Cleveland Heights removed from the Post Season by OHSAA

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Bball216

Well-known member
Word is the Cleveland Heights Tigers are being removed from the OHSAA playoffs. This is being reported by Cleveland.com - I can only image why ? I'm guessing recruiting but we will wait and see. This does not happen often so it must be pretty bad. My only wish is that it would happen more to stop all the transfers. This increases the Brush Arcs chances to advance past the District Semi Finals at Euclid.
 
 
Per Nate Barnes of The NewsHerald: "A source on the Northeast District board confirms the Cleveland Heights basketball team has been removed from the state boys tournament at the direction of the OHSAA. Coaches in the D-I Euclid District were informed today via email, and that voting for the district must be redone."
 
Bball216 said:
Word is the Cleveland Heights Tigers are being removed from the OHSAA playoffs. This is being reported by Cleveland.com - I can only image why ? I'm guessing recruiting but we will wait and see. This does not happen often so it must be pretty bad. My only wish is that it would happen more to stop all the transfers. This increases the Brush Arcs chances to advance past the District Semi Finals at Euclid.
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I am at the ASVSM/ Lutheran East in Cleveland Hts and word is the Vegas tournament.
 
A little research shows that Heights played in Vegas Dec 19 & 20. That would be ok if they got written approval and if no school was missed. Heights school calendar shows school in session both days. Heights is appealing, saying they had verbal permission. Don’t know how they win this appeal.
 
“We received verbal permission, which can’t be proven or disproven, to break a well known rule.”

yeah best of luck with that one
 
Mentor broke that rule about 15 years ago. Their punishment back then was the suspension of the coach, not removal from the tournament. But that was then. Rules and consequences must have changed.

At the time, I thought it was strange they played an OOS tournament during school days. I wonder why it took this long?
 
Back in 2004 Mentor went to Utah and played 3 games and missed school. The rule went into effect the that year because SVSM (with Lebron) was travelling all over the country like a prep School in 2003. Coach K had to sit the last 4 games and the tournament.
 
cardzfan1234 said:
Mentor broke that rule about 15 years ago. Their punishment back then was the suspension of the coach, not removal from the tournament. But that was then. Rules and consequences must have changed.

At the time, I thought it was strange they played an OOS tournament during school days. I wonder why it took this long?
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Because a particular team or teams in the Euclid District did research and complained to the OHSAA that Heights had played 4 games in a roll in Las Vegas,They had permission to attend the Basketball Classic,and had the dates. Now which team would benefit the most with Heights out of the districts. A WHISTLE BLOWER in the Euclid District,I won't mention any teams name but i have my suspicion.
 

A basketball team may travel out of state to compete in contest scrimmages, previews and games in states or provinces in Canada that are contiguous to Ohio regardless of distance to travel. The states include Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. The province includes Ontario. Additionally, a basketball team may travel out of state one time per interscholastic season to compete in states or provinces in Canada that are not contiguous to Ohio provided there is no loss of school time. “School time” is defined as any time during any day during which the school is in session as stipulated in its Board-adopted school calendar exclusive of contingency days. Penalty for violation: The school shall be ineligible for the OHSAA postseason tournament in the sport in which the out-of-state travel was involved and could be subject to additional penalties as referenced in Bylaw 11.

EXCEPTION: If, because of missed school days due to calamity situations, an otherwise non-school day(s) becomes a school day(s) in order to make-up for the missed school day, the school may compete in a contest(s) outside the state of Ohio provided:
1) The school had contracted for/committed to said trip/contest(s) at least three months prior to the contest(s) in question and;
2) The school receives written permission from the Executive Director’s office at least one week in advance of the scheduled event.
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Seems pretty straight forward. Don't miss school for out of state games. The penalty is what it is. There are some exceptions, but Heights didn't meet those. A former pro and first year HS coach probably did a Google search as soon as he got the job for "high school tournament in Las Vegas." And away they went. Hope Vegas was worth it JR Bremer...
 
GCP441 said:
Because a particular team or teams in the Euclid District did research and complained to the OHSAA that Heights had played 4 games in a roll in Las Vegas,They had permission to attend the Basketball Classic,and had the dates. Now which team would benefit the most with Heights out of the districts. A WHISTLE BLOWER in the Euclid District,I won't mention any teams name but i have my suspicion.
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Play the victim. It is the WHISTLE BLOWER's fault...not the athletic director, admin, and coaches that thought this was a good idea. Come on GCP, the focus shouldn't be on the whistle blower. It should be on the Cleveland Heights adults that cost the kids a shot at tournament ball.

Mentor and Brush have the most to gain from this. I wouldn't blame anyone from thinking that one/both of them pointed this out to the OHSAA. I have no idea if they did. It could be an informed parent from one of these schools, not even the coaches. As mentioned above, Mentor made a similar mistake when the rule was first put in 15 years ago. They paid the price as Coach Krizancic suffered a lone black eye on a great career. But back then, the penalty was on the coach, not the team. For what it is worth, I think the punishment is a little harsh but that is what the rules say.

Even though Mentor has suffered the consequences in the past and Heights' removal does benefit them, I do really feel for their players. This is another case of the kids getting penalized for bad decisions made by adults. Whether I like how the current transfer Tigers were put together or not, the kids' opportunity to compete for a district title and more is being ripped away for something they didn't do wrong. EJ Farmer probably wishes he was back at Lutheran East right now.
 
Karma is funny. You lure kids away from their schools to play at Heights - you get what you deserve. I only feel bad for the kids who were not transfers who now pay for this lost opportunity. The transfer kids I could care less that they are missing the tournament.
 
