Coach Suspended over Recruiting an Eighth Grader

Written Monday May 27th, at 11:11 PM

Sometimes having the championship swagger of a program has it’s advantages and also its disadvantages but when it comes to making an illegal recruiting tactic to someone trying to finish middle school then you got some problems.

That is what’s happening in Grosse Pointe. 

The Grosse Pointe South, Blue Devils girls basketball team took an early season hit when the MHSAA suspended its head coach Kevin Richards for six games for illegally trying to recruit an eighth grade basketball player to come to Grosse Pointe South in 2013-2014.

Richards allegedly sent text messages to the player, went to her games, and evaluated tapes of her playing basketball. It’s  illegal under Regulation I, Section Ten of the MHSAA rules. The rules state that high school coaches or their representatives may not call athletic recruits nor send questionnaires or letters or visit athletes or their families at their homes, entertain them and their families and may not attend grade school basketball games for the purpose of evaluating and recruiting specific athletes or their parents.

Richards led the Blue Devils to a state championship in 2013 and has always been a power in the Macomb Area Conference Red Division.

This will be an early loss for Grosse Pointe South but it could have been worse. He could have been suspended for the season, which is normal protocol. All coaches have a code of conduct in their contracts but the rules have changed when it comes to someone breaking the rules.

I think Richards should be fired and let go for this act. As a coach and especially a State Championship Coach, you can’t do this and with the new transfer rules coming in 2014, you have to really go with what you got. I really think that the MHSAA has to look into this issue farther and make a stop to this recruiting of eighth graders.

I also think that parents need to understand that yes your son or daughter will go to college someday but not for sports. Parents have a hard time realizing that if your son or daughter doesn't get that athletic scholarship then their dreams are not over, there are other ways to get involved, you can walk on and play, it’s possible for that dream to come true. You’ll have star players but you have to work with that talent and let them develop.