MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — After Rockvale High School football coach Rick Rice led the team in a postgame prayer last month, a national nonprofit has filed a complaint with the Rutherford County Board of Education.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation sent a complaint on Sept. 20 to education board attorney Sara Page about Rice's involvement with the prayer, calling it "a constitutional violation."

According to its website, FFRF's mission is to protect the separation of church and state.

Page said Monday afternoon that the district hadn't been notified of the organization's complaint.

The foundation said it learned of the prayer after a concerned parent reached out. The parent told the foundation that Rice organized the students and led a prayer following the Aug. 30 game against Franklin County.

"Coach Rice's conduct is unconstitutional because he endorses and promotes his religion when acting in his official capacity as a school district employee," FFRF's attorney Dante CH Harootunian wrote in the complaint. "When a public school employee acting in an official capacity organizes and advocates for team prayer, he effectively endorses religion on the District's behalf."

Harootunian asked the school board to conduct an immediate investigation into the complaint.

Coach apologizes

In a phone interview Monday, Rice said he was aware of the complaint and admitted he led the students in prayer during the school's first home game. He said he led two prayers this season and that a student led a prayer at another game.

A video provided to The Daily News Journal shows Rice with his back to the camera during the prayer. He places his hands on the shoulders of two players, and others have their heads bowed. Due to noise on the field, Rice's exact words could not be heard.

“I wasn’t trying to be disrespectful to other religions," Rice said. "It was just something I got used to in Wayne County, and nothing was ever said.”

Rice said he would do whatever was necessary to fix the issue and won't lead a prayer again.

“It’s not OK today, but I’m old-school and guess I just forgot about it being such a sensitive issue in this day and time," he said. "I wasn’t trying to be disrespectful.”

Rice was hired to lead the first-year Rockvale program in January. During his time at Wayne County (Tennessee), he spent 25 years on staff and 21 as head coach.

The Supreme Court has repeatedly struck down school-sponsored prayer in public schools. In 1990, the court declared a public school employee participating in a student-led prayer or other religious activity unconstitutional. Similarly, federal courts have ruled a coach's silent participation in a student prayer to be unconstitutional.