UPDATE (Feb. 25, 2:37 p.m.): The arbiter ruled against Charleston. Read more here.
An arbitrator will decide whether the Charleston High School boys basketball team gets to play a third-round state playoff game Saturday night, or if their season is over.
The team was removed from the playoff field after an administrative ruling Wednesday that the Tigers played an ineligible player during the season. Charleston school officials have contended they did nothing wrong.
The Mississippi High School Activities Association Executive Committee, shortly after noon on Wednesday, informed CHS by phone and email that under MHSAA rules, Charleston's 52-44 second-round playoff win over Choctaw County on Feb. 19 was to be vacated by forfeiture, with Choctaw County being reinstated to the postseason lineup.
Charleston had been scheduled to travel to Shelby Saturday night to battle the Northside Gators in a third-round playoff that will see the winner advance to the state semifinals round at the Mississippi Coliseum in Jackson. Instead, pending the arbiter's decision, Choctaw County will host North Side in Ackerman Saturday.
"We're supposed to have a ruling from the arbitrator by noon tomorrow," MHSAA Executive Director Rickey Neaves said Thursday afternoon. "The arbitrator will notify us. He usually also notifies both schools involved, but as soon as we get notification, then we will notify the schools by phone, by email and by hard copy of what the arbitrator decided."
Neaves said the MHSAA was notified Sunday morning, Feb. 20 — the day after the Charleston win over Choctaw County — that a transfer student from Kosciusko who has been a player for CHS since mid-December had also played "in two or three games at the previous school."
He said the MHSAA has a rule that prohibits a student from playing any sport at two different high schools during the same season.
"Upon investigation, we had video evidence where he had played basketball at the previous school," Neaves added.
On Monday, the MHSAA decided that the Charleston player was, indeed, ineligible to play basketball for Charleston, but the decision was made to allow the CHS team to finish the postseason without him.
Neaves said Choctaw County appealed the MHSAA administrative ruling to the body's Executive Committee, which on Feb. 23 heard arguments from a representative of both the Charleston and Choctaw County schools before handing down its decision.
MHSAA rules dictate that in the case of any team's forfeiture during the playoffs, "only the team awarded [the win by] forfeit in the most advanced round of play ... shall be reinstated" and allowed to advance.
East Tallahatchie School District Athletic Director LaDon Taylor said late Wednesday that the district superintendent, Johnnie L. Vick, was in contact with MHSAA about seeking arbitration in the matter, a request that was granted.
Neaves said MHSAA lawyers were involved in securing the arbitrator.
CHS boys' head coach Jeff Hollingsworth noted Thursday afternoon that in a best-case scenario, Charleston would be allowed to play Saturday night's game, as originally scheduled, without the disqualified player.
Taylor said Wednesday's ruling was perplexing, especially in light of the fact that the player in question was determined by MHSAA two months ago to be eligible to play any sport in Charleston.
The AD said the sophomore is a former Charleston Middle School student who as an eighth-grader a couple of years ago decided to move from Charleston, where he was living with his mother, to Kosciusko so that he could live with his father. While there, he attended Kosciusko High School.
In early December, the student decided to move back to Charleston to again live with his mother, with intentions of joining the CHS football program to be with his older brother, who was a senior on the Tigers' pigskin team last fall, noted Taylor. He said the transfer candidate also wanted to play basketball and to run track at Charleston. He enrolled at CHS during the first week of December, Taylor noted.
As part of the transfer process, and to clear the way for the student's participation in athletics at CHS, Taylor said the he "followed the protocol of what you're supposed to do" to get a student-athlete declared eligible to play at a new school, including completing the first of three sections of an MHSAA standardized online Transfer Student Form.
"We filled out the necessary paperwork," Taylor noted.
During the second leg of the form's journey, Taylor said Kosciusko school officials were tasked with reviewing the CHS transfer request. He said the athletic director at Kosciusko, without comment, ticked the box on the digital form indicating that the student was eligible to play in Charleston. The form was transmitted to MHSAA headquarters for a final determination of the student's eligibility, Taylor noted.
Taylor said CHS learned that the MHSAA ruled the student eligible Dec. 16. He noted that MHSAA Assistant Director Robert Holloway signed off on the Transfer Student Form.
Because of the sophomore's obvious athleticism and their familiarity with him as a former junior high ballplayer, Taylor said the CHS caching staff allowed their new acquisition to suit up with the Tigers for a basketball game that very night — even before he had participated in a team practice.
