Free Press sportswriter Mick McCabe thinks a Grosse Pointe South coach got off too lightly for "incessant basketball-related tweets to an eighth-grade girl who does not live within South’s boundaries."
Kevin Richards has been suspended for six games by the Michigan High School Athletic Association for violating its undue influence rule. . . .
I cannot understand how a grown man possibly could explain the deluge of tweets to an eighth-grader that dealt with his plans to have South play in Chicago every other year, South’s uniforms, attending her games, asking her to drop off tapes of her game films, her new basketball shoes, etc. . . .
I have read many of the tweets between Richards and the eighth-grader and, at the very least, this is a blatant violation of the undue influence rule. At worst, it is just plain creepy.
McCabe quotes the state association's top executive, Jack Roberts:
"We believe that it was at least a technical violation regardless of intent, regardless of motive. The activity itself fits our definition of undue influence, and a penalty of some nature needed to be assessed.”
The columnist sees the penalty -- a six-game suspension -- as too mild, writing:
Only six games? Seriously?
I can guarantee you that Richards would have been fired at almost any other school in the state. . . .
In its handbook, the MHSAA clearly states that when a coach is found guilty of undue influence “then that coach may not be permitted to coach for one year.” The MHSAA says coaches are not permitted to “call, e-mail, text, tweet, write or contact athletic recruits.”
And make no mistake about it, if you read the tweets, Richards was trying to recruit the girl.
