Simply put, Larkin situation didn't have to happen

Yes, it's been one of those weeks.

We won't say it's been a good week, because anytime the news is negative around the high school sports world it's troubling.

What has happened at Larkin High School over the past couple of weeks ranges from unfortunate to sad to disgusting.

But mostly, had key people done their jobs, it was unnecessary.

Excuses can be made, defenses can be offered. The simple fact of the matter is that the school's two head varsity basketball coaches performed those duties since November without the proper certification and they got caught.

The blame has to be shared, but the buck has to stop somewhere and that place is squarely on the desks of athletic director John Young and Principal Jon Tuin.

Should boys coach Deryn Carter and girls coach Alphonso Lott have known they were responsible to complete all three courses the IHSA requires for non teachers to be certified as coaches? Absolutely. There may be extenuating circumstances in both cases - ASEP may have failed to send Carter one of the tests and Lott may have believed he was grandfathered in on the two tests he was missing.

But that doesn't excuse them for not taking care of their own business.

However, the greater problem lies in the administrator's offices. It is incumbent on athletic directors and principals to know IHSA rules and regulations from A to Z. Unfortunately, Young and Tuin have chosen to learn as they go and now the school's entire interscholastic activity program is in hot water. The fact each of them are first-year high school administrators is a weak defense. The IHSA offers education and will answer any question you have with a phone call or an e-mail.

The fact U-46 Superintendent Jose Torres chose to have two first-year administrators with no high school experience in those key positions is a question that really calls for an answer at some point.

It could have been worse. Larkin was already on probation for using ineligible players in girls basketball games in December. IHSA Executive Director Marty Hickman could have been more severe in his punishment than just making the school forfeit some games. But Hickman chose to give Larkin another chance. He'll send IHSA staff member Dave Gannaway to Elgin soon to do an "audit" of Larkin's procedures but in the end it will be up to Young and Tuin to right the ship.

Once you're on the IHSA's radar as a school that doesn't adhere to the rules, the red flag flies above your campus until you prove you've learned your lesson. We hope Young and Tuin have.

Beyond that, though, the burning question that must be asked is this: Is Torres happy with the decision he ultimately approved to remove Jim Juliano as Larkin's AD? The school absolutely would not be facing the penalties and public embarrassment it currently is if Juliano were still running the program. Period.

Friday was a tough day for Larkin and it's been a tough couple weeks, but it was refreshing as heck late Friday night to see the score: Larkin 37, South Elgin 36. The young men who this whole thing has affected most proved the resiliency of youth yet again by going out on the court and pulling off an upset of a district rival.

We applaud those student-athletes and hope the adults responsible for cleaning up this mess now own up to the situation, have a slice of humble pie, do what's necessary to cooperate with the IHSA and then comply with the rules in the future. This should be their one and only warning.

And while I realize the people on East Chicago Street have some pretty major issues going on right now, something they should always care about is keeping their interscholastic activities in the most positive of lights.

We also hope this is a wake-up call to other schools as well. The IHSA has myriad rules and regulations that are about as easy to understand as a NASA manual, but the rules concerning coaching certification is not on that list. It's very simple - if you are not a teacher and want to be a coach, you must be certified, period, end of conversation. The certification process is relatively simple. And it's required - for a head coach, assistant, volunteer ... anyone who is going to be coaching in any manner.

I know many ADs around the area who make checking certifications of new coaches a routine. I'm also betting there may be some scrambling right now to make sure their coaches are certified.

Let's not forget that the IHSA requiring coaches to be certified in coaching principles, first aid and the IHSA bylaws is every bit as important as school's running criminal background checks on their coaches. We live in a twisted world and it's the obligation of the IHSA and school districts everywhere to do everything they can to make sure they are employing qualified people.

Gonna miss him: The good guys keep leaving the game. And Ed Haugens is one of the good guys. Haugens stepped down as Jacobs' girls basketball coach Friday. While he may be more stress free, the game has lost a good coach, one whose values are in the right place and one who put his heart and soul into the Golden Eagles' program. We hope Ed continues to coach in some capacity, some sport. Kids need role models like Ed Haugens in their lives.

Gonna welcome him: Speaking of role models, Jacobs couldn't have found a better one to replace Dean Schlueter as football coach than Bill Mitz. Schlueter's teams may have struggled to win recently, but there is no finer man wearing a whistle than Dean Schlueter. And Mitz is every bit the positive outstanding coach Schlueter is. Mitz's success at Stevenson speaks for itself but above and beyond that, Mitz is one of the finest men I've ever had the pleasure to meet and know. Jacobs and the Fox Valley Conference will both be better with Mitz in the mix.

Condolences: Sympathies today to the family of Owen "OP" Paris, a lifelong Elgin resident who passed away this week at the age of 80. As a young whippersnapper trying to make some extra cash back in the mid to late 1970s, I dabbled in umpiring youth baseball games around the area and OP was one of the first guys I worked with. He took me under his wing at several games and taught me the ropes. When Kevin O'Herron would call me to assign my games, I'd always be excited when I got a chance to work with OP.

And time marches on ...