Highland Park wrestlers face one-year suspension because Washington
\nwas at an outstate meet.<\/p>\n
Terry Foster \/ The Detroit News<\/p>\n
HIGHLAND PARK — There’s a showdown brewing in Michigan high school
\nsports this week — and it has nothing to do with the baseball,
\nsoftball and soccer tournaments.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday morning, representatives of Highland Park High School
\nsquare off against the Executive Committee of the Michigan High
\nSchool Athletic Association.<\/p>\n
The MHSAA has demanded Highland Park suspend wrestling coaches Glen
\nWashington and Jamar Whitfield for one year because of their
\nparticipation in a non-sanctioned meet in Virginia. If not, the MHSAA
\nhas threatened, Highland Park wrestlers will be banned from next
\nseason’s team and individual state tournaments. Furthermore, Highland
\nPark’s membership in the MHSAA could be suspended, effectively
\nshutting all teams out of postseason play.<\/p>\n
Highland Park officials, in turn, are seeking a change to MHSAA rules
\nand threatening legal action.<\/p>\n
“If they want a fight, they got one, “Highland Park school board
\npresident Robert Davis said.<\/p>\n
MHSAA communications director John Johnson said Highland Park still
\nwould be eligible to participate in regular-season competition. He
\nsaid other schools have been banned from tournaments, but could not
\nprovide documentation.<\/p>\n
“It is very infrequent, “Johnson said.<\/p>\n
Detroit King was banned from the Class A girls basketball tournament
\nin 1999 for playing too many regular-season games. Detroit Community
\nwas banned from the boys basketball tournament in 2003 for using an
\nineligible player.<\/p>\n
MHSAA executive director John R. Roberts outlined the possible
\nsanctions in a letter dated May 3. The MHSAA contends Washington and
\nWhitfield violated Regulation II, Section 13, which prohibits coaches
\nfrom national exhibition and all-star competitions during the school
\nyear.<\/p>\n
Crux of argument<\/p>\n
Washington and Whitfield admit coaching seniors Jaron Trice and
\nAnthony Jones at the National High School Coaches Association Senior
\nNationals in Virginia Beach, Va., March 29-April 1.<\/p>\n
Highland Park officials claim Washington and Whitfield did not
\nviolate the MHSAA rule because they were not employed as coaches by
\nthe school district at the time. All Highland Park coaches submit
\nresignations at the end of their seasons and reapply for their
\npositions before the next season.<\/p>\n
Highland Park officials are asking the MHSAA to adopt their
\ninterpretation of the rule — that coaching status ends once the
\nseason is complete and not at the end of the school year. Roberts’
\nMay 3 letter contends that’s a semantic argument to skirt the
\nestablished rule.<\/p>\n
Davis said the school terminates employees because it gives it
\ngreater flexibility with personnel. Washington said he submitted his
\nresignation because he wants to avoid “conflicts of interest “with
\nhis wrestling club (Silverback Academy Wrestling Club).<\/p>\n
Were there others?<\/p>\n
Johnson said the MHSAA is investigating claims other state coaches
\nparticipated in the Virginia meet, and guilty schools would meet the
\nsame punishment as Highland Park.<\/p>\n
The Highland Park violation was easy to determine because video of
\nthe finals were posted by flowrestling.com. Trice advanced to the
\nfinal, and Washington and Whitfield were visible, while all other
\nMichigan wrestlers were eliminated in earlier rounds. Also, Highland
\nPark officials chose to take the case public.<\/p>\n
Johnson disputed claims Canton wrestling coach Casey Randolph also
\nparticipated but will receive less punishment.<\/p>\n
“I can’t say specific schools, “Johnson said. “We have information
\nabout other schools who had coaches at the same competition who are
\nbeing handled in the exact same manner. Coaches can go as spectators.
\nThere were coaches in the stands who were not coaching. That is where
\nthe line is. Going on the mat is a totally different thing.”<\/p>\n
Randolph did not respond to telephone messages.<\/p>\n
Dearborn Fordson coach Jerry Marszalek said the Highland Park coaches
\nare on shaky ground. Marszalek said he often watches his wrestlers in
\nother meets, but he remains in the stands and does not coach them.<\/p>\n
“If you are going to push the envelope, you have to pay the price,”
\nhe said. “You know you are not supposed to do it. In my opinion, the
\nkids would have done well without them. When a kid is good you don’t
\nhave that much influence.”<\/p>\n
Clarkston coach Joe DeGain wrestled in the meet in 1996. One of his
\nwrestlers, Mike Maguire, competed this year.<\/p>\n
“I didn’t even go, “DeGain said.<\/p>\n
Wrestlers are provided a coach by the national federation if they
\nwant.<\/p>\n
Rule bars athletes, too<\/p>\n
The rule also states any athlete who participates in a national event
\nloses eligibility for one calendar year. For example, if a basketball
\nplayer participates in the McDonald’s All-American game he cannot
\nplay spring sports.<\/p>\n
Johnson said most states have the rule.<\/p>\n
“Educators have felt that national championships and travel
\ncompetition is not in the best interest of education and athletics,”
\nJohnson said.<\/p>\n
Monroe wrestling coach Dave Winger believes the rule should be
\nchanged.<\/p>\n
“If you are good enough, you should be able to go, “Winger said. “The
\nstate of Michigan is very selfish in they want the state championship
\nto be the ultimate.”<\/p>\n
Richmond coach George Hamblin had two wrestlers eligible to compete
\nin the meet.<\/p>\n
Brian Peterson wrestled and lost his spring eligibility. Lance Pitcel
\ndecided to run track.<\/p>\n
“It’s a tough decision for kids because a lot of them want to go
\nsince it’s big for college coaches, “Hamblin said.<\/p>\n
Washington claims neither he nor the kids were representing Highland
\nPark. They were representatives of the Silverbacks.<\/p>\n
“I don’t feel we violated any rules, “Washington said. “At the end of
\nthe year we are terminated. We put in our resignation and then we go
\nall over the country and do other things.<\/p>\n
“I don’t understand this whole thing.”<\/p>\n
Washington said the school is not trying to “skirt rules. “He simply
\nwanted his kids to participate in a meet where college coaches could
\nsee them.<\/p>\n
“I wonder what due process is and what past practice is.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Highland Park wrestlers face one-year suspension because Washington was at an outstate meet. Terry Foster \/ The Detroit News HIGHLAND PARK — There’s a showdown brewing in Michigan high school sports this week — and it has nothing to do with the baseball, softball and soccer tournaments. On Wednesday morning, representatives of Highland Park High […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2575","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-wrestling"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":6}},"acf":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2B7Di-Fx","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrestlingpod.com\/wrestling-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2575","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrestlingpod.com\/wrestling-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrestlingpod.com\/wrestling-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrestlingpod.com\/wrestling-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrestlingpod.com\/wrestling-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2575"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrestlingpod.com\/wrestling-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2575\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrestlingpod.com\/wrestling-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrestlingpod.com\/wrestling-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrestlingpod.com\/wrestling-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}