The wholesomeness of high school sports across the country will remain intact, it seems, for the time being after the Supreme Court upheld a rule recently preventing coaches from actively recruiting athletes.
The ruling came after a private school in Tennessee sued its state’s high school governing body, arguing free-speech rights. Brentwood Academy football coach Carlton Flatt sent letters out to grade-school athletes in 1997 persuading them to attend tryouts. Brentwood was put on probation by the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association and was suspended from the playoffs for two years.
The school’s response was a trip to court where a federal judge and appeals court agreed that Flatt’s First Amendment rights were violated, a ruling that could potentially prevent all high school associations from enforcing recruiting rules. But on June 21, the Supreme Court unanimously reversed the decision, stating the First Amendment’s guarantee of free speech does not protect coaches who ignore the rules of a high school sport’s governing body.
The decision solidifies the Illinois High School Association’s anti-recruiting rules for both private and public schools.
“As a coach, I like the rules that the IHSA has in place for recruiting,” said Dave Power, head girls basketball coach at Fenwick High School, a private school in Oak Park. “We don’t need coaches sending out letters or calling homes begging a kid to be an athlete at a high school. It’s an issue that never should have gone to the Supreme Court.”
Fenwick Athletic Director Michael Curtin said while Fenwick’s admissions department does send out letters to potential students, it is not in regard to their performance on a sports field.
“The documentation that is sent out is not specified to any one potential student,” said Curtin. “It’s to all potential students, whether they played sports in grade school or not. No one receives anything directly from a coach.”
Curtin added that Fenwick’s reputation, which was recently bolstered by Sports Illustrated ranking the school’s athletics as the best in Illinois this year, helps a potential student-athlete make a decision.
“The school’s academics and its athletics speak for themselves,” he said. “But you need to be accepted to the school academically before you’re considered an athlete.”