IHSA official talks about N. Chicago suspension
As the North Chicago High School football program waits to hear what the ultimate penalty will be for its brawl with Simeon High School, a top state athletic official talked with the Daily Herald Friday.
In the wake of last week's fight, North Chicago was forced to forfeit Friday night's game with Vernon Hills and the Illinois High School Association has suspended competition until further notice. Simeon, meanwhile, was permitted to continue its season but eight players have been suspended for one or two games each.
Matt Troha, assistant executive director of the IHSA, talked about why the organization took the action it did and what comes next.
Q. What's the trigger that would cause the IHSA to suspect a whole team, versus only select players?
Troha: I don't know that there is necessarily a "trigger" in a case like this. It's hard to say "X" number of punches thrown or "X" number of players leaving the bench necessitates a suspension. I think a better indicator is the old adage about knowing it when you see it. When you hear about an incident like this you never fully know what to expect and when IHSA Executive Director Dr. (Marty) Hickman sat down and watched the tape, he immediately knew that he wasn't comfortable with North Chicago returning to the field this weekend.
Q. Is there an appeal process?
Troha: An appeal can be made to the IHSA board of directors.
Q. Football by its nature is a violent game, but violence in sports is frowned upon. How should coaches and athletic directors balance that?
Troha: Despite some of the recent negative press football has received with situations like the fight at the Oregon-Boise State game, there are also thousands of other contests at every level played each week without incident. It's important for coaches and game administrators to have a good internal gauge of what is happening in the contest. Oftentimes smaller incidents precipitate larger situations. Coaches, officials and administrators will not be able to prevent every incident, but may be able to talk to players or fans during a contest and refocus them before they do something outside the rules of the game out of anger or frustration.
Q. How often does the IHSA suspend a team?
Troha: Suspensions for entire teams are rare, but do happen occasionally.
Q. What are the most common violations?
Troha: There have been other suspensions for fighting, as well as for serious bylaw violations for things such as recruiting. There have been schools who were suspended from participating in the postseason for failure by the administration to follow-up on sportsmanship issues during the season.
Q. What is going to happen Monday regarding this incident? What are the possible outcomes?
Troha: Dr. Hickman and members of our staff will meet with the North Chicago administration and there will be a number of items discussed that relate to this incident. It will range from the suspensions of specific players based on their actions on the tape, to how North Chicago plans to prevent an incident like this from happening again. It could be a case where Dr. Hickman feels confident in saying North Chicago can return to the field on a certain date or he may feel that more time is needed before he is comfortable reaching a decision on if and when that will happen.