Since its founding in 1910, the University Interscholastic League has kept a watchful eye on the state to identify and admonish any rulebreakers in Texas high school sports.
When the UIL’s judicial branch, the state executive committee, suspects wrongdoing, it metes out punishment based on the severity of the violation. One of Texas’ most famous cases was when, in 1991, the UIL stripped Carter of its 1988 state title for using an ineligible player. In 1990, Odessa Permian — the team Carter beat in the 1988 state semifinal, as chronicled in Friday Night Lights — was banned from the playoffs for holding unauthorized practices.
No program that commits a violation will come out of an SEC hearing unscathed. But as the 2024 high school football season starts Thursday, some coaches and administrators are questioning how the committee determines punishment and whether stakeholders are treated fairly, particularly when penalties of varying degrees are handed down for what appear to be similar offenses.
The SEC is a panel of eight school administrators and a minimum of four at-large members who the commissioner of the Texas Education Agency appoints. Coaches are left to speculate about the committee because its members don’t make public comments outside of the hearings, and the UIL declined to make them available for interviews.
“Based on what I hear from other coaches, I don’t think it’s very fair,” retired El Paso Del Valle soccer coach Bruce Reichman, the winningest soccer coach in Texas high school history, told The Dallas Morning News. “I think it’s a who-you-know type thing. If Billy Bob goes in against Joe Schmo, Billy Bob is going to get a better ruling than Joe Schmo.”
Michael Cardona, superintendent of the San Marcos Consolidated Independent School District, said he has zero trust in the SEC after an October 2022 decision that ruled 11 San Marcos football players ineligible to compete for three years, following the recommendation of the district executive committee. Coaches were suspended for recruiting violations, and the team was banned from the 2023-24 playoffs.
Cardona compared the situation to punishments handed to Galena Park North Shore, whose former offensive coordinator and head coach received suspensions for recruiting violations earlier this year, but no players were punished and the program was not barred from the postseason.
“North Shore High School was spared any punishment as a high school, for a coach who was actually caught recruiting athletes from other school districts,” Cardona said. “Why during the San Marcos CISD case did [longtime SEC chair Mike Motheral] seek to punish a group of students, sophomores and juniors, who did nothing?”
But every case is different, making it hard to draw comparisons from one to another. UIL communications manager Julia Zachary told The News that penalties imposed depend on the facts of each individual case.
Several coaches, administrators and parents who have been involved in SEC hearings declined to comment for this story, citing the desire to avoid potential repercussions from the UIL. But half of the coaches who responded to a survey from The News said they think the SEC already has its mind made up on how it’s going to rule before hearing a case, which UIL deputy director Jamey Harrison said is not true.
“A group of education professionals at the district executive committee level have considered the case, they have reviewed all of the evidence, they have heard all of the testimony and they made a ruling,” he said. “The notion that a different set of education professionals would hear the same case, the same testimony, the same facts and rule differently is just unlikely.”
What are the various penalties?
Some UIL violations carry more weight than others, resulting in harsher penalties. Zachary said violating eligibility rules and recruiting are classified as Category A violations that require more severe penalties. Both North Shore and San Marcos’ cases were in Category A.
Minimum penalties for schools that commit Category A violations include a public reprimand, which may include a probation of up to three years, or the forfeiture of games, according to Section 27 of the UIL Constitution.
In March, the Frisco Heritage boys soccer team had to forfeit seven games in which it used an ineligible player. The team missed the postseason when the SEC denied its appeal.
Schools that are considered repeat offenders can receive enhanced penalties for violations of a Category A rule, the UIL constitution says, such as disqualification or suspension.
While the UIL’s penalties for a given violation are spelled out, Reichman said he is concerned that smaller schools with fewer resources could be unfairly punished.
“Different sports, different coaches, different districts — they’re able to get away with a lot more than the smaller districts that don’t have money to really fight it,” the former Del Valle soccer coach said. “Or don’t have the personnel to really fight it. So they end up taking the hit for it.”
Quality of investigation can affect rulings
Deputy director Harrison said the UIL notifies schools of alleged rules violations and asks them to provide a report. Districts that have the ability to do their due diligence when self-reporting or investigating their own violations could have an advantage.
“Now, the quality of that report, the actions that the local school takes, each case is an individual case and all of the facts of that case matter,” Harrison told The News. " But how they go about that can absolutely impact the outcome at the SEC level.”
During the North Shore hearing in February, SEC chair Motheral commended Galena Park ISD for its thorough investigation.
Assistant athletic director Kae Walker said the district’s athletic office launched an investigation days after hearing allegations of recruiting.
Even after North Shore’s offensive coordinator resigned, Walker said the district continued to investigate the program, even going as far back to gather information on North Shore’s varsity football program by determining where players lived and attended school in seventh grade.
UIL has final say
The UIL can be tough to challenge and isn’t afraid to flex its authority.
Schools or individuals may provide court documentation or have legal counsel present during SEC hearings, but they’re not always allowed to present their case, as the proceedings are not held in a court of law, so their presence doesn’t necessarily generate a favorable result.
Such was the case for Anthony Black and Duncanville boys basketball in 2022.
Black, who transferred from Coppell to Duncanville for his senior year and now plays for the Orlando Magic, was initially ruled ineligible by the District 11-6A district executive committee in September 2021. His mother, Jennifer, has been in a relationship with Duncanville coach David Peavy for several years. The couple lived together in Coppell before moving to Duncanville to be closer to Peavy’s job.
A judge granted Black a temporary restraining order after Jennifer sought legal action against the UIL and alleged the organization violated the family’s constitutional rights. It placed a status quo on Black’s eligibility and allowed him to play, though he would be ruled ineligible and then back to eligible again over the course of the season.
Black helped Duncanville win the 2022 Class 6A state title, but in October of that year, the SEC retroactively ruled him ineligible and stripped the school of its championship. Duncanville’s legal counsel, Kathryn Long, said at the hearing that “only after the family prevailed in court” did the district allow Black to compete, which shouldn’t have resulted in the loss of its title.
The situation raised a question for Peavy that other coaches may have in the future when deciding whether to use ineligible players or risk SEC punishment.
“As a coach who wants to continue to coach,” Peavy asked at the SEC hearing, “and this were to happen again, where I have a player that comes to me and says, ‘I have a court order that says my rights have been violated.’ Are you asking me to say, ‘No, the UIL says you can’t play, even though the judge says you can’?”
UIL deputy director Harrison responded: “That’s your choice, coach. Who you put in a game is your choice. You have players who are fully eligible, there are zero questions about their eligibility, who never see the court for you.”
Members of the UIL’s State Executive Committee
Mike Motheral, Lubbock, Chair
Stephanie Behrens, Superintendent, Gail Borden County ISD
Arturo Cavazos, Harlingen
James Colbert, Jr., Superintendent, Harris County Department of Education
Curtis Culwell, Frisco
Anita Hebert, Superintendent, Shallowater ISD
Frank Molinar, Superintendent, White Settlement ISD
Roosevelt Nivens, Superintendent, Rosenberg Lamar CISD
Joel Nolte, Deputy Superintendent, Huffman ISD
Tiffany Spicer, Superintendent, Buna ISD
Glen Teal, Superintendent, Jim Ned ISD
Daryl Wade, Houston
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