3afan
11-17-2005, 08:14 AM
this coach must be buds with jmcgee :D
Coach suspended for taking high school game to next level
08:15 PM CST on Wednesday, November 16, 2005
Tim Knetl, football coach at NYOS charter school in Austin, thought it was strange that he couldn't get a Houston Texas Christian roster until minutes before their game last month.
The roster, however, was much more strange. It was hand-written. And it only had first names.
"I guess that should've told us something," Knetl said.
But what coach would ever guess that an opponent would have not one ineligible player, but an entire roster of ineligible players? What coach would ever guess that a high school team would have no high school players?
"This can only happen in Texas football," said Teresa Elliott, executive director of NYOS – which stands for Not Your Ordinary School.
Even by Texas football standards, Not Your Ordinary School was in an extraordinary game on Oct. 28. The final score of the nondistrict six-man contest: NYOS 26, unnamed adults playing in Texas Christian uniforms 18.
The final result: a five-game suspension for Texas Christian coach Herc Palmquist.
That suspension was handed down Nov. 3 by the executive board of the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools, which also publicly reprimanded Palmquist and put him on a year of probation. TAPPS learned of the ineligible players – actually the ineligible team – when an anonymous person contacted a TAPPS representative a few days after the game. The suspension means Palmquist won't be on the sideline Saturday when Texas Christian plays Fort Worth Glenview Christian in the TAPPS Six-man Division II quarterfinals.
The TAPPS executive board decided to keep Texas Christian eligible because, TAPPS director Edd Burleson said, "the person who was guilty was taken out of the playoffs."
The extent of Palmquist's guilt is difficult to determine. The coach, who is also the administrator and co-founder of Texas Christian, didn't return repeated phone calls this week.
But it is known that the actual Texas Christian players turned in their uniforms and equipment a week before the game to be checked for the playoffs. And in a letter to Texas Christian supporters, Palmquist admitted that he allowed eight adults, including at least one former Texas Christian football player, to play against NYOS. "This was a really poor decision," he wrote. "I would like to apologize publicly for my poor judgment."
But Palmquist also insisted that coaches at NYOS, an independent school not affiliated with TAPPS, knew that it would be a "pick up game." He wrote that he told NYOS coaches that he had several injured players and that "the team they were going to play was just put together."
But that's not true, according to Knetl, who found out about the non-high school players three days after the game.
"There was no mention about former students or graduates or college or 'pick-up game,' " he said. "I would never put my kids at risk to play at that level."
Knetl thought Texas Christian (3-6) would be the fourth straight team NYOS clobbered by the 45-point mercy rule. But Texas Christian came out strong against NYOS, which later finished its season by winning the six-man Independent Bowl.
"We were kind of surprised by their size, but you never know ... we didn't scout them," Knetl said. "They came out knocking a couple of my players down – not injuring them, just knocking them down. I thought it was just that we weren't prepared mentally because we had two games that night."
NYOS had scheduled another game that night because, according to Elliott, staff members couldn't reach Palmquist by phone or e-mail for several weeks. NYOS thought the game was canceled until Palmquist called Oct. 25 and asked if the game was still on.
With a bountiful 22 players for a six-man team, NYOS decided to play the rare football doubleheader. But by halftime of the first game, Texas Christian led 18-6. That's when Palmquist offered to forfeit, he wrote in his letter, because NYOS had another game that night.
He tried to forfeit again in the third quarter, Knetl said.
"He had the guilty look the whole time," Knetl said. "He was by himself, trying to take care of everything – water, first aid, everything. And that kind of told us something."
NYOS battled back to win, and Knetl said the players are now "ecstatic" about their achievement. The talk around school is that NYOS is 1-0 at the collegiate level.
As for the Texas Christian players, the focus is on Saturday's game. Fort Worth Glenview Christian coach Kevin Harris is also trying to keep his players focused and said he expects Texas Christian to be fair and honest.
He also has a Texas Christian roster that includes first names, last names and no high school graduates.
