Ore. high school wrestling coach suspended
Wednesday, February 4, 2009 10:12 AM PST
CENTRAL POINT, Ore. (AP) — A high school wrestling coach with eight state championships in 20 seasons has been suspended through the end of the next season for allowing an ineligible wrestler to compete in a tournament under a false name.
The Oregon School Activities Association also fined Greg Haga of Central Point’s Crater High School a total of $3,100. He was also accused of allowing alumni to participate in practices.
Haga is banned from coaching any association sport or activity through the 2009-10 school year, and the wrestling program is on probation.
Central Point Superintendent Randy Gravon says Haga planned to retire at the end of the season.
The ineligible wrestler, who has not been identified, competed in a Dec. 29-30 tournament in Hawaii, Gravon said.
‘‘He (Haga) knows it was the wrong thing to do,’’ Gravon said. ‘‘It seemed like a good idea at the time. The kid had worked hard to bring his grades up. He earned the money to go to Hawaii. He was going to be eligible to wrestle in a few weeks after Christmas break. He thought it was going to be a reward for the kid.
‘‘It was bad judgment, and it turned out to become a much bigger problem than Greg ever intended it to be.’’
An anonymous tipster turned in Haga.
Tom Welter, executive director of the activities association, said the executive board met Monday and took into account past violations committed by the Crater wrestling program as recently as 2005 in considering penalties.
‘‘We also took into account the nature,’’ Welter said. ‘‘Many of the violations we deal with are errors of omission a coach played a kid too many quarters and didn’t know it. In this case, it was commission. The board views that, as coaches, we are role models, and we’re teaching them lifelong lessons. In this case, it was a very poor choice of action that needed to be dealt with severely.’’
Welter could recall only one other instance when a coach was given similar punishment in his 14 years with the association. That involved a wrestling coach at Crook County for a similar offense in the mid-1990s.
Denny Walters, a longtime assistant to Haga, has taken over as head coach for the remainder of the season.
———
Information from: Mail Tribune, http://www.mailtribune.com/
WHAT wrote on Feb 5, 2009 2:59 PM: