Related: If I don't get my son's Lego Death Star in time for Christmas, I'm definitely pointing my finger at Cael. His tyranny knows no bounds.
Bo Bassett thread
- Thread starter a_mshaffer
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I am not a fan of Mineo but this did make me chuckle. The worst part is this is true. The mindset of people has changed drastically
No, the worst part is that you believe it's true.
At the risk of repeating myself, personally, I have no problem with recruited (in state) wrestlers competing in the "individual" post season championships. Wouldn't they be doing this no matter what school they attend?
However, I do have a big problem with them competing in any "team" championships; (such as the dual championships, team points at individuals, etc.).
However, I do have a big problem with them competing in any "team" championships; (such as the dual championships, team points at individuals, etc.).
Mostly agree -- but they can't all go to AA individual states if their roster is built like a 400/class enrollment.
Put them all on one team and a rising tide lifts all boats. And should lift those boats out of AA.
El-Jefe, yes, I agree. If recruiting (in state), then should go to AAA. I was just trying to make the distinction between individual and team championships.
Shouldn't it be "my friends and I"? Putz himself first. I am sure there is a word for that.
This isn’t mcorts first time and its not the only catholic school to do this. Why they are in the PIAA is the question. Form they’re own league or go prep.
Ill play devils advocate, even though I agree with you. Realistically, there aren't enough Catholic or private schools especially in the Johnstown Altoona area. Bishop Carroll can't even field a football team anymore. I don't think they had a wrestling team in quite a while if ever. Bishop Guilfoyle has a football team but no wrestling. McCort would have to travel to Harrisburg or Pittsburgh for their matches. Guess it's doable, but would increase costs quite a bit.
It's kinda like being a 5A or 6A football school in the D6 area. There just aren't many opponents of similar size. So you have Altoona, State College, Central Mountain, and Hollidaysburg traveling to Pittsburgh or Harrisburg areas.
Archbishop Ryan (PHL Catholic League) played Upper Moreland (Willow Grove public school) football in week 2 this year.
This isn't an issue for duals, unless public schools refuse to schedule them. Only an issue for the postseason.
I would think that making a local dual schedule would be the issue. Why would most public schools, many of which struggle to field a complete team, want to schedule what is essentially an all star team. Especially since there is an abundance of public school teams in the area. I can see it being really bad here for McCort as I get the feeling they aren't well liked to begin with.
Wasn’t the wrestling team already planning to go to a bunch of out of state national type tournaments anyway? I don’t think travel was going to be an issue for them.
Although I couldn’t remember the answer, would they be able to go to National Preps for wrestling only?
While “what transpired” was probably against the rules, it seems the same thing is being done by various other schools. I know that’s not an excuse, so even if you admit they should have been punished, it still seems excessive. I’m no PIAA history buff but multi year postseason bans can’t have happened very often right?
I am assuming here that the other schools doing this were not so vocal about it. The Bassett's, Sam Herring, and others including Mineo kept posting about what they were building at McCort with the wrestling program. Did any if their posts include "I chose McCort" because of their quality academic program, Christian education, etc. It was the wrestling and only wrestling. Now, in PA you cannot transfer for athletic purposes and if you do you have to sit out that year. What happened here was flat out recruiting a team, hence the harsh penalty, also, they got in trouble for the same thing a few years ago. I do not know all of the PIAA rules but it does not take much to see that they were recruiting.
I don't know their schedule so that may be the case. They still might be able to go to the tournaments as they aren't under the PIAA umbrella. Although they may not be able to as McCort since the coach is suspended. Which means the school probably can't pay for travel or lodging.
What a damn mess.
PIAA does enforce inconsistently on the surface -- but need to remember the process. PIAA is the last gate, not the first gate. The first gate is the local PIAA District -- and they rarely initiate except in the most blatant public cases. Almost always the process is initiated by some school within that PIAA District. If nobody brings a case to the local PIAA District, then there's almost never punishment (again, unless it becomes public).
