Offensive social media posts lead Father Judge to reopen search for baseball coach

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, initially declined to comment.

An official from Father Judge said the school would not comment. After this story was published online, Hunter contacted The Inquirer via text message.

“Being young and having Black relatives is never an excuse for having a sense of familiarity that allows non-Black people to cross the line and use the N-word in any form,” the text message read. “I apologize for doing that when I was much younger. It’s my hope that after a decade of coaching young men — of all colors — that my youthful ignorance and insensitivity do not define me as a person and a coach. I made a mistake, and I apologize for the hurt it caused — especially to my own family members and those who I have coached and mentored over the years.”

Hunter had previously been an assistant coach at St. Joseph’s Prep. He graduated from North Catholic, where he was a member of the baseball team.

Hunter had been hired to replace longtime Judge coach Mike Metzger, who stepped down in July after leading the Crusaders to a 10th PCL title (first since 2000), the District 12 title, and the school’s first PIAA Class 6A baseball title.

Metzger resigned in July after 15 years with the team, including six as head coach.

(This story has been updated to include a statement from John Hunter)