Two days before high school girls basketball games start around the state, Oak Cliff Faith Family will find out if it faces penalties for recruiting violations.
The UIL state executive committee will meet via teleconference at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday for an emergency meeting to determine potential rules violations for the charter school and its girls basketball coaches. Depending on what happens at the hearing, there could be a separate district executive committee meeting at a later time to determine varsity eligibility for Faith Family’s 13 transfers.
On Oct. 17, the local 13-5A DEC found the school, head coach Andrea Robinson and assistant coaches Kadi Creel and Jordan Jones guilty of recruiting violations, a lack of transparency and withholding information regarding its transfers. Under UIL rules, a DEC does not have the authority to suspend coaches and can only issue a reprimand, so the 13-5A committee sent the matter to the UIL.
Faith Family athletic director Marcus Canonico denied several times at the DEC meeting that Faith Family had committed any violations, and Robinson said at one point that she saw no red flags.
UIL rules prohibit students from transferring for athletic purposes. Evidence was presented to the DEC showing that the 13 players transferred to Faith Family after the hiring of Robinson, who’s won two state titles apiece at Fort Worth Dunbar and DeSoto.
If the Faith Family transfers were approved, it could give the school a super team unlike any ever seen in UIL basketball.
The transfers
Five-star junior forward Amari Byles and four-star junior combo guard Amayah “Sunshine” Garcia from DeSoto, four-star Alabama pledge Joy Egbuna from Mansfield Lake Ridge and four-star sophomore point guard Finley Chastain from national champion Montverde Academy in Florida are all ranked among the top 100 recruits in the nation in their recruiting classes. Byles and Garcia played for Robinson at DeSoto, and Byles is rated the third-best player in Texas and the 17th-best player in the nation in the Class of 2026 and Chastain is No. 2 in Texas and No. 18 in the country in the Class of 2027.
On top of those four, Faith Family added junior standout Gianna Jordan and her sisters Milania, Natalia and Nadia Jordan from Southlake Carroll after Milania and Gianna were all-state selections last season. Gianna has reported several Division I college offers on social media.
And freshman Kelenna Ozumba, who already has an offer from Ole Miss, chose to transfer to Faith Family instead of playing for Allen.
Faith Family was an average 4A school last season, going 16-16 and losing in the third round of the playoffs. The UIL moved Faith Family up to 5A in realignment, and when Robinson was hired, she talked about having the resources to make a dramatic turnaround.
“The ceiling at Faith Family is extremely high,” she said. “I believe with the support and vision of the leadership, along with the resources that they have, it can be the top girls program in the country.
“Faith Family is creative and cutting edge in offering individualized pathways for student-athletes to excel academically and athletically. The administration is committed to the mission of students first, so student-athletes will not lack any resources to maximize and develop their talents. Both the boys and girls basketball programs are positioned to be top programs in the country.”
Robinson said at that time that she planned to play a national schedule outside of district play. If the UIL were to ban Faith Family from the playoffs, the school might have to go to a full national schedule.
The evidence against Faith Family
At the DEC meeting, DeSoto representatives testified that Robinson’s husband met with them and demanded that they sign off on the previous athletic participation forms for the DeSoto players who transferred. Faith Family and Robinson did not address that in their closing statements.
Faith Family was also accused of hiring the mother of one of its transfers to work at the school three months after the girl was accepted. The family still lives outside of the Faith Family attendance zone, the DEC said.
Evidence was presented that accused Creel, one of the assistant coaches, of having impermissible contact with Garcia and her parents at an AAU game and of giving her a bag with a Faith Family shirt and other school items. New DeSoto coach Jeffery Chatman, who replaced Robinson, told the DEC he had a photo of the encounter and passed around his phone for the members to see.
Canonico said at the Oct. 17 meeting that the school had not turned in previous athletic participation forms for two of its transfers. But there was testimony that the previous schools for two additional transfers had not received PAPFs from Faith Family to fill out.
Lincoln girls basketball coach Ashley Greer said the other assistant, Jones, reached out to one of his players on social media to get in contact with the athlete, who is still at Lincoln, about the upcoming season. And a list was presented to the DEC showing that some of the 13 transfers had played in the same AAU organization.
The Faith Family representatives said a lot of the testimony and evidence was hearsay. But at one point, Canonico talked about how the school had hired great coaches, had great athletic programs and had a lot to offer new students, and the DEC said that was an indication the school had used that to recruit.
Previous UIL penalties
The UIL has handed out harsh penalties to coaches and athletes in the past in cases that it found to be egregious, and it has also banned teams from the playoffs.
Duncanville
In 2019, the UIL issued former Duncanville girls basketball coach and eight-time state champion Cathy Self-Morgan the maximum three-year suspension from coaching for recruiting violations. That case involved just one transfer — five-star recruit and McDonald’s All-American Deja Kelly from San Antonio Johnson to Duncanville.
San Marcos
In 2022, 11 freshmen football players at San Marcos were ruled ineligible to participate in varsity football for three years after it was determined they transferred for athletic purposes, violating the UIL’s recruiting rules. The group of players, who played youth football together for a team coached by a San Marcos ISD employee, were ruled to have coordinated to enroll in the district to play together.
Galena Park North Shore
In February, Andrew Cameron, who had been the offensive coordinator for five-time state champion North Shore, was suspended from all UIL activities for three years. Cameron admitted he personally recruited players from other schools while head coach Willie Gaston was suspended for the first two district games of the 2024 season for negligence.
McAllen Rowe
In March, the UIL suspended former McAllen Rowe boys basketball coach Jose Yebra for three years for school violations involving recruiting after it was found that Yebra’s team played an ineligible player during the season.
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