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The Utah High School Activities Association Executive Committee levied severe sanctions against Summit Academy after finding the Draper-based charter school guilty of two specific incidents of undue recruiting influence and a fundamental lack of institutional control on Tuesday.
The panel imposed postseason ineligibility for the Summit Academy football program for the upcoming 2016 season, placed every athletic program at the school on probation for a two-year period, and forced the school to finance a compliance audit for this year and two years forward, which the UHSAA will monitor to ensure transferring students are not being recruited.
The panel also enforced the maximum fine of $1,500 for each undue influence offense, for a total of $3,000. Summit Academy, which began competing as member of the UHSAA in 2012, is expected to file an appeal with the Board of Trustees within the 30-day requirement.
Copper Hills principal Todd Quarnberg, assistant principal Kim Searle and athletic director Darby Cowles presented evidence at the UHSAA headquarters to the Executive Committee, including text messages from former Summit Academy assistant football coach Jeff Callahan to students currently enrolled and participating in athletics at Copper Hills which encouraged transfers for athletic purposes.
"I would like the continuous recruitment to Summit Academy halted immediately," Quarnberg wrote in an e-mail where he also addressed players allegedly citing transferring for academic purposes, but he said Summit Academy does not offer an advanced curriculum or higher success in SAGE (Student Assessment of Growth and Excellence) testing to warrant approval on that basis.
Summit Academy executive director Steve Crandall said Summit Academy "severed our relationship" with Callahan — who was hired as the sophomore defensive coordinator in August 2015 — "as soon as we found out about these text messages."
Summit Academy athletic director Tammy Harter wrote in an e-mail to the UHSAA that "Mr. Callahan's dishonesty about his football involvement and blatant recruiting he displayed won't be tolerated."
Callahan was hired by former coach Scott Gorringe, who resigned from his responsibilities as an educator and athletic director at Summit Academy in February to pursue an opportunity in sales. Gorringe was dismissed from his coaching duties one month later on March 14 because he was not an in-house coach, he said. Gorringe denied any knowledge of violations, "this recruiting happened after I left the school," he said. The Tribune broke the hiring of Pleasant Grove coach Les Hamilton on March 15.
Hamilton vehemently denied further allegations that recruiting has continued since his hiring in an e-mail exchange with Summit Academy principal Ted Mecham, who was in attendance Tuesday.
"This is just another reminder that we are under the microscope," Mecham wrote to Hamilton. "It looks like the smaller schools will all be lined up against us in the near future."
Callahan did not deny communication with the players, but said he was under the impression he was not committing an infraction after Gorringe notified his staff of his termination. Callahan has a son who participates in athletics at Summit Academy and developed contact with the Copper Hills players whom he contacted while coaching little league.
Callahan said he was never fully trained in UHSAA bylaws and procedures by anyone affiliated with Summit Academy.
"It's unfortunate for me because my name is being tarnished," Callahan said. "I asked the principal. I said, 'I have never been told what I can and cannot do.' And his answer was, 'We talk to all the head coaches at the beginning of the year.' He said it's up to the head coaches to pass that info. I was never told anything, and he said, 'Well, that's something you're just supposed to know.' How is that fair to me? I feel like I'm being slapped around and taking the brute force of the entire school instead of [them] saying, 'Hey, we screwed up. We did not train our coaches.' I get the feeling they're trying to make an example out of me to hope that was good enough for the Activities Association, and obviously — it's not."
In the hearing, Summit Academy representatives, who said they conducted an internal investigation into the text messages, failed to "definitively show there were no other recruiting violations," said UHSAA attorney Mark Van Wagoner.
Juab principal Royd Darrington labeled the texting offense as an "egregious" example of undue influence and addressed an additional situation in which a basketball player from Wasatch Academy was denied eligibility at Summit Academy when undue influence was discovered. The player was living in the home of another student who was a member of the Summit Academy basketball program.
Darrington posed the question of whether this is a systematic problem within the entire athletic department at Summit Academy, which houses 560 students in grades 9 through 12, or whether the two situations were isolated.
Pinnacle principal Roberta Hardy questioned the involvement of the Summit Academy administration in the hiring process of assistant coaches, specifically in relation to Callahan, who was hired by Gorringe.
Waterford's Craig Morris said, "If this type of stuff is swirling around, it would be a great concern. It would require the school to take a good hard look at its practices." This statement was made in reference to the rancor, particularly in the lower classifications, in the discussion of public versus private institutions and recruiting. The topic was forwarded to the Executive Committee for further evaluation after the UHSAA was inundated with concerns about the issue after Summit Academy defeated Layton Christian in the Class 2A boys' basketball championship this season.
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The punishment
• Postseason ineligibility for the 2016 season for the football program.
• Every athletic program at the school placed on two-year probation period.
• The school is forced to finance a compliance audit for this year and two years forward, which the UHSAA will monitor to ensure transferring students are not being recruited.
• Two maximum fines of $1,500 for each undue influence offense, for a total of $3,000.