Modesto Christian baseball severely penalized for recruiting violation

The Modesto Christian baseball team was forced to forfeit all six of its victories in 2015 and was banned from postseason play for 2016 after it was discovered an assistant coach illegally recruited a player, according to the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section.

The player, recruited as an eighth grader, was a member of the Crusaders’ varsity as a freshman last season. He has been banned from CIF competition for the 2015-16 school year.

The program’s coaching staff was charged with using undue influence – up to partially paying his tuition – to have the student attend the private school in Salida. The section said an assistant coach wrote a letter to the athlete’s mother offering “various and detailed financial inducements” if he attended the school and played baseball. The mother initially had contacted the school in April 2014.

“We received an email with that letter, and (section Commissioner Mike Garrison) forwarded it on to MC and asked them to check it out,” said Will DeBoard, the section’s director of communications. “We get a lot of emails, both anonymous and not, and generally they get forwarded to the schools.”

The school verified the letter, and the section commended Modesto Christian for cooperating once the violation was discovered.

The team went 6-10 last season, failing to qualify for the section playoffs. Its season will now go down as 0-16. The coach who committed the infraction – Modesto Christian superintendent Charles Howell declined to release his name – is still part of the program.

“The reason he remains on staff is that there was lack of oversight of the coaches at that time,” said Howell. “There was no superintendent, and there was no (full-time) principal at that time. Those coaches were hired before that season, and they weren’t fully aware of all the rules.”

In addition to the above sanctions, the Crusaders’ baseball program:

▪  Must reduce its schedule from a maximum of 27 games to 25 games for the 2016 and 2017 seasons.

▪  Will be on probation for the 2015-16 and 2016-17 school years. Any violations of CIF bylaws during that time will result in further sanctions.

▪  Required its baseball staff to attend the New Athletic Directors Workshop on Eligibility on Aug. 6.

DeBoard confirmed that athletic director Greg Pearce and at least two members of the Modesto Christian coaching staff attended the workshop.

This story was originally published August 20, 2015 at 1:07 PM with the headline "Modesto Christian baseball severely penalized for recruiting violation."