They're Baaaack!

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Sorry if you misinterpreted my statements. I did not mean to paint all programs that are successfull with the same brush. I have coached against MT, EC, Carr and number of other quality programs from the GTA and respect the ideals of the administration and coaches.
I am not surprised you may not know this rule because you mentioned you have not taken a highschool team out of country or even out of province. When you apply to OFSSA to enter these tournaments, the paperwork (including rules), are supplied to the applying highschool administration than forwarded to the Coaches to read, know and fill out. They would have to return to the OFSSA offices before getting the okay to attend. The coach would have had to list all of the players so that they were covered by OFSSA insurance. I am assuming that the two ineligibles were either listed (but awaiting OFSSA decision) or not listed (awaiting OFSSA decision). These out Province tournaments have to be OFSSA sanctioned and such you have to abide by OFSSA rules.
Club (OBS, AAU etc.) rules are different because of insurance.
Spelling mistake. I am old and failed typing class. That's my excuse and sticking to it.

Thank you for the clarification!

What happened with Smith and Myles is another issue. I understand your concerns in that situation but Gordensky was not at Pickering at that time, correct?

You are upset at what happened in that case. Fair enough but the two situations are not related.

I am not defending the Pickering program in every situation.

There have been some questionable practices I agree but they are being monitored by their fellow coaches in Durham very stringently from what I am seeing.

This is not without some justifiable cause but in THIS particular case I did not believe the original ruling was fair to their present Seniors.

I absolutely agree with stevenlogan92. It is the coach's job to KNOW all the rules and know them well if you don't know them then why are you a coach in the first place i understand coaches have other work on top of basketball, but that shouldn't be an excuse for not knowing the rules. What has happened in the past with Pickering i am not fully aware of thus cannot comment on it.

Have not been upset about it for at least two years now. The circumstances of the two cited cases are different. I agree. I have also played NCAA sports and a violation against the educational program (basketball, football, hockey whatever) is a violation. Recruiting violations, academic violation or whatever it is still a strike against the program.
I believe I stated my point on another chat topic about sympathy of the seniors and will not rehash that.

Great debate by all. The good thing is they are back!

[quote="DaKidMusclez"]I absolutely agree with stevenlogan92. It is the coach's job to KNOW all the rules and know them well if you don't know them then why are you a coach in the first place i understand coaches have other work on top of basketball, but that shouldn't be an excuse for not knowing the rules. What has happened in the past with Pickering i am not fully aware of thus cannot comment on it.[/quote]

That is ridiculous coaches coach. They spend countless hours preparing and running practices. They do not have time to pore over pages of OFSSAA policy. Anymore than a player would.

But beecher's comment which states that they are informed of the rules when planning on taking a team out-of-country is far more relevant. That I was not aware of. That changes everything.

P.S. to beecher I took down the spelling comment that was way off-side and I apologize.

[quote="Coach Clement"]That is ridiculous coaches coach. They spend countless hours preparing and running practices. They do not have time to pore over pages of OFSSAA policy. Anymore than a player would.[/quote]

Actually coach, that's a very poor excuse. The link is right there on the OFSAA home page, along with the other popular links like championships, playing rules, and the transfer regulations that the Pickering program already knows inside out from gaining approval for all the players that transfer to their school. It clearly reads "OFSAA sanctioned Events" and if you click on the link, you can read the rules, including the following, written in red, block letters:

SCHOOLS ATTENDING EVENTS IN THE UNITED STATES MUST RECEIVE OFSAA SANCTION

Have a look at the OFSAA website for yourself. All excuses of ignorance by the Pickering program over this rule have generated plenty of belly laughs from basketball-savvy people throughout the GTA.