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Assuming it's true that they received verbal permission, the punishment doesn't seem to fit the crime. Ignorance of the rule regarding written consent is no excuse, but punishing the coach/admin would seem like an appropriate remedy.
 
The rule doesn't allow for permission of any kind, written or verbal, except in the specific case where the days in question weren't originally scheduled as school days but were added to the calendar to make up for a missed school day (a snow day, for example) earlier in the year.

These dates were always scheduled as school days--the Christmas break didn't start until Monday the 23rd. That makes it a violation, with a clearly specified penalty.
 
They even cancelled and rescheduled a game against Bedford to go on this trip. This is 100% on the AD and coach. They knew the rules and risked it - tough lesson.
 
GCP441 said:
Because a particular team or teams in the Euclid District did research and complained to the OHSAA that Heights had played 4 games in a roll in Las Vegas,They had permission to attend the Basketball Classic,and had the dates. Now which team would benefit the most with Heights out of the districts. A WHISTLE BLOWER in the Euclid District,I won't mention any teams name but i have my suspicion.
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How about not breaking the rules instead of trying to focus on who turned heights in? Could be anyone considering how public the games were. Don't blame others for your school being stupid. Don't know who you are blaming but I can tell you that heights doesn't scare Mentor
 
MentorGrad2002 said:
How about not breaking the rules instead of trying to focus on who turned heights in? Could be anyone considering how public the games were. Don't blame others for your school being stupid. Don't know who you are blaming but I can tell you that heights doesn't scare Mentor
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Agreed! Whistle blower-please stop with that. This is just another example of the lack of administration at Heights. Not the first time they have messed up. They turned a blind eye on the recruitment of area players. This is Karma for sure. The rule is very simple as the athletic director and coach should be held accountable. Very disappointed that kids have to suffer because the adults did not do their job.
 
Yeoman said:
The rule doesn't allow for permission of any kind, written or verbal, except in the specific case where the days in question weren't originally scheduled as school days but were added to the calendar to make up for a missed school day (a snow day, for example) earlier in the year.

These dates were always scheduled as school days--the Christmas break didn't start until Monday the 23rd. That makes it a violation, with a clearly specified penalty.
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Correct. The exceptions listed in the OHSAA regulations don't have anything to do with what Heights is claiming they received.

It would be a fair argument for one to say that the OHSAA permits players to miss school for a variety of other contests. Sectional, regional and state tournaments (track, basketball, football, volleyball, golf, etc.) often require a kid to miss a partial/full day of school for sports. Even some conference tournaments in sports like golf and tennis can happen during school days. So why is it OK for those to be approved by the OHSAA and not this? Well, if the OHSAA allowed all teams in all sports to miss school as much as they want in the regular season - boy that would open up a can of worms. The rule is in effect for good reason.
 
Yeoman said:
The rule doesn't allow for permission of any kind, written or verbal, except in the specific case where the days in question weren't originally scheduled as school days but were added to the calendar to make up for a missed school day (a snow day, for example) earlier in the year.
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The Coach and AD got on a conference call with a OHSAA representative and was told they had permission to compete in the tournament Heights playing in the Vegas tournament, didn't effect anyone adversely and in no way did it give Heights any unfair advantages. Heights didn't recruit, play with ineligible players, or cheat in any way. The action taken by the OHSAA condemns Tiger Nation, even though they took all the right steps when deciding whether to play in Vegas. Conspiracy theory? Maybe! This action took place because another school or person filed a complaint. Could it be another school from the Euclid district who's worried because Heights been playing so well lately? The timing of all this points in that direction. Heights Vs OHSAA appeal will be heard on Tuesday.
 
There's an much easier remedy than any of those mentioned on here. KNOW THE RULES. Even the keyboard amateurs know that rule. There's no reason coaches and administrators shouldn't.
 
The rule has nothing to do with competitive advantage; it's about prioritizing academics over athletics and making sure there's never a repeat of SVSM's LBJ National Tour.

I think it very unlikely that any OHSAA representative told an AD and a coach "We don't care if the kids miss school. You go ahead and break the rules--it's OK with us as long as nobody from another school calls you out on it." Even then, the story as told makes no sense. Why would the Association care if someone called to tell them something they already knew and had already issued a decision on? What piece of information could a "whistleblower" offer that the Association didn't have and that would make it change its position? I can only think of two: either they didn't realize games were scheduled for Thursday and Friday, or they didn't know those were scheduled school days. And if either of those two extremely pertinent facts were left out of the conference call, then they got their alleged permission under false pretenses.
 
I find it convenient that Bball216, a notorious VASJ supporter with a direct line of communication to Coach Babe at VASJ, was the first person on this site to have this information and start this thread. I'm told it isn't a coincidence.
 
Hey toolbox - I only posted after Matt Gohl posted on Twitter and Cleveland.Com confirmed it. Brush is the only school that had something to gain. The AD (formerly of VASJ) is trying to blame parents - how about taking ownership. The coach, AD and administration f'ed up and now they can pay the Piper. Its justice for their blatant recruiting - serves Tiger Nation well. Win at all cost has its risk - hope winning the conference was worth it.
 
brusharc1986 said:
I find it convenient that Bball216, a notorious VASJ supporter with a direct line of communication to Coach Babe at VASJ, was the first person on this site to have this information and start this thread. I'm told it isn't a coincidence.
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Who cares who started this thread. If they would just follow the rules then a thread wouldn't have to be started at all.
 
Cleveland Heights brought in transfers last year as well as this year ...

blatant AAU stuff ... they did not need to go to a tournament in Las Vegas ...

Poor decisions by administrators with the choice of coaches ..

The AD at minimum should be relieved of his duties ...
 
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