McCort got the hammer for being a repeat offender. They got nailed for recruiting violations 4 yrs ago, albeit on a far smaller scale, and fired head coach Shad Benton for it. What exactly did they think would happen this time, with all the self-publicity on top of the repeat behavior? Pigs get fed, hogs get slaughtered.
That's a safe assumption. Penn State Football might be less vocal about its recruiting.
The entire process is bullshyt.
A entire PIAA district can recruit and cheat as blatantly as they desire, but unless a school losing a student-athlete to an offending school complains nothing is done. Plus if multiple programs are recruiting other programs' kids, the only one investigated is the one who had the complaint filed against.
McCort may have been blatant, but if Forest Hills doesn't complain nobody else in District 6 can initiate an investigation and McCort may have built themselves into a threat against Reynolds and their ability to win team championships without Reynolds having any recourse.
A entire PIAA district can recruit and cheat as blatantly as they desire, but unless a school losing a student-athlete to an offending school complains nothing is done. Plus if multiple programs are recruiting other programs' kids, the only one investigated is the one who had the complaint filed against.
McCort may have been blatant, but if Forest Hills doesn't complain nobody else in District 6 can initiate an investigation and McCort may have built themselves into a threat against Reynolds and their ability to win team championships without Reynolds having any recourse.
I am pretty sure it did not help McCort's case when you had top ten nationally ranked kids moving from different states moving in for "academic reasons", getting transfers from other local districts who were training in the basement of the head coach moving also for "academic" reasons, etc. Again, other schools do this but I have not seen one so blatant and vocal about it,especially when they were sanctioned a few years back for the same reason. That being said, if all these kids are moving for the academics that must be one hell of a school program.
I may be missing something, exactly what was it McCort did that BECA hasn't been doing for years?
Do we know that Forest Hills lodged the complaint?
At the D6 hearing, an Altoona administrator said Bassett attempted to poach kids from there. Gotta be more than that.
Also the entire public nature of this means D6 might have initiated it on its own. When I was at PSU my high school lost a basketball player to a nearby AAAA school, and did not file a complaint -- but the story went public and it got ugly fast for the player and the coach.
Unless they changed the rules in the past 5 or 6 years, which is possible, if Forest Hills doesn't file a complaint specifically related to student-athletes leaving their district for another district school there would be no District 6 investigation. Altoona has no say if they lost nothing. Now if there is an investigation Altoona can be interviewed.
That is how it used to be. Maybe they changed things.
I still ask, what was it McCort did that BECA hasn't been doing for years?
I was living in Upper St Clair at the time but the Shaler basketball coach had 2 Texas kids who played on his AAU team move into his house and enroll in Shaler. Shaler won a couple big-school championships. Out of state transfers, nobody lost anybody nobody was able to officially complain.
A local kid and his family moved into the Blackhawk school district to play basketball. Sean Miller's dad was Blackhawk's coach and regularly sent kids to D1 programs, the school district losing the kid filed a complaint and the kid sat a year.
Two out of state kids move in with a HS coach and all is good. A family moves from one district to another and there is a grievance path and the kid sits.
Zain's dad moves his family, a grown up whines and another kid is punished.
The entire thing is ridiculous. The offending adults in the McCort situation, suspend them from participating in PIAA activities for a decade if you want. Quit stomping on kids for adults' poor behaviors.
Also, if you are going address McCort then by golly address BECA. If you aren't going to address BECA then leave McCort alone.
Beca had kids who lived in NJ and competed for them. I think the Unger kid was from Nj as well. This goes on all over the state but the squeaky wheel got the oil in this case. I agree put the school on probation, suspend the coach but let the wrestlers compete. Eliminate them from winning a team title. Wrestling is an individual sport. This only waters down the brackets at Hershey.
I agree the school should of gotten in trouble but my questions would be:
How does Waynesburg get away with it? They have Kids from 4-5 different states. Everyone in the wrestling world knows that.
