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GoldenTiger86
AHSFHS Forum Member
78 Posts |
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Mosleh87
Forum Member
46 Posts |
 Posted - 05/20/2026 : 17:53:34
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It does not say why.. What made them ineligible? Why is the whole team being punished for players who have not even played? A "state recruiting rule" doesnt tell me anything, did they pay players to go to Pell City??
Why would or should this have any bearing on the 2026 season? |
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mcslate
AHSFHS Forum Superstar
382 Posts |
Posted - 05/20/2026 : 19:13:09
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| AHSAA proving that recruiting violations can be handled in the off-season rather than during or after the regular season. |
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Bandkid15
AHSFHS Forum Member
94 Posts |
Posted - 05/20/2026 : 22:37:58
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| Some similarities between the Pell City and Mary G. Montgomery situations. Same rule broken, same punishment (assuming the fines are the same amount), and not a lot of finalized details. Is this just some sort of scare tactic? The punishments for what we know just seem incredibly harsh, at least in my eyes. Especially being banned from postseason play, as that affects a whole team when most of the team had no involvement breaking these rules. |
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CCHS07
Forum Member
47 Posts |
Posted - 05/21/2026 : 09:18:59
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The rumor I heard is this involves something like 5 players who came from Moody. When I say "came from Moody" I just mean they played for Moody last season. They come from all over.
One thing I noticed is that all the initial reporting mentioned PCHS has to go before the board in late July and explain how they have revamped their internal structure to ensure that this kind of thing does not happen going forward. Conversely, I saw MGM self-reported their violations, which I think implies Pell City did not. With regard to Pell City, this really could not happen to a more deserving coach. The countdown has begun for his retort that the inducements he made or directed others to make is somehow the fault of anyone but him.
As far as "punishing the kids who did nothing wrong", I have never understood that argument beyond the immediate surface-level hyperbole of someone (an adult) seeking to escape responsibility for a misdeed. It is an unfortunate result for those who were in compliance. The non-offending players still get to play the upcoming season. To the extent they may have been able to advance into the postseason, the non-offending players were in part relying on the ineligible players to advance their interests toward that end, whether knowingly or unknowingly. The part I dislike the most is that we can almost time our watches by the excuse about "punishing the kids" coming up, and it absolutely always comes with the secondary intent of allowing adults (particularly coaches and administrators with a duty of compliance) to use kids as human shields to excuse themselves from punishment for doing something they knew was outside the lines to start with. It is a mealy-mouthed, insincere response to whine about harm to others after you have taken affirmative steps to illegally tilt the balance of competition in your favor to harm every single team on your schedule, in your region and in your classification.
This is amateur athletics. Requiring people who make six figures a year to work in education and adjacent to education to comply with rules written in plain English is not draconian, especially when it comes to this rule. If they are really that hell-bent on breaking rules to obtain an advantage in amateur athletics, then stripping them of the ability to obtain accolades in amateur athletics is a just punishment. |
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mcslate
AHSFHS Forum Superstar
382 Posts |
Posted - 05/21/2026 : 21:21:40
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quote:
Originally posted by CCHS07
The rumor I heard is this involves something like 5 players who came from Moody. When I say "came from Moody" I just mean they played for Moody last season. They come from all over.
One thing I noticed is that all the initial reporting mentioned PCHS has to go before the board in late July and explain how they have revamped their internal structure to ensure that this kind of thing does not happen going forward. Conversely, I saw MGM self-reported their violations, which I think implies Pell City did not. With regard to Pell City, this really could not happen to a more deserving coach. The countdown has begun for his retort that the inducements he made or directed others to make is somehow the fault of anyone but him.
As far as "punishing the kids who did nothing wrong", I have never understood that argument beyond the immediate surface-level hyperbole of someone (an adult) seeking to escape responsibility for a misdeed. It is an unfortunate result for those who were in compliance. The non-offending players still get to play the upcoming season. To the extent they may have been able to advance into the postseason, the non-offending players were in part relying on the ineligible players to advance their interests toward that end, whether knowingly or unknowingly. The part I dislike the most is that we can almost time our watches by the excuse about "punishing the kids" coming up, and it absolutely always comes with the secondary intent of allowing adults (particularly coaches and administrators with a duty of compliance) to use kids as human shields to excuse themselves from punishment for doing something they knew was outside the lines to start with. It is a mealy-mouthed, insincere response to whine about harm to others after you have taken affirmative steps to illegally tilt the balance of competition in your favor to harm every single team on your schedule, in your region and in your classification.
This is amateur athletics. Requiring people who make six figures a year to work in education and adjacent to education to comply with rules written in plain English is not draconian, especially when it comes to this rule. If they are really that hell-bent on breaking rules to obtain an advantage in amateur athletics, then stripping them of the ability to obtain accolades in amateur athletics is a just punishment.
If this had happened after the season began I'd agree wholeheartedly. Since this happened before Ganus coached or the offending players played a game at Pell City I would have liked to see the state at least give the non-offending coaches and players the opportunity for a postseason run. Keep everyone else off the program though.
As far as Ganus goes he might as well resign and go to a private school. He'd get a lot more wiggle room with the recruiting. Wonder if he would've taken the PC job if public and private split happened while he was still at Moody. In a just world he'd never get another public school gig but we all know someone would be willing to pet the scorpion so to speak. |
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Hammer falls on Pell City, Ganus
