Show support for your rival

News of Delta High School’s use of an ineligible player in its football game against Jay County, and its subsequent requirement to forfeit, broke early Tuesday evening.
I posted a short update to The Commercial Review’s Facebook and Twitter accounts after confirming the story, teasing coverage in Wednesday’s edition of the paper.
A couple of hours later, The Star Press posted a short story on its web site teasing coverage the next day. It didn’t take long for messages to start appearing in the comments section below the story.
To their credit, some of the people commenting offered views that were well thought out. But as is generally the case when people are allowed to make such comments anonymously, some people also took unwarranted shots at the Delta football program, athletic department and administration without knowing, or apparently caring, about the facts.
I won’t print those comments here, because they don’t deserve to be repeated. But in general people were either accusing the Delta player, coaches and administration of intentionally violating the rules and/or searching for someone to blame.
There is no one to blame. It was a mistake. And it was not intentional.
At Delta, as at most schools, coaches turn in a roster to the administration to check eligibility. The administrative staff checks the roster against the academic record, and then reports back to the coaching staff on any eligibility issues.
In this case, failing a class was not the issue. Instead, the student still had an “incomplete” on his record from the spring grading period.
It slipped through the cracks. Anyone looking at the situation rationally can understand how that might happen.
Once the possible violation was brought to his attention, Delta athletics director Chris Conley double-checked. He found the “incomplete,” investigated the situation within the school and then reported the violation to the IHSAA and the other schools involved.
Which brings me to another person who commented on The Star Press site, questioning how many other schools would have self-reported.
The answer, actually, is most.
IHSAA Commissioner Bobby Cox said in a phone interview this morning the vast majority of violations, including those involving academic eligibility, are self-reported.“The entire concept of the IHSAA is it’s a voluntary organization, and those schools police themselves as to all bylaws,” Cox said. “You hate to see any (violations) occur, but the reality is it’s a very difficult process that the schools go through … There are all kinds of situations that occur with student athletes and their academic program.”
Jay County had a couple of violations of its own last season, both of which were self-reported.
One involved a swimmer who was academically ineligible. His participation, however, did not affect the outcome of the meet so no forfeits were involved.
The other involved Patriot boys basketball player Scott Schwieterman, who was declared ineligible for three games for “participating on an organized team in season.”
We all make mistakes. Coaches make bad calls; players drop the ball; writers misspell names and make typographical errors. None of us do it on purpose, but it happens.
So while it would be easy for Jay County fans to pile on Delta, a rival school, for its error, that’s not the way we would want to be treated if we were in their shoes. Conley, who I spoke to Wednesday, and his staff feel badly enough about the situation without the rest of us piling on.
Instead, why not offer our support? Send Conley, Zgunda or the team in general a note or an email. Tell them you appreciate their honesty in reporting the violation. Wish them luck in the Hoosier Heritage Conference and the state tournament.
We may not always agree with school administrators, the decisions they make and their methods. And surely there are a few around the state who try to skirt rules in order to tilt the playing field in their advantage.
But the overwhelming majority of them are working hard, following the rules and striving to be good role models for their students.
“My father was a Marine,” Conley said when discussing his reasons for self-reporting the violation, taking several pauses to compose himself as emotion began to overwhelm. “And to have done anything less would just not have been right. I was not brought up that way.”[[In-content Ad]]