Coach i am sure you do a lot of great stuff for your team as they have showed by their performance on the court in no way am i attacking you. But at least coaches should have knowledge off the rules that are most important. You should know these especially if you are a top program like Pickering. Their coach made a mistake plain and simple and he should get punished for it. What i argue against though is that the rest of the players should not get punished. After all coaches are the ones that take care of their basketball program and it teaches everyone else a lesson and that is that if you as a coach do not obey the rules your opportunity to coach is taken away.

is pickering back in?
if so this is great for the kids, who should not have been penalized for the decisions of the coaching staff

Listen the bottom line is he got CAUGHT!!!! Simple he cheated and they finally got CAUGHT!!!! Soon or later it was going to happen and it did, This program has been recruiting kids from all areas, of course with the help of a particular AAU team and they became like that AAU holding school, so don’t be surprised when shady things take place.

Someone is slightly obsessed with "handlers" and "AAU" teams. Someone needs a hug. Go Pickering!

Here's a suggestion given on another hoops site...toss the coach (as has been done) and ban the two ineligible players from playing anywhere next year. They give up another year and have to sit, no matter what school team they go to. Not just ofsaa sanctioned but league as well.
They transferred, they absolutely know the rules and so do their parents or "interested parties". I bet you'll never see this happen again.
With the current ruling, you bet this will continue.

The other kids, like Tull, that haven't transferred have no reason to brush up on the eligibility rules so are innocent bystanders. Let those boys compete with another coach.
It's all about deterrance. If you transfer, you better know what you're doing and if you screw up, you're losing another year. That should do it. I think that's a fair compromise, to punish those directly responsible. As previously stated, the rules are easy to find and not obscured in secrecy.

yes I'm obsessed with "Handlers" and "AAU" teams and especially when the kids best interest is not be taking into consideration. YOU MUST BE A HANDLER OR AAU GUY...............FOR SURE!!


P.S. As for the hug...hmmmmmm......first screw kids and than you want to give out hugs????? NO THANKS!!

great points rec

[quote="rec"]Here's a suggestion given on another hoops site...toss the coach (as has been done) and ban the two ineligible players from playing anywhere next year. They give up another year and have to sit, no matter what school team they go to. Not just ofsaa sanctioned but league as well.
They transferred, they absolutely know the rules and so do their parents or "interested parties". I bet you'll never see this happen again.
With the current ruling, you bet this will continue.

The other kids, like Tull, that haven't transferred have no reason to brush up on the eligibility rules so are innocent bystanders. Let those boys compete with another coach.
It's all about deterrance. If you transfer, you better know what you're doing and if you screw up, you're losing another year. That should do it. I think that's a fair compromise, to punish those directly responsible. As previously stated, the rules are easy to find and not obscured in secrecy.[/quote]

This is the best solution stated so far!

I think Ofsaa dropped the ball on this one big-time.

I'm glad the kids will get to defend their back-to-back Championship now, but Ofsaa showed they won't stand behind their own rule book.

Any player or program can try whatever they want now, and if they get caught they just have to file an appeal. Yes the original punishment was too harsh, but they should have stuck to their ruling. Pickering Coach must be laughing at them.

And if Pickering ends up winning the title this year we're never gonna hear the end of this one.

[quote="RealBall"]I think Ofsaa dropped the ball on this one big-time.

I'm glad the kids will get to defend their back-to-back Championship now, but Ofsaa showed they won't stand behind their own rule book.

Any player or program can try whatever they want now, and if they get caught they just have to file an appeal. Yes the original punishment was too harsh, but they should have stuck to their ruling. Pickering Coach must be laughing at them.

And if Pickering ends up winning the title this year we're never gonna hear the end of this one.[/quote]

The coach still got banned remember that.

So how do I get on this ofsaa committee..it looks like they could use some help in thinking logically and effectively.

They did not stand up for their own rules because as in the case with many laws they are reviewed and they are amended or even dropped. Even the powers that be felt the punishment was too severe. Go Pickering! All those weak distractions about handlers and AAA are irrelevant. The issue is a bout a coach violating a rule and the kids sufferering. I know some chat room haters love every opportunity to rant about their obsessions feeling they are making some enlightening points but this issue is about Pickering and OFSAA. Did I mention Go Pickering!

Only the truth needs a hug bad and some medicine for his OCD. I am not a handler that sounds kid of gay.