Christian Brothers Academy (CBA) has taken legal action against the New York State Public High School Athletic Association and Section II in an effort to reverse the school’s punishment for a recruiting violation. The lawsuit, filed by Girvin & Ferlazzo in Albany County Supreme Court, argues that the decision to place the CBA athletics program on three years of probation was unjust and lacked a factual basis.
According to the suit, all 21 members of the Section II Athletic Council voted to penalize CBA for violating the NYSPHSAA’s Recruitment and Undue Influence rule. This was the second violation against CBA, with the previous one occurring in 2019, although CBA claims that the evidence did not prove a violation of the rule. It’s important to note that the 2019 violation was unrelated to the current issue and involved a different CBA team.
In addition to the probation, the CBA varsity football team is prohibited from participating in a Week 0 game this fall. Despite appealing the ruling, CBA’s request was denied by the NYSPHSAA on March 14. Consequently, the lawsuit aims to nullify and overturn the NYSPHSAA’s decision.
Dr. Robert Zayas, the executive director of NYSPHSAA, refrained from commenting on the matter due to the ongoing litigation.
The alleged recruiting violation revolves around an incident where a CBA junior varsity football coach supposedly exchanged text messages with the father of a student attending Saratoga. CBA asserts that it had no knowledge of this communication and that the said student had neither applied to nor enrolled at their institution.
The lawsuit specifies that CBA did not attempt to influence or coerce the student to transfer schools. The junior varsity coach simply inquired, through the student’s biological father (who is not the legal guardian), if the student would be interested in visiting CBA. Such conduct, according to CBA, does not meet the definition of “recruitment” and does not aim to influence the student’s transfer for athletic purposes.
Attempts to contact CBA athletic director Blaine Drescher were unsuccessful.
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