Phantom Stang
08-15-2014, 09:48 PM
Sources: Dallas Madison to forfeit its 2013 and 2014 Class 3A basketball titles
By Corbett Smith
corbettsmith@dallasnews.com
5:19 pm on August 14, 2014 | Permalink
Madison will have its 2013 and 2014 Class 3A basketball titles stripped, according to sources, the fallout from an internal Dallas ISD investigation following the death of Wilmer-Hutchins basketball player Troy Causey.
The University Interscholastic League will issue a press release Friday morning regarding the forfeitures.
This ruling was expected. DISD submitted a letter to the UIL on June 6 to self-report that Causey and Madison power forward Johnathan Turner were ineligible to play for those schools in the 2013-14 season. Turner also was ineligible during Madison’s 2012-13 championship run.
The UIL didn’t need to hold a State Executive Committee meeting to strip the titles, since DISD was willing to accept the minimum penalty for playing ineligible players — forfeiture of games in which the players participated.
DISD launched an investigation into the Madison and Wilmer-Hutchins basketball programs after Causey died on March 24, a day after falling into a coma from blunt force trauma to his head.
Turner was arrested May 5 and charged with Causey’s murder after a witness came forward to tell police that Turner had admitted to him of kicking Causey in the head when he was on the ground.
During the 2013-14 season, the players were living together, apart from their immediate family, in a southeast Dallas home in Wilmer-Hutchins’ attendance zone — not Madison’s. DISD investigative reports found that Causey had been recruited to move from Richardson ISD by Wilmer-Hutchins basketball coach John Burley.
The fight between the roommates happened two weeks after Turner was named to the UIL all-tournament team, scoring 12 points and grabbing four rebounds in a 82-70 championship-game win over Houston Yates. Turner also was on the 2013 Madison team that beat Yates for the 3A title.
On June 6, DISD fired 15 employees as a result of its investigations. Burley, Madison head coach Roderick Johnson and nine other coaches were among those fired for infractions such as forging documents, falsifying UIL student forms and the DISD home visitation forms, and failure to cooperation with the internal investigation.
Four athletic administrators, including athletic director Jeff Johnson and assistant athletic director Goree Johnson —Roderick’s father — were also fired for what DISD superintendent Mike Miles called “lack of oversight.’’
This marks the third and fourth time in the last seven years that DISD programs have lost titles after self-reporting violations to the UIL. South Oak Cliff’s 2005 and 2006 Class 4A boys basketball titles were forfeited, a result of separate investigations in 2008 and 2009 that found players’ grades had been altered to maintain their eligibility in the playoffs.
Staff writers Claire Z. Cardona and Matthew Haag contributed to this report.
Follow Corbett Smith on Twitter at @corbettsmithDMN
http://highschoolsportsblog.dallasnews.com/2014/08/sources-dallas-madison-to-forfeit-its-2013-and-2014-class-3a-basketball-titles.html/
By Corbett Smith
corbettsmith@dallasnews.com
5:19 pm on August 14, 2014 | Permalink
Madison will have its 2013 and 2014 Class 3A basketball titles stripped, according to sources, the fallout from an internal Dallas ISD investigation following the death of Wilmer-Hutchins basketball player Troy Causey.
The University Interscholastic League will issue a press release Friday morning regarding the forfeitures.
This ruling was expected. DISD submitted a letter to the UIL on June 6 to self-report that Causey and Madison power forward Johnathan Turner were ineligible to play for those schools in the 2013-14 season. Turner also was ineligible during Madison’s 2012-13 championship run.
The UIL didn’t need to hold a State Executive Committee meeting to strip the titles, since DISD was willing to accept the minimum penalty for playing ineligible players — forfeiture of games in which the players participated.
DISD launched an investigation into the Madison and Wilmer-Hutchins basketball programs after Causey died on March 24, a day after falling into a coma from blunt force trauma to his head.
Turner was arrested May 5 and charged with Causey’s murder after a witness came forward to tell police that Turner had admitted to him of kicking Causey in the head when he was on the ground.
During the 2013-14 season, the players were living together, apart from their immediate family, in a southeast Dallas home in Wilmer-Hutchins’ attendance zone — not Madison’s. DISD investigative reports found that Causey had been recruited to move from Richardson ISD by Wilmer-Hutchins basketball coach John Burley.
The fight between the roommates happened two weeks after Turner was named to the UIL all-tournament team, scoring 12 points and grabbing four rebounds in a 82-70 championship-game win over Houston Yates. Turner also was on the 2013 Madison team that beat Yates for the 3A title.
On June 6, DISD fired 15 employees as a result of its investigations. Burley, Madison head coach Roderick Johnson and nine other coaches were among those fired for infractions such as forging documents, falsifying UIL student forms and the DISD home visitation forms, and failure to cooperation with the internal investigation.
Four athletic administrators, including athletic director Jeff Johnson and assistant athletic director Goree Johnson —Roderick’s father — were also fired for what DISD superintendent Mike Miles called “lack of oversight.’’
This marks the third and fourth time in the last seven years that DISD programs have lost titles after self-reporting violations to the UIL. South Oak Cliff’s 2005 and 2006 Class 4A boys basketball titles were forfeited, a result of separate investigations in 2008 and 2009 that found players’ grades had been altered to maintain their eligibility in the playoffs.
Staff writers Claire Z. Cardona and Matthew Haag contributed to this report.
Follow Corbett Smith on Twitter at @corbettsmithDMN
http://highschoolsportsblog.dallasnews.com/2014/08/sources-dallas-madison-to-forfeit-its-2013-and-2014-class-3a-basketball-titles.html/