"From Dec. 16 until last Saturday (Feb. 19), he played basketball for us," noted Taylor, who said the new point guard gave Charleston's team "a major boost."
After starting the season 0-8, in the Tigers' next 12 games with the transfer student in tow, they went 8-4, finished second in region play at 6-2 and were runnersup for the district tournament championship.
CHS defeated New Site 54-50 on Feb. 15 in the first round of the Class 2A playoffs, then earned the victory over Choctaw County. Hollingsworth said the transfer student, whom he called a "big contributor" for Charleston, scored 19 points in the most recent game.
The Choctaw County school, located at Ackerman, is situated about 30 miles from Kosciusko.
Taylor said news that the transfer student had played for Kosciusko earlier in the basketball season came as a complete surprise.
"We were not aware of that, and Kosciusko didn't mention it" during the transfer process, said Taylor.
Taylor said the MHSAA's Holloway called Charleston Monday to say that the CHS sophomore had been found ineligible to play but that the rest of the Tigers boys' team "would move on" as scheduled in the playoffs.
Taylor noted that after Choctaw County's appeal of the decision to allow the Tigers to continue playing, Charleston was notified Tuesday that the MHSAA Executive Committee would conduct a hearing on the appeal the following day.
That Wednesday morning Zoom hearing lasted about 10 minutes, Taylor noted.
Taylor said he learned of the Executive Committee's ruling at about 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, first by phone call and then later by an emailed letter.
The news was difficult for Hollingsworth and his team to swallow.
"I know we didn't do anything wrong and did everything by the book," Hollingsworth noted.
"The rules say [the transfer student] is ineligible. I get that," said Taylor. "But we didn't rule him eligible to play; the MHSAA did. What did we do wrong?"
Hollingsworth said he went to Jackson Thursday to speak with "the head of MHSAA" because he felt that he was being implicated in wrongdoing. He said he was told just the opposite.
"They're like, 'Coach, the school, y'all didn't do anything wrong. Y'all did what y'all were supposed to do. Kosciusko didn't fill out the paperwork like they were supposed to. After the information that we got [with the transfer request], we ruled the boy eligible, and so you should have played him because he was eligible."
The MHSAA official added, recalled Hollingsworth, that if the state high school association had gotten the video evidence sooner, "we would have made him ineligible sooner."
Hollingsworth said he replied, "If I had that information, he never would have played to begin with."
While extremely disappointed, Taylor said he understands the rules and the ultimate decision. However, he finds the process flawed in this instance.
"We followed protocol and we did everything" required, he noted. "We basically asked for permission [from MHSAA] to play a [transfer student-athlete] and they granted it. What else are we supposed to do?"
Taylor said MHSAA "kinda dropped the ball on this," but added, "they're not going to be the ones [made] to look bad."
"If they are checking like they are supposed to, wouldn't they have checked to find out if he had played basketball at the school he left?" Taylor asked. "Obviously, that didn't happen."
Hollingsworth said he was told that the MHSAA Executive Committee, in voting 9-2 in favor of Choctaw County, charged that Charleston "didn't get enough information and ... should have known that [the transfer student] played basketball for Kosciusko."
However, Hollingsworth said there is no burden of proof, no requirement "in any rulebook or handbook, and it's not on the form that we turned in and that they returned back to us" for the school receiving the transfer to verify a player's eligibility.
One positive emerging from this "mess," noted Neaves, is that the school from which a student is transferring will henceforth be required to answer the question of whether he or she played sports for them.
"That question should be on the form and will now be on the form," Neaves said. "It has not been on the form before because 99% of the schools will tell you [if a former student] ... played for [them], or the other school will ask."
The MHSAA executive director added that it would be moot to assign fault in the matter.
"We can argue all day whether it was Charleston's fault for not finding out, Kosciusko's fault for not reporting it or [MHSAA's] fault for not asking the question. But no matter whose fault it was, it was a rules violation. Therefore, the penalties."
After being reminded of Charleston's 0-8 start and the fact that the Tigers have clawed their way to within three wins of a state title, Neaves remarked, "It's a huge disappointment. I do understand that."
Hollingsworth said he, too, sees and understands.
"I understand both sides. We did everything right, he was ruled eligible and we played the kid," Hollingsworth noted. "I understand Choctaw County's side, too. They're like, 'Wait a second. [This player] played for another school, and that's against the rules. He shouldn't be allowed to play, and he's one of the main reasons why we got put out of the playoffs. That's not fair. We should be able to advance.' So I understand that."
Hollingsworth concluded, "It's just a big mess, and it all could have been prevented."
