All over the United States, there has always been an issue with public school geography and its impact on sports. This has led to public and private schools fighting over athletes and some schools bending their own rules in major ways to bring in the best talent.
That’s exactly what happened with John Curtis Christian High School before it got caught. On Wednesday, the Louisiana High School Athletic Association (LHSAA) upheld sanctions against John Curtis Christian by a 16-1 vote.
The reason to go after Curtis and its coach J.T. Curtis was because they had gone after players not in their district and bent the rules to bring those players in. The LHSAA has been reportedly split on the issues involving private and public school lines for football since 2013.
“I don’t want to make that strong of a statement,” Curtis said. “But I’m going to tell you we are very disappointed, and I think the people who hear and see this will feel the exact same way.
“I would hope that educators, smart men, could put their biases aside and be able to make a decision that was fair and just. I don’t think that happened today.”
This is where new Louisiana State University freshman offensive lineman Willie Allen comes into play. The ruling and case in general largely is due to reports that Allen had been living with Curtis assistant coach Jerry Godfrey. The reason why they lived together during Allen’s sophomore, junior, and senior season was because of “transportation issues.”
Due to the incident taking place over three seasons, the LHSAA has not publicly released just how many games Curtis will have to forfeit and how big the penalty is overall. Over those three seasons from 2013-2015, Curtis won 28 games including a 32-0 win in the Division II select title game in 2013.
Curtis himself will be penalized as well. The coach received a fine of an undisclosed number and his overall win total took a hit. Before the sanctions, Curtis had the most active wins in the nation with 548.
After the LHSAA announced its ruling, Curtis went after who he claimed to bring the issue to light, former LHSAA Commissioner Tommy Henry.
“I did not turn John Curtis in, but like other people I questioned why this wasn’t being addressed,” Henry said.
B.J. Guzzardo, the Assistant Executive Director of the LHSAA, responded to Curtis by saying the violations had been reported by the media already, thus making the issues “fair game.”
Point for Guzzardo. On February 2, 2016, ESPN published a lengthy video profile on Allen that details his living situation with Godfrey. The New Orleans Advocate and other outlets also wrote the story.
Ultimately it was the fact that Allen and Godfrey lived together that was the crucial blow. Curtis however, didn’t think that was a violation of LHSAA rules because he didn’t recruit the offensive lineman. The head coach then went on to say the school has helped students with housing since the 1970s.
Guzzardo responded by saying the LHSAA’s recruiting rule states it is illegal for a school to provide “an inducement” like housing. That’s another point for Guzzardo.
“As we very clearly pointed out, other schools have received the same type of benefit,” J.T. Curtis said. “As long as you’re providing that benefit to other students, you can provide it to all students. Maybe they just didn’t believe the letters these people have written. Maybe they ignored the evidence. Certainly, I do not fairly treat the facts of the case.”
It is true that other schools have done it, but they’ve been caught and penalized. In January, Ruston’s New Living World received a penalty for similar issues.
