David J. Stern Was a Disgraced Soccer Coach Before Becoming a Disgraced Lawyer

By Eric Barton Fri., Apr. 8 2011 at 6:37 AM

The background of fallen foreclosure king David J. Stern has so far been largely a mystery. But now there's at least one piece of his past that has come to light: the years he spent as a high school soccer coach and how it ended in a spectacular failure.

New Times has learned Stern worked for about three years as soccer coach at Klein Forest High School in suburban Houston. He held the job while taking classes on the side at South Texas College of Law.

His stint as a soccer coach ended in 1984, when he took his team to the state finals, according to three people familiar with his time in Texas. There, he got into a shouting match with an official, who threw him out of the game.

Later, Stern had to appear before a disciplinary hearing of the University Interscholastic League (UIL), which oversees youth sports in Texas. At the hearing in Austin, Stern blew up in front of the panel.

"Most people say, 'I'm sorry, I was upset,' something like that," said a coach who worked for another Houston high school at the time. "But he went there and said, 'You have no idea what you're doing. You have no authority to discipline me.'"

In response, the UIL banned him from coaching for three years. The suspension forced Stern into law school full-time, the coach recalls, starting him down the road of becoming head of a massive foreclosure mill.

Stern's background has largely been held in secret since his firm's troubles began last year. In March, the Sun-Sentinel ran a profile of Stern that acknowledged the paper was unable to find out even where he grew up.

At the height of Stern's empire, his DJSP Enterprises employed 1,200 people and netted him untold tens of millions of dollars. It ended last year after accusations that his firm broke federal laws to push through foreclosures, including ignoring rules about making sure military families don't own the homes. Stern has since gone into seclusion and has declined requests for interviews.

But the coach who faced him back on the soccer fields says the news about Stern's fall didn't surprise the people back in Texas.

"I Googled some stuff, and none of it surprised me," the coach said. "He's the kind of guy you could see pulling something like this."

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Tags:

David J. Stern, foreclosure, housing crisis

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KF Soccer, 1984.

Very poor character references. I played soccer for coach Stern at KF in 1984. His character at that time was of passion and what seemed to me was just a love for the sport. He took KF to the state semifinals 2 years in a row. The other coaches his team beat during that short time insulting his character now is childish and apparently they hold grudges 25 years after losing to his teams. I don't know what happened to him after 1985. But as a coach, he led us with integrity, set the example with hard work and knowledge, and his teams had great success. His players respected him because of his character at that time. When he left KF, it was a loss for the KF soccer program.

Truth2011

KF Soccer That is the same character he tried to share with many under educated youths in his company. His passions and helpfulness for many lead him into a bad path and poorly managed team. He is great man and deserves more than this stupid story. They should report on the thousands of young adults who without him would not have a chance at a career

GL1966

I am familiar with David Professionally and also on a personal level and I must say these stories are stupid and pointless. He owned a very large foreclosure firm that grew so quickly that it could not be managed correctly. That is all that happened!

Hazmat77

hire a private investigator and find Stern's secrets rather than a story of miniscule information and conclusion based on supposition.

Megalodon

"The suspension forced Klein into law school full-time, the coach recalls, starting him down the road of becoming head of a massive foreclosure mill."

Klein? Don't you mean Stern?