OSSAA sticks with original ruling in appeal
An Oklahoma Secondary School Activity Association rule which prohibits certain activity once the regular football season is over, was at the center of a controversy at the Newcastle-Guthrie semi-final State football game.
A coach not employed by Guthrie Public Schools was on the sidelines and was thought by some to be helping coach the Bluejays. OSSAA ruled in an appeal Wednesday, December 11 that they did not believe him to be coaching. They also said the intent of a rule from the OSSAA handbook in question, FB6-B-II, is only in regards to students’ activities after the regular season. They further said that Newcastle Schools did not have enough evidence to prove that the non-Guthrie coach was actually coaching.
Newcastle Superintendent of Schools Dr. Cathy Walker said the Newcastle appeal asked for the following: 1. Uphold the rule as it is written and at the very least sanction Guthrie’s head coach and the football program for violating rule FB6-B-II.
2. Have an outside reviewer review the OSSAA handbook and provide clarity to the rules where “intent” is the practice versus what is written on the page.
3. Address the outside coaching question as it needs to be clarified.
APPEAL: Agrees better communication needed
4. Develop communication protocols so that both schools/teams are provided communication when a rule violation occurs and hold the leadership of OSSAA accountable for following it.
Dr. Walker said the OSSAA response was the following: 1. Newcastle Schools did not have enough evidence to prove that he was actually coaching. Dr. Walker presented them with a packet of pictures and text message that she said clearly showed otherwise.
2. Since they did not think he was coaching then the rule in question did not apply. They also said the “intent” of FB6-B-II was meant for players only and they had functioned under that “intent” for 29 years. They did agree that rule FB6-B-II did need clarification and would work on that.
3. There was a discussion about other school’s coaches on the sidelines. They determined there was not a way to monitor if they were coaching or not.
4. They did agree they needed to do a better job of communicating.
Walker said she wanted to thank everyone who sent her text messages, emails, or who came by her office to show support during the appeal.
She said, “I truly appreciate all of you. I will always advocate for our students, teachers, coaches and community. I am very proud to serve as your superintendent and to be a Racer.”
