Louisiana High School Stripped of Football Title

[Fred T. Jane]

I'm sure most of you in the states have heard about this, especially if you listen to the windbag that is Dan Patrick on the Worldwide Leader's Radio Network. If you haven't heard, the 4A State Champion Bastrop High School was stripped of their state football title by the Louisiana High School Athletic Association (LHSAA) because it was discovered that they had illegally recruited several players from shelters after Hurricane Katrina.

Just to set the record straight before the bleeding hearts come out of the woodwork to defend Bastrop HS, here's some things to remember:

(1) LHSAA allowed immediate eligibility of evacuees, provided they played in the same school district they resided in.

(2) LHSAA explicitly stated that coercing evacuees to move to shelters/homes to play for a certain school would be considered recruiting.

(3) LHSAA rules forbid recruiting. The punishment for using a recruited player in games is forfeiture of all games which the player in question played in, as well as all championships or honours the team receives with the player in question on the roster.

(4) The standard punishment for a recruited player is being ineligible for every game they played in for the season after the ruling.

(5) The players in question weren't just benchwarmers. They were highly regarded players that made the difference for Bastrop winning the state title.

Article in next post.

[Fred T. Jane]

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/preps/footb...htm?POE=SPOISVA

Report cites falsified documents in Katrina-related prep transfers

Posted 8/30/2006 10:45 PM ET

By Nick Deriso and Michael Kern, The (Monroe, La.) News-Star

BASTROP, La. ? Bastrop (La.) High coaches, already charged with illegally transporting hurricane evacuees to play football last season, also filed false reports about the circumstances surrounding those transfers.

That allegation is part of a 14-page ruling Wednesday by the Louisiana High School Athletic Association that strips Bastrop of its Class 4A football championship. Two remaining former Port Sulphur High players were also declared ineligible for the year, though Bastrop will be allowed to compete in the LHSAA postseason.

Bastrop head football coach Brad Bradshaw was unavailable for comment on Wednesday, but principal Tom Thrower said the school would appeal.

"First this was a case of illegal recruiting," LHSAA commissioner Tommy Henry said on Wednesday. "The LHSAA is not going to let a school use a kid it illegally recruited. You also have falsified documents."

The bulk of Henry's ruling details allegations that Bastrop assistant coaches illegally transported five Port Sulphur students to Morehouse Parish to play during 2005's storm-torn season.

Schools were given wider latitude in accepting transfers during the aftermath of two devastating 2005 hurricanes in southern Louisiana, but rules on direct recruiting were not relaxed.

The sanctions, first reported by the News-Star, were initially discussed during a conference call on Monday afternoon with Henry. His letter to Thrower was dated Monday and arrived late Wednesday morning.

In it, Henry also details new allegations that grew out of a preliminary investigation last November into the eligibility of the five transfers.

According to Henry, the LHSAA received signed and notarized statements at that time from Bastrop assistant D'Carlos Holmes, the five transfers and two of their mothers that Henry now has concluded are false.

"In their statements, they all claimed the students had been transported to Bastrop by someone other than Coach Holmes and (former assistant Bastrop) Coach (Travis) Stanley," Henry writes in the ruling.

Holmes, junior quarterback Randall Mackey, senior running back Jamal Recasner and departed linebacker James Brown each admitted to the lies during a LHSAA visit earlier this month, Henry said.

Morehouse Parish school superintendent Richard Hartley said that the false reports were Stanley's idea ? and that they were made without the knowledge of either Thrower or Bradshaw.

"I hate that it happened; we certainly don't condone that," Hartley said. "They were not aware that (Stanley) told the kids to do that."

Thrower said Wednesday that he was unaware last fall that the statements were false.

Bastrop has since suspended Stanley in an unrelated matter. A Morehouse Parish grand jury indicted him in June in connection with a charge of inappropriate contact with a 15-year-old female student. Stanley is scheduled to appear in court on Sept. 19.

"There was a coach that is no longer with us (Stanley) that told them to write that statement," Hartley said. "I think that is what they are being penalized for. You have to understand, though, that these kids lived through a traumatic situation. They would do whatever their coach told them to. I don't want to see them penalized for that."

Three of the original five transfers left after Bastrop claimed the 4A crown, its first since 1927. Wide receiver Jeremy Sylve and defensive end Jody Ancar graduated and signed with nearby Grambling State. Brown has since returned to Port Sulphur.

Word that Bastrop would lose its title and that the transfers would be ineligible led to an emotional town meeting on Tuesday night.

"The community is so up in arms and upset," said state Rep. Charles McDonald, who attended the meeting. "I just want to be on record as stating that the decision by the LHSAA is appalling. I think punishing kids who have already faced terrible adversity is grossly unfair. I hope that in the appeal process that the school system can present information that will vindicate our kids and allow them to continue to participate not only in academics but in athletics."

A cornerstone of Bastrop High's argument in bringing football players to Morehouse Parish has been that the transportation was given during a time of desperate need for the evacuees.

But Henry, in the Wednesday ruling, made special mention of the fact that Bastrop had 47 total students displaced by Katrina enroll last year ? yet none of the others received transportation to Morehouse Parish.

"These five students were the only students who were actually contacted by a school-connected person," Henry writes. "Also, I was led to understand that one or two of these same five students had sisters displaced at the same location that participated in LHSAA sports other than football yet were left behind by these coaches."

Hartley said on Wednesday that the school hopes to schedule a Sept. 6 appeals hearing.

"It's still not official," Hartley said. "More than likely, we think it will be next Wednesday."

The LHSAA member who filed a complaint sparking this investigation will not be revealed until the appeals hearing is conducted.

[sscrunner06]

I'm sure this isn't the only case of this happening. I personally know a friend who was contacted by another high school in Mississippi after our school on the MS coast was heavily damaged. Rules are rules, and it's a shame that people took advantage of this situation.

[fonz]

Your right, I can't believe people would take advantage of suc a tragedy. Unfortunately that's the world we live in. And winning is everything...

[Cyclopsis Joe]

Yeah, whispers around here are that Evansville-North is going to get in trouble for co-ercing some Evansville bound Louisiana high schoolers into moving in its district.

Wait, what am I saying, all the Evansville teams (And Castle, and Heritage Hills) are above the law.

Nevermind.