Why Did La'Darius Leave Navarro in 'Cheer'? His Feud With the Coaching Staff Explained

Since 2020, La'Darius Marshall has been a fan-favorite on the Netflix reality TV cheerleading competition show Cheer. The Navarro College cheerleader impressed fans not only with his extraordinary skills on the mat but his sparkling personality outside the competition. Halfway through the show's second season, La'Darius appears to have left Navarro — and his cheerleading career there — behind.

Why did La'Darius leave Navarro College in Cheer? Here's everything we know about all the drama.

In Season 2, Episode 6, fans see La'Darius explain his exit from Navarro College and cheerleading altogether. At the beginning of the episode, La'Darius explains right from the get-go that he is happy to leave cheerleading behind. "I did my time. I've cheered with the best of them," he says. "I can't be killing my body anymore. I'm tired. My body is dead and burnt out."

However, it sounds like cheerleading took more than a physical toll on La'Darius. If fans recall, there was a brief coaching switch-up that happened when coach Monica Aldama left Navarro in 2020 to compete on Dancing with the Stars. When Monica left, she put assistant coach Kailee Peppers in charge of the team.

Reportedly, there was a feud already brewing between La'Darius and Kailee, as they cheered together when Kailee was still a student at Navarro. La'Darius said previously that he didn't feel like he was getting the support he needed from the coaching staff while Monica was gone, which made him uncomfortable. "When she came back from Dancing With the Stars, it was almost like she forgot where she came from," he remarked.

La'Darius alleged he felt the coaches were abusive to him and said he felt mistreated when he was referred to as a "bad apple." Monica, however, suggested that the reason for La'Darius's frustration stems from a falling out he had with Kailee over a dog. Per Yahoo! Entertainment, La'Darius adopted two dogs and gave Kailee one to watch until the end of the semester. Kailee developed the impression that the dog was hers to keep, thus sparking an argument.

In the end, La'Darius chose to leave Navarro. Per StyleCaster, in 2021, he did an Instagram Live calling out Monica for leaving to do Dancing with the Stars and hinting that the cheerleading team wasn't up to par because everyone "wanted to be a celebrity" instead.

"I forgot I had a voice now. You can’t shut me down anymore … Now I wanna see you lie. Cause you’re a Christian woman, right? Let’s see you lie in front of the world. I bet she can do it. She has been doing it," he said.

Currently, La'Darius is living in Pensacola, Fla., training young cheerleaders at Cheer Athletics. La'Darius and Monica have reportedly made up, and he has been supportive of the show's second season on social media.

Seasons 1 and 2 of Cheer are now streaming on Netflix.