E-mail mwixon@dallasnews.com
Coach suspended for taking high school game to next level
08:15 PM CST on Wednesday, November 16, 2005
Tim Knetl, football coach at NYOS charter school in Austin, thought it was strange that he couldn't get a Houston Texas Christian roster until minutes before their game last month.
The roster, however, was much more strange. It was hand-written. And it only had first names.
"I guess that should've told us something," Knetl said.
But what coach would ever guess that an opponent would have not one ineligible player, but an entire roster of ineligible players? What coach would ever guess that a high school team would have no high school players?
"This can only happen in Texas football," said Teresa Elliott, executive director of NYOS – which stands for Not Your Ordinary School.
Even by Texas football standards, Not Your Ordinary School was in an extraordinary game on Oct. 28. The final score of the nondistrict six-man contest: NYOS 26, unnamed adults playing in Texas Christian uniforms 18.
The final result: a five-game suspension for Texas Christian coach Herc Palmquist.
That suspension was handed down Nov. 3 by the executive board of the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools, which also publicly reprimanded Palmquist and put him on a year of probation. TAPPS learned of the ineligible players – actually the ineligible team – when an anonymous person contacted a TAPPS representative a few days after the game. The suspension means Palmquist won't be on the sideline Saturday when Texas Christian plays Fort Worth Glenview Christian in the TAPPS Six-man Division II quarterfinals.
The TAPPS executive board decided to keep Texas Christian eligible because, TAPPS director Edd Burleson said, "the person who was guilty was taken out of the playoffs."
The extent of Palmquist's guilt is difficult to determine. The coach, who is also the administrator and co-founder of Texas Christian, didn't return repeated phone calls this week.
But it is known that the actual Texas Christian players turned in their uniforms and equipment a week before the game to be checked for the playoffs. And in a letter to Texas Christian supporters, Palmquist admitted that he allowed eight adults, including at least one former Texas Christian football player, to play against NYOS. "This was a really poor decision," he wrote. "I would like to apologize publicly for my poor judgment."
But Palmquist also insisted that coaches at NYOS, an independent school not affiliated with TAPPS, knew that it would be a "pick up game." He wrote that he told NYOS coaches that he had several injured players and that "the team they were going to play was just put together."
But that's not true, according to Knetl, who found out about the non-high school players three days after the game.
"There was no mention about former students or graduates or college or 'pick-up game,' " he said. "I would never put my kids at risk to play at that level."
Knetl thought Texas Christian (3-6) would be the fourth straight team NYOS clobbered by the 45-point mercy rule. But Texas Christian came out strong against NYOS, which later finished its season by winning the six-man Independent Bowl.
"We were kind of surprised by their size, but you never know ... we didn't scout them," Knetl said. "They came out knocking a couple of my players down – not injuring them, just knocking them down. I thought it was just that we weren't prepared mentally because we had two games that night."
NYOS had scheduled another game that night because, according to Elliott, staff members couldn't reach Palmquist by phone or e-mail for several weeks. NYOS thought the game was canceled until Palmquist called Oct. 25 and asked if the game was still on.
With a bountiful 22 players for a six-man team, NYOS decided to play the rare football doubleheader. But by halftime of the first game, Texas Christian led 18-6. That's when Palmquist offered to forfeit, he wrote in his letter, because NYOS had another game that night.
He tried to forfeit again in the third quarter, Knetl said.
"He had the guilty look the whole time," Knetl said. "He was by himself, trying to take care of everything – water, first aid, everything. And that kind of told us something."
NYOS battled back to win, and Knetl said the players are now "ecstatic" about their achievement. The talk around school is that NYOS is 1-0 at the collegiate level.
As for the Texas Christian players, the focus is on Saturday's game. Fort Worth Glenview Christian coach Kevin Harris is also trying to keep his players focused and said he expects Texas Christian to be fair and honest.
He also has a Texas Christian roster that includes first names, last names and no high school graduates.
E-mail mwixon@dallasnews.com