Thursday’s meeting of the IHSAA Executive Committee meeting in Indianapolis included many of the usual items on the agenda for fall, but it also included several major penalties handed down to athletic departments across the state.
The Heritage Christian boys basketball team was ordered to vacate all wins from the 2021-22 and the 2022-23 season for violating recruitment rules and allowing players to play who had prior connections to the coaching staff.
The sanctions are some of the most serious handed down by the IHSAA in years.
Former head coach Warren Wallace went 12-12 in 2021-22 and was 8-6 before leaving the program last season. The program is also being forced to vacate the three wins collected by interim coach Brandon Coffer.
Along with the lost victories, the program is also banned from hosting IHSAA basketball tournaments and must forfeit all revenue generated from hosting state tournament games in those two seasons.
Meanwhile, the boys basketball program at Fishers High School faces suspension from the IHSAA tournament series after recruitment violations were handed out. The allegations against the school say that a prospective student-athlete was being recruited by the basketball team prior to enrolling at Fishers. The entire program will be on probation for the 2023-24 season.
According to IHSAA by-laws, all schools currently in a contract to play Fishers and Heritage Christian this season have a right to cancel those contracts.
The IHSAA also suspended two members of the Bishop Luers boys soccer teams for violating a rule on participating in tryouts during the regular season.
Another local sanction included the North Miami wrestling team. Head coach Bill Hoover was reprimanded and suspended for the first contest of the year for holding a practice on a Sunday with four athletes.
The IHSAA does not allow practices or contests on Sunday.
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