Former Florida student Jonathan Head pleaded guilty to felony battery on Tuesday and was sentenced to one year in jail for his unprovoked attack on Gator baseball player Brandon McArthur.
Head, 23, sucker-punched McArthur outside the Grog House bar in Gainesville around 1:55 a.m. on Oct. 30. McArthur, a former Armwood standout, fell into a wall and hit his head. He was hospitalized for several weeks and had multiple brain operations.
Gainesville state attorney Bill Cervone said after the jail term Head will have four years of supervision, two under community control then two on probation.
"Both are drug-offender type supervision, because it was apparent to us that substance abuse, whether alcohol or drugs, was a contributing factor," he said. "There was just no reason for this."
Head, of Bradenton, apologized for his actions during his sentencing hearing but has never made clear why he attacked McArthur, Cervone said.
"There was absolutely no connection between the two and nothing that night that happened between them," Cervone said. "It makes no sense."
Cervone said the only issue left is what type of restitution Head will be ordered to pay.
McArthur, a freshman infielder, is with the team but hasn't played in 21 games. A redshirt is likely.
USF: The national search for an athletic director will not include USF's highest ranking athletic administrator, Barbara Sparks-McGlinchy.
"I enjoy what I'm doing, I have a very full plate right now," said Sparks-McGlinchy, the senior associate athletic director.
In January, when Lee Roy Selmon announced he would be taking a six-week sabbatical and likely would not return as AD, several USF coaches said they supported promoting from within. Selmon took a newly created fundraising position at USF last month.
Last week USF contracted Neinas Sports Services of Boulder, Colo. to lead the AD search. Chuck Neinas, president of Neinas Sports Services, toured campus Monday and Tuesday and will meet with USF's 10-member search committee on March 30.
In other news, defensive end Terrence Royal has not violated USF's student-athlete code of conduct and therefore is not subject to the mandatory two-game suspension, Sparks-McGlinchy said.
USF amended the code of conduct last year to require student-athletes to inform their coach and associate athletic director Steve Horton within 24 hours of an arrest or criminal charge. Royal informed neither coach Jim Leavitt nor Horton after a direct file was sent to the state attorney's office Saturday by university police charging Royal with trespassing in a residence hall area. Royal was banned from the residence halls last month.
However, Royal was not arrested at the time because he was with his 2-year-old daughter.
"He has not been arrested or charged with a crime, so he is not in violation of our policy," Sparks-McGlinchy said.
Sparks-McGlinchy said she was not aware of the direct file with the state attorney's office.
Royal, a junior, is on probation with Student Judicial Services.
- Staff writer Pete Young contributed to this report.
