by fbinnd » Sat Jun 23, 2007 11:43 am
The issue is getting confused by a lot of heart-string tugging from a group of very disappointed girls.
First, Langdon should be suspended. "Langdon" is bigger than just the players on the team. "Langdon" involves the players, the school, the coaches, the administrators, everything. "Langdon" made a violation of the rules, and should not be allowed in the post-season this year. In fact, they shouldn't be allowed to play a game, or they should be forced to forfeit their entire season before they even play a match. This has nothing to do with the players, it has to do with a school breaking the rules. Sorry, ladies, but if the organization you're attached to breaks the rules, you suffer the consequences. As someone else said, don't blame the state or the rules or the HSAA, blame your coaches who knowingly broke the rules.
Second, the coaches should be fired, the athletic director fired, the principle fired, the superintendant fired, and the entire school board recalled after they get done firing the above. The girls aren't the only ones that should pay the price. After all, they do make a point. They probably had no idea what was happening. I agree that the school shouldn't be able to participate, but that doesn't do much to punish the people that threw away the last season of these girls' careers. The coaches should all be banned from coaching at the high school level for life. Everyone from the volleyball program and up in the athletic department should be fired and banned from administration for life.
Third, Langdon should have to submit to a complete audit by an investigator of the HSAA. The Executive Secretary should go through every travel expenditure of the school, he should question all area schools, including players, coaches, and parents, to determine if this activity extends to other programs. All leads should be followed up on, and any evidence of further recruiting should lead to more hearings and possible suspensions, possibly leading up to a complete ban of Langdon from membership in the HSAA. Landgon should also automatically lose it voting position in HSAA general assembly issues for a year.
Finally, the HSAA has shown how weak an organization it is. "Agonizing over the decision". This should have been a no-brainer. Drop the hammer, and not the little one they dropped, but the big one as described above. But, I can understand why they didn't. They never drop the hammer on the parochials, so why start now?
PS: I understand a person's willingness to feel bad for the girls' on Langdon's team. And I applaud the few that have spoken up here. But to them and everyone else, let's all remember the girls' that would have had their seasons wrecked if this would not have been noticed. The teams that the recruited players would have abandoned to join Langdon. Who speaks for them? Noone, and that's the real shame. Justice was done here. Now people will begin to understand three things:
1. It's wrong to abandon your team just to go win somewhere.
2. It's not cool to have to rob players of their right to play because someone else broke the rules.
3. The best course of action is still simple: Stay where you're at, and don't screw with the system. Lots of people get hurt.