Beca has taken recruiting and bending the rules to a whole different level. Not once in trouble or dinged at all. Mineo reported the Hartman from D11 was the main person pushing the card to take down mcort.
Nazareth has kids driving 45 minutes to wrestle at their school.
Reynolds and Burrell in AA have open enrollment. They constantly have kids coming in and nothing is ever said.
How does everyone in the PA wrestling world know all this is going on and nothing is done? PIAA picks the ones they go after.
We should be sad we will never see Gibson ever wrestle again at the Giant Center.
PIAA should of made a ruling Mcort wrestlers can wrestle but they can’t win a team title for duals or individuals. Same should be in place for Beca, Reynolds, Waynesburg or anyone with tons of transfers.
How does Waynesburg get away with it? They have Kids from 4-5 different states. Everyone in the wrestling world knows that.
Beca has taken recruiting and bending the rules to a whole different level. Not once in trouble or dinged at all. Mineo reported the Hartman from D11 was the main person pushing the card to take down mcort.
Nazareth has kids driving 45 minutes to wrestle at their school.
Reynolds and Burrell in AA have open enrollment. They constantly have kids coming in and nothing is ever said.
How does everyone in the PA wrestling world know all this is going on and nothing is done? PIAA picks the ones they go after.
We should be sad we will never see Gibson ever wrestle again at the Giant Center.
PIAA should of made a ruling Mcort wrestlers can wrestle but they can’t win a team title for duals or individuals. Same should be in place for Beca, Reynolds, Waynesburg or anyone with tons of transfers.
I'm not so sure I'm smart enough to diagnose all that ails society, but I gotta tell you--what's wrong with this wrestling board lately is that too many people feel the need to bring non-wrestling opinions to bear on threads that then provokee multitude similar responses, and poof--all the legit on-topic discussion evaporates under the heat of too many hotheads.
My crystal ball says, the die is far from cast. One way or another, Bo wrestles in States a year from now, and this whole episode fades into the rearview mirror.
I agree, the middle.schoolers should not be penalized, but,
Technically every public school in PA is open enrollment, if they have space and you can pay the average student spending cost you can request to go to a different district.
Posting on Facebook or Twitter a photo holding the team PIAA championship trophy high in the air isn't bragging on social media?
Also, it seems a huge issue was mr. Bassett holding practices in his basement for all the kids, including kids who then went on and transferred to McCort while also acting the head coach of the high school team. Not saying the PIAA was justified in such a harsh punishment but the admins at the school and the coaching staff are far from innocent.
Right, cannot transfer for athletic reasons. Well, you can but would have to sit that first year most likely.
Sure it is. After winning the title vs bragging about all the transfers before they even hit the mat is probably the difference here. Plus being a repeat offender already has the microscope on McCort.
It's all a big mess, of course, led by the clowns in the PIAA. Although in this case, the ruling was made by District 6 and simply upheld by the PIAA. It would be nice to get to a point where rules are applied evenly across the board..
Being a very recent repeat offender I'm certain had something to do with the harsh punishment. It's not like the other case was 10 years ago. It was only 1 or 2 years ago.
Another big difference is that nobody in D11 has lodged a formal complaint against Beca. One might wonder why.
PIAA simply does not have the resources to investigate every potential allegation in every sport across the state. And that's a good thing. Rival schools would turn PIAA into the Sports Stasi, more than they already do.
If those resources existed, they'd still push on big school football and basketball. Other sports would get investigated with remaining resources, which is to say only the most blatant cases.
So it will always be up to the PIAA Districts to enforce locally -- translated, have unwritten gentleman's agreements for how much cheating they will tolerate among local schools. And if that means hypothetically D7 or D11 are more tolerant than D6, well, that's life
People can complain about that all they want but what's the alternative? Club sports only? Jungle thick bureaucracy? Everybody lawyers up?
