News Release – Ohio High School Athletic Association
Commissioner Daniel B. Ross, Ph.D.
Interim Commissioner Dave Gray
www.OHSAA.org | twitter.com/OHSAASports | www.Facebook.com/OHSAA
For Immediate Release – Oct. 25, 2016
Contact – Tim Stried, OHSAA Director of Communications, tstried@ohsaa.org
OHSAA Announces Penalties against Pair of Member Schools
In unrelated violations, Cleveland Glenville and Dublin Coffman placed on probation and receive other penalties
COLUMBUS, Ohio – In a pair of unrelated cases, the Ohio High School Athletic Association has issued penalties against Cleveland Glenville and Dublin Coffman for violations of OHSAA bylaws. Both schools appealed the initial penalties to the OHSAA Board of Directors on Oct. 20, which resulted in the Board modifying the rulings. However, probation and other penalties are still applied to both schools, as well as a coach suspension for Coffman.
Glenville violated OHSAA bylaw 3-1-2 when it did not respond to requests for information regarding a transfer student-athlete after it was found that the transfer paperwork was falsified and the student-athlete should not have been permitted to participate in football contests this season, which he did after sitting out five games. Initially, the penalties included forfeiture of two varsity victories in which the ineligible student participated, but those forfeitures were rescinded by the Board upon appeal. Additional penalties are described below.
Coffman violated OHSAA bylaw 4-9, Recruiting, when the head football coach met with an eighth grade student-athlete and his father regarding the student enrolling at Coffman as a freshman. Penalties are described below.
“With Glenville, there were several issues with the falsified transfer paperwork that should have been addressed by school administrators before it was ever submitted to our office,” said Dave Gray, OHSAA interim commissioner. “And with Coffman, there is a protocol in place that our coaches are to follow when they are contacted by a student, or a family member, when the student is not enrolled at the coach’s school. Not adhering to those guidelines is a clear violation of the recruiting bylaw, and our staff issued its ruling based on information submitted by Coffman administrators.”
Glenville
In late August, Glenville submitted paperwork for a transfer student-athlete, which the OHSAA initially approved. However, in early September, after receiving additional information about the transfer, the OHSAA began attempting to contact Glenville administrators to follow up on several questions. The school failed to respond to repeated attempts and, after holding the student out of competition for the first half of the season, allowed the student to participate in two varsity contests, which Glenville won. After appeal, the OHSAA Board of Directors ruled that the school will not be forced to forfeit those two victories, however the student-athlete is ineligible for the remainder of the 2016-17 school year, Glenville is fined $2,000 and placed on probation through June 2018.
Coffman
Last spring, Coffman officials conducted an internal investigation, and in June self-reported that head football coach Mark Crabtree held meetings with an eighth grade student and the student’s father regarding the football program at Coffman. After self-reporting the violations, Coffman was willing to suspend the student-athlete if he attended Coffman, which he did not. The Commissioner’s Office issued more stringent penalties, which the OHSAA Board of Directors modified following the appeal and ruled that Crabtree is suspended for the team’s first two playoff games of 2016, if the team qualifies and advances. In addition, Coffman is placed on probation through June 2018, Crabtree shall have only seven days of contact with the team during the 2017 summer period, and Coffman must provide education to all its coaches regarding OHSAA recruiting bylaws and provide a written summary to the OHSAA.