The UIL announced today that Mesquite Poteet has been granted permission to play their entire 2008 baseball schedule at their home field. This will include all preseason tournament games, the entire 10 4A schedule and all state playoff games up through the regional finals. The UIL is still undecided on moving the state finals to Mesquite.
It is rumored that a former Poteet coach negotiated this unusual ruling. A source close to the negotiations strongly believes the UIL will indeed move the state finals to Poteet. The unidentified UIL source acknowledged the organization is striving to create parity in the 4A ranks. They are strongly in favor of a Dallas area team winning the crown in 2008 and believe if drastic measures are not taken, another Corpus Christi team will win it all.
The UIL anticipates an outrage from teams, coaches and fans from around the state. In particular, they believe supporters of Highland Park and curiously McKinney High, will be the most vocal. It is believed that Highland Park attempted a similar negotiation several years ago but was denied. When asked, a UIL official would only say that HP representatives were not in the same league as the Poteet negotiator. As to MHS, the official said Poteet strikes a nerve with those folks, especially the moms.