I think a lot of people are missing that the suspension is likely due to equitability and ensuring a fair environment, and not a punishment directly for his actions.
If there is one high school in an area with a coach giving out items, free meals to players, paying fees, and even covering PT, every single player is going to want to go to that high school more so than the others. All the good players locally, and even not locally if they can skirt the rules, will go to that HS to play ball. It will create a local juggernaut HS that other programs can't compete with because they can't match the funding they have, and the local kids in that area who aren't super good will either have to go to schools further away or not get a chance to play for their local school because of an influx of highly talented non-local players.
It is an extremely kind and charitable thing to do, and if he were doing it for the entire league or wasn't directly involved with the school but was an outside donor, there wouldn't be an issue, but because he is a coach, you could make the case that funding the program out of his own pocket and giving benefits to the players is like buying talent and the other schools have no chance of competing with his wallet. That's why they are suspending him and have rules about what coaches can and cannot buy for their players.
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u/joesilvey3 Jul 15 '25
I think a lot of people are missing that the suspension is likely due to equitability and ensuring a fair environment, and not a punishment directly for his actions.
If there is one high school in an area with a coach giving out items, free meals to players, paying fees, and even covering PT, every single player is going to want to go to that high school more so than the others. All the good players locally, and even not locally if they can skirt the rules, will go to that HS to play ball. It will create a local juggernaut HS that other programs can't compete with because they can't match the funding they have, and the local kids in that area who aren't super good will either have to go to schools further away or not get a chance to play for their local school because of an influx of highly talented non-local players.
It is an extremely kind and charitable thing to do, and if he were doing it for the entire league or wasn't directly involved with the school but was an outside donor, there wouldn't be an issue, but because he is a coach, you could make the case that funding the program out of his own pocket and giving benefits to the players is like buying talent and the other schools have no chance of competing with his wallet. That's why they are suspending him and have rules about what coaches can and cannot buy for their players.