arrested.
Charles said the disagreement stemmed from a discussion about the team in general, not specifically about which AAU program Parrom would play for, as some have reported. Parrom plays for the Panthers.
“They were just having a disagreement about different things,” Charles said. “The whole team was there. Oliver was upset with him. It was just normal stuff that coaches and players go through. Oliver said something to him and Kevin said something under his breath.
“Then Oliver said, ‘Are you talking to me? Are you talking to me?'”
That led to a fight and Charles said Parrom “swung his arm, just to get (Antigua) off of him. That’s when he hit him.”
Charles said someone in the school other than Antigua “made them call the cops.”
Parrom was arrested and Charles thought there still might be a way to resolve the matter a day later, but he realized that Parrom was done with the school after speaking with him Wednesday.
“When I talked to the kid (Wednesday), that’s when I realized that the kid was not going back to St. Ray’s, but we did not discuss the school situation,” Charles said.
Charles maintains the incident was out of character for Parrom.
“Having gotten to know Kevin in this short couple of months, he’s not that type of kid,” Charles said. “I’ve been in plenty of locker rooms where a helluva lot worse happened in the locker room.”
Parrom scored 14.5 ppg this season and is being recruited by several Big East schools, including Rutgers and St. John’s. Charles said he did not think those offers would evaporate.
“Who’s kidding who?” he said. “His offers are not going to go away.”
