Father Judge High School reopened its search for a new varsity baseball coach on Friday, according to an official with the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, after old Instagram posts containing racial and homophobic slurs were found on the account of the school’s latest hire earlier this week.
On Monday, Judge, last year’s Catholic League and PIAA baseball champion, announced via social media that John Hunter III, 32, would be its next baseball coach. The school, however, was subsequently made aware of Instagram posts from 2013 and 2015 from Hunter’s account in which Hunter appears to refer to himself and his other white friends as the N-word several times. A post from 2015 also used a homophobic slur in reference to one of his friends.
The Inquirer received screenshots of the posts from someone who referred to themselves as a “concerned member of the school’s alumni.” The Inquirer could not independently authenticate the posts because Hunter’s Instagram account is currently private.“We will not be commenting further on the matter,” said Ken Gavin, chief communications officer for the Archdiocese. Hunter, through an intermediary, also declined to comment.Hunter had previously been an assistant coach at St. Joseph’s Prep.