Grand Rapids Kenowa Hills recommended a wholesale change in the athletic department, stemming from an investigation, during a school board meeting on Monday, Aug. 24.
In a unanimous vote, the Kenowa Hills school board recommended athletic director Ross Willick's termination and football coach Don Fellows' suspension for two games. The recommendations stemmed from issues that were found during two investigations into a physical education program offered at Kenowa Hills High School.
The decision was based on an independent report by law firm Clark Hill, which was presented at a school board meeting Monday. The report includes allegations of sex discrimination and safety issues related to a Kenowa Hills High School physical education class named
"Knights Strength."
The report is based on an investigation that started from a complaint filed in August 2025. The complaint alleged that a female student was denied access to the class because it was separated by sex and that the Kenowa Hills football program "dominated" the first-hour PE class and that football coaches used the class to "conduct football drills in the gym which we believe violates the MHSAA rules and Board policies."
"The staff member alleged that, in 2024, the student was not permitted to enroll in the first hour class because it was populated exclusively with male students, many of whom were participants in the football program," the online report said. "At the time of the fall 2025 investigation, 51 students were enrolled in the first hour Strength class. All were male and 48 of them were involved in the football program. The class size was not to exceed 50 students. In previous years, female students were enrolled in the first hour class."
"The best way to describe it is it is a disagreement on how programming goes," Fellows told the Free Press in a Tuesday, Aug. 25, phone interview. "There are good people on both sides. I think it is just a disagreement on programming and how, I think, a majority of us think how a football program should be run compared to some folks that would like to see it run differently. Everybody is trying to make adjustments and do what's best for kids."
When contacted, Kenowa Hills Schools referred the Free Press to the report published on the school's website. Willick could not be reached by the Free Press.
The Kenowa Hills football team is ranked No. 24 in Michigan in the Free Press preseason football rankings. The Knights open the season with a high-profile matchup against reigning Division 3 champion DeWitt in Detroit's Prep Kickoff Classic on Thursday night at Wayne State.
Fellows said the suspension has not been enacted yet, meaning he will coach Kenowa Hills' opening game.
"That is still to be determined," Fellows said of when the two-game suspension will take place.
Clark Hill's report also alleges that football coaches used the first-hour PE class to teach football drills to players enrolled in the class and watch film.
According to MHSAA guidelines, offseason sports instruction is limited to groups of four or fewer student-athletes in grades 7-12. The offseason workouts are supposed to be player-led and coaches present are prohibited from offering instruction. No matter how many coaches are present, no more than four players from the same school district may receive coaching or sport-specific instruction at the same time.
"It is the conclusion of this investigation that Coach Fellows’ use of the 1st hour Knight Strength Class violates MHSAA guidelines and Board policies," the report states. "He is using more than four students to conduct football drills in the gymnasium during instructional time. There is nothing indicated in the MHSAA out-of-season coaching regulations that allows a coach to use instructional time for the purpose of football drills, especially ones involving more than four students at a time during instructional time."
In response to the allegations, Fellows said he "completely disagrees with it" when it comes to potentially violating MHSAA guidelines.
"Overall, my displeasure is how this has all been handled and it's become public," Fellows said. "I don't think a majority of the students at our school feels hurt or disrespected. I think it comes back to we had one vision with one superintendent and one board and then that kind of switches."
Fellows said he disagreed with some of the report and did not want to speak about specifics outside of describing it as a "programming disagreement" with a new superintendent. He emphasized that he was going along with whatever the school district decides to do.
"I disagree with how it was rolled out," Fellows said. "I disagree with some of the things that are said in the report. But that's my opinion. Administrators have made their decision of how they want that class to be changed and run, and they have the right to do that. I don't have any say in what happens in a class."
Following the first investigation, the school board set a list of guidelines for the Knights strength program in the 2026-27 school year, based on the recommendations of a 14-person committee.
The guidelines included: opening the class to all students, regardless of gender; determining student access to the class through a normal selection and scheduling process; aligning placement to academic needs and student choice, consistent with all other courses; scheduling to follow existing district policies, where students select courses and are placed in the student information system based on their overall academic profile; any course change request must follow district policies; the building principal will make any final determination on unique circumstances.
The new recommendations included allowing coaches to recommend athletes to the "Knights Strength" class, but not allowing it to become a mandatory requirement. The guidelines were given to Willick, principal Nate Robahrn and former superintendent Gerald Hopkins in early April 2026, according to the report.
The report says Willick sent two emails in April stating he wanted to continue to separate the classes by gender, stating that "I believe it would be advantageous to still group them together as much as you can." Willick said his email was only a recommendation and the classes were open to everyone.
"We have concerns that the high school administration, especially as reflected in the actions to more or less undermine the Board’s guidelines with respect to next year’s 1st hour Knight Strength Class, might result in again an all-male 1st hour class dominated by football players," the report states.
The report concluded the principal and athletic director were not "faithfully implementing" the board's recommendations, and that Fellows had "continued to misuse" the strength class to conduct drills that violate MHSAA guidelines. It recommended all athletic coaches be barred from high school strength classes.
Clark Hill's report recommended the school district self-report violations to the MHSAA.
"It has been obviously frustrating and disappointing," Fellows said. "We've got a group of mature kids and we have just been focused on them and trying to block out the noise. Anytime you are a successful program, people either really love you or they've got some issues with how it goes."
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Jared Ramsey covers high school sports for theDetroit Free Press. Contact him at jramsey@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Grand Rapids Kenowa Hills football coach talks suspension
