New York-Connecticut high school football recruiting squabble turns messy

A kerfuffle over high school football recruits made its way onto social media when the head coach of a notable program in New Rochelle accused another coach of trying to recruit players right off his team — and he came with receipts. 

Iona Prep head coach Joe Spagnolo called out Brunswick School (Greenwich, Conn.) assistant coach Jacob Hallenbeck for trying to poach players from his team, sharing screenshots of messages that the Brunswick coach allegedly sent to several players. 

@CoachHallenbeck stop recruiting @ionafootball,” Spagnolo wrote on X. “We have a better program and would beat you by multiple TDs. Stay in your lane and find kids that need the opportunity. Not kids that already have offers/are being recruited. Does @BrunswickBruins & @coach_wayne55 approve of this?”

The attached screenshots allegedly showed messages that Hallenbeck sent to unnamed Iona Prep players with the general tone of trying to sell them on the program at Brunswick.

In one message to a person named Austin, the message thanks the person for following him before getting into his pitch. 

“Our Head Coach likes your film and we’d love to get you to one of our games at Brunswick,” the message read. “Would love for you to see a presentation about our school, our program, check out our athletic facilities and see us compete. We have 2 more home games left this season. 10/25 @ 3:00PM or 11/1 @ 5:00PM Brunswick is a very successful program, that has had major success placing players and the highest levels of football. It is also a phenomenal opportunity to compete against the best competition in the North East!“

In response to the message, the person wrote back: “My head coach said stop recruiting from programs that would beat you.” 

The person, alleged to be Hallenbeck, wrote back that he was “trying to help kids with the opportunity to play against the best competition around! The college placement speaks for itself. Best of luck with the rest of your season and your football career!“

As of Thursday, Spagnolo had not commented further on the topic on social media, and Hallenbeck has not responded to the accusations.