A New Jersey state appeals court denied a high school’s bid to reverse that state’s high school athletic association’s decision to strip its football team of its 2011 state title.
In so ruling, the court found that the North Bergen High School head football coach “cheated his team as well … of the opportunity to learn the most valuable lesson of competitive sports: maximum effort in an even playing field.”
Patrick J. Jennings, the Hackensack attorney representing the North Bergen Board of Education, told the media after the ruling that his client plans to appeal to the New Jersey Supreme Court.
The controversy began in the fall of 2011 when North Bergen High School’s long-time coach, Vincent Ascolese, “enabled two star athletes to transfer to North Bergen High School by providing them with apartments in the district on special terms,” according to the Controversies Committee of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA). “He also turned a blind eye to the fact that one of those athletes was living by himself, in apparent violation of the district’s residency policy. In addition, the athlete also received monetary benefits and encouragement to transfer to the school from Coach Ascolese’s family, including his daughter, his son and his grandson.”
The team went on to win the 2011 North Jersey, Section 1, Group IV, State Football Championship title, beating Montclair High School 14-13. Five weeks later, the NJSIAA Controversies Committee learned of the violations of the association’s Athlete Recruitment Rule and placed the high school football program on probation for a period of two years. But it permitted the football team to retain the 2011 championship title.
The Montclair Board of Education appealed the ruling, asking that “North Bergen’s football team forfeit the championship title tainted by egregious violations of the rules governing who is entitled to play the game,” according to the court. The NJSIAA Executive Committee agreed.
North Bergen sought judicial intervention, arguing that the Commissioner’s approval of the NJSIAA Executive Committee’s “decision to modify the sanctions previously imposed by the Controversies Committee, based only on an appeal filed by the Montclair Board of Education, a school district that was not a party in the disciplinary hearing conducted by the Controversies Committee, was arbitrary and capricious,” noted the appeals court.
The NJSIAA rules, argued North Bergen, “do not confer Montclair with the standing to petition the Executive Committee to impose harsher sanctions on North Bergen without first exhausting its right to appear as an aggrieved party before the Controversies Committee.”
The appeals court noted that it was “satisfied that Montclair High School and its football team had standing to seek redress before the Executive Committee. The violations of the rules governing the recruitment of student-athletes gave North Bergen’s football team an unfair competitive advantage in the championship game played against Montclair’s football team. Although the student-athletes on both teams may have played the game within the rules governing the sport, the adult coach responsible for the management of North Bergen’s team improperly and intentionally manipulated the makeup of his team to the detriment of Montclair’s team. We all know this is cheating.
“Montclair’s football team was cheated of the opportunity to play a fair game to determine which team truly deserved to be crowned champions in 2011. Montclair correctly asked the NJSIAA Executive Committee not to confer the championship title to its team because the game cannot be replayed. However, the integrity of the sport demands that North Bergen’s football team forfeit the title of champion. Ironically, Coach Ascolese cheated his team as well; due to his ill-conceived scheme, his players were cheated of the opportunity to learn the most valuable lesson of competitive sports: maximum effort in an even playing field.”
Board Of Education of The Township of North Bergen, Hudson County v. New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association and Montclair Board Of Education; Super. Ct. N. J., App. Div.; DOCKET NO. A-2306-12T4, 2015 N.J. Super. Unpub. LEXIS 811; 4/10/15
Attorneys of Record: (for appellant) Patrick J. Jennings. (for respondents) Herbert, Van Ness, Cayci & Goodell, attorneys; Mr. Steven P. Goodell, of counsel and on the brief. Weiner Lesniak, LLP, Katherine A. Gilfillan, of counsel and on the brief.
