CCS finds letter to paper from coach violated recruiting rules;
Sobrato issued reprimand
Live Oak High’s football program has been placed on probation through the 2005-06 school year for a recruiting violation.
A Central Coast Section panel of three principals unanimously issued the penalty after reviewing a letter to the editor written by head football coach Glen Webb and published in the Morgan Hill Times on March 5.
The panel also reviewed a letter to the editor written by Sobrato High head football coach Jeff Patterson and published in the Times on March 22. While the panel determined that Patterson’s letter did not constitute a violation, it sent a letter of reprimand to Sobrato.
The special panel was convened on March 23 at the behest of CCS Commissioner Nancy Lazenby Blaser, a Morgan Hill resident who read the letter to the editor by Webb in which he touted his football program and was highly critical of neighboring Sobrato High’s decision to pull out of the Tri-County Athletic League in football.
LO Principal Nick Boden, Athletic Director Mark Cummins and Webb, accompanied by a teachers’ union representative, attended the hearing. Lazenby Blaser said she is empowered to handle such issues herself but assembled the panel of administrators to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest because she lives in the community.
The panel found that the letter was a deliberate attempt to influence potential football players in Morgan Hill in favor of the LO program at the expense of the Sobrato program, and that the infraction was exacerbated by the fact that the CCS and Sobrato, through Principal Rich Knapp, brought up the issue instead of Live Oak officials.
The panel also found that the letter extended an invitation to area eighth-graders to attend spring practice, a violation of CCS rules. According to Lazenby Blaser, the probation will apply only to the Acorn football program. If anyone in the program commits an additional rule violation then more serious sanctions would be considered, she said.
Additional sanctions could include removal from league championship contention, ineligibility for the CCS playoffs, suspension of the rest of the season during which the violation occurred, and suspension of the LO football program for a longer period of time, among other possible penalties.
The terms of the probation include:
n Principal Nick Boden is required to write a letter of apology to the community on behalf of the high school for the recruiting rule violation related to Webb’s comments, a letter that appears on page 4 of today’s issue of The Times.
n Live Oak is required to develop a written procedure to review the content of any letters written by any member of the high school’s athletic staff prior to publication.
n The school is required to schedule a minimum of a one-hour review of the CCS recruiting policies and bylaws for all members of the high school’s football coaching staff and any other athletic staff members deemed appropriate.
n Principal Boden and Athletic Director Mark Cummins are required to attend the 2005 CCS adminstrators’ workshop.
Boden said he considers the penalty a fair one, including the requirement for him to write a letter of apology, and the school will not file an appeal.
“I’m the principal of this school and this (incident) is a reflection on the school to the community,” Boden said.
In the letter, Boden apologizes to Sobrato for Webb’s letter, and its tone and content, and expresses the hope that the two schools will be able to move forward together.
Boden said Webb has not been asked to resign. He added that he hasn’t made a decision on whether to make a head coaching change with the football program but that he and AD Cummins would be attempting to complete an annual review of all fall sports and any potential changes to be made by the end of the month. Spring football practice begins in May.
AD Cummins said it’s time for LO and Sobrato to work on their relationship.
“(The incident) was unfortunate,” he said. “We’re a two-high school town now and we have to accept that.”
Lazenby Blaser said the CCS hearing panel made no recommendation regarding Webb’s status as football coach, but she said that another high school’s athletics program had been taken off probation after a coach resigned.
After surviving a 24-game winless streak over two and a half seasons, the Live Oak program rebounded this year to finish 8-3 overall last season, taking third place in TCAL and earning a CCS playoff berth.
Webb said he was not allowed to comment about the probation sentence or related issues according to the terms of the probation.
“I intend to adhere to the conditions of the probation,” Webb said. “I’m not willing to take a chance on further sanctions to the school (by commenting).”
Lazenby Blaser said Webb is not under any additional restrictions regarding his statements, and that the usual CCS policies and rules apply.
“Any coach anywhere, if you say something wrong you can be sanctioned,” she said. “He has the microscope on him, definitely, and the sanctions would be more serious, but he doesn’t have a different level of responsibility.”
Webb’s letter to the editor criticized Sobrato’s decision to pull out of the TCAL in football after the league’s final schedule was approved, and pointed out that it caused hardship for Live Oak and the rest of the league’s football program in trying to reschedule games so late in the process. He also indirectly compared the LO football schedule to Sobrato’s, and invited prospective players to attend spring practice.
Subsequently, Sobrato’s Patterson submitted his letter to the editor. Patterson’s letter touted the Sobrato football program, invited prospective players to spring practice and summer workouts and mentioned the football schedule.
Lazenby Blaser said the panel decided Patterson’s letter did not constitute a violation because it was a response to the Webb letter, and because his letter’s tone and content were appreciably different.
She said the letter sent from CCS to Sobrato described Patterson’s letter as “imprudent” and that a public forum should not be used to comment on high school athletic programs.
The CCS letter also requires Sobrato to institute a review process for letters written by athletic staff and reminded the high school not to invite eighth-graders to spring practice in violation of section rules. No sanctions will be imposed, Lazenby Blaser said.
Knapp said he will respond to the CCS letter next week.
Sobrato football, which competed against frosh-soph teams last season, will play an independent varsity schedule in the fall. The school opened this year with freshmen and sophomore students.
Next fall, the school will add a junior class. Lazenby Blaser said CCS typically places one or two schools on probation every year, with the most common infractions sportsmanship, recruiting and fraud. She said the TCAL’s Salinas High has been close to probation for sportsmanship issues in recent years.
CCS is the governing organization for high school athletic programs from Monterey County in the south to San Francisco in the north.
What do you think about Live Oak football being placed on probation? Do you think head football coach Glen Webb was treated fairly? Call Green Phone at 1-800-687 0836.
