Players Getting Arrested

Honestly the perfect world scenario would be that the school or school system would have a policy in place as to how to handle this. It's a very tricky situation and could be very problematic in a legal sense.

If there wasn't a policy in place I would go to the AD and administration as to how the school wanted to handle it. This is something that everyone needs to be on the same page so that way when people come talking and asking questions.

Reason I say this at one of my stops there was an athlete (not one of mine) arrested and the punishment was a one calendar year suspension from all extracurricular activities. Since he was a Junior it was at the end of the season he was pretty much done for his high school career. The parents sued and I was called to give testimony during the case about how I handled a situation about 7 or 8 years before with one of my players.

I'm not going to get into specifics about the case or what I had to testify about or my decision but let's just say the school board had to make some policy changes.

Myself personally I believe these players need to be removed immediately but with a chance to redeem themselves. You tell the team (and the players) they made a mistake, they need to be punished and given a chance to learn from this to make themselves a better person. If they do the things they have to do to redeem themselves then welcome them back with open arms.

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Since he was a Junior it was at the end of the season he was pretty much done for his high school career. The parents sued and I was called to give testimony during the case about how I handled a situation about 7 or 8 years before with one of my players.

Some parents feel discipline is great as long as it does not apply to their kid.

Our school just passed new policy, student gets arrested they are removed from after school stuff, sports, band, what ever. Prior to that is was up to the coach.

Arrested or convicted of a crime? If they are removed from after school activities because they are arrested where is the due process? What if they are arrested and later it is found out that they were not even there? What if they are arrested and the information used to lead to the arrest turns out to be false?

What were they arrested for? What is the kids background? Arrested before and convicted? Arrested before and found not guilty?

Its too easy to say if your arrested your kicked off the team. What are the circumstances of the arrest? What were they arrested for? What is their background? For me I want to know what they were arrested for. What does the kid tell me? What do the other kids tell me? What does the law enforcement official tell me? What its the kids background? What does my investigation lead me to believe? And what is the outcome of the case?

I will get a copy of the policy and share it with you. We have a police officer assigned to the school and he passes on the info to the school. Also if a student gets a moving violation off school property they are required to report it, if they report it they lose their school parking pass for a period of time, if they don't report it and the school finds out, which they always do, the student loses parking pass for a calender year. Our school has limited student parking.

Thanks fivehole.

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Originally posted by Coach_May:
Arrested or convicted of a crime? If they are removed from after school activities because they are arrested where is the due process? What if they are arrested and later it is found out that they were not even there? What if they are arrested and the information used to lead to the arrest turns out to be false?

What were they arrested for? What is the kids background? Arrested before and convicted? Arrested before and found not guilty?

Its too easy to say if your arrested your kicked off the team. What are the circumstances of the arrest? What were they arrested for? What is their background? For me I want to know what they were arrested for. What does the kid tell me? What do the other kids tell me? What does the law enforcement official tell me? What its the kids background? What does my investigation lead me to believe? And what is the outcome of the case?

Coach I totally agree with you on this and really wishes this is how the world worked. Sadly I can't see this ever happening anytime soon. Arrests lead to bad publicity and schools / coaches don't want this. Look at University of TN and what they are doing. They had 3 or 4 guys get arrested (basketball players) and they have been suspended indefinately. I could see this if this was like their 2nd or 3rd chance but if it was their first then I agree - where is the due process?

To me the problem lies in when someone is arrested there is attention brought to it - public is upset. When they are convicted or plead guilty there is attention brought to it - public is upset. But when it's wrong or they are found innocent nobody ever really hears about it - out of sight out of mind. But the two negatives are what the public cry out about and schools / coaches don't want to be the focus of that bad attention.

One thing I've learned is regardless of what happens always go with what the school system says. Now you are covered and protected legally. It's a little bit of a chicken stuff stance but I didn't like being on that witness stand.

fivehole if you don't post that policy on here could you get me a copy of it as well?