News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
An eligibility problem for a Sisters student cost the Lady Outlaws basketball program its stellar record this season - and it's led to a tightening of procedures and protocols by new athletic director, Tim Roth.
The Oregon School Activities Association (OSAA) has denied the Outlaws appeal of a ruling rendering 13 games forfeit due to the ineligibility of a player who transferred from Redmond. Eleven of those games were victories.
The student athlete had received coaching instruction from the Outlaws' softball coach over the summer. Under OSAA rules, she should have sat out all sports for a calendar year.
Roth told The Nugget he was made aware of the eligibility problem "from another athletic director who had coaches contact him."
The Outlaws asked for and received a hardship waiver that allows the student to continue playing. But there was no real recourse on the sanction.
"The language (of the OSAA rules), when we ran it by our lawyers, is pretty straight-forward," Roth said.
Straight-forward as in "shall forfeit." No ifs, ands or buts.
Some in the community have noted that the basketball program took the hit, while it was softball where the student received instruction. Roth acknowledged that the student will be able to play softball and there will be no sanction against Outlaws softball.
"Not from the OSAA," he said. "I can't speak to any other point at this time as far as what's going to happen."
Roth had not assumed his position as athletic director when the instruction in question occurred, and the contact was not communicated or reported during the summer or, indeed, at any time before Roth was notified in the middle of basketball season.
"We're still investigating all the circumstances that led to this," Roth said.
And he's not trying to assign blame.
"I'm not hanging anybody out to dry; I'm not throwing anybody under the bus," he said. "There were many factors in why this took so long to come to light."
Roth is focusing on making sure communications are clear regarding any of the 80-plus transfers that Sisters received this year. He is instituting protocols to "proactively check on athletic contact."
It doesn't take much to create an eligibility problem.
"It takes one hour of giving instruction in a batting cage; that's all it takes," he said.
Roth also noted that coaches all have to be fully versed on the OSAA's many rules.
The forfeits obviously hurt the Outlaws, but Roth noted that the whole episode has given the school a chance to show how champions respond to adversity.
Rather than pointing fingers and falling into discord and disarray, "these kids have really stepped up and gelled as a team," Roth said. "I credit the coach, the parents and the whole student body. The girls have shown amazing maturity and poise."
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
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