The Bellevue Wolverine Football Club (BWFC) and parents of current Bellevue High School football players filed suit last month to overturn sanctions against the football program.
Specifically, the plaintiffs filed a lawsuit seeking an order from King County Superior Court to void the sanctions imposed by the KingCo Conference on the program, which included a ban on non-conference play (resulting in a 5-game season), a ban on any contributions by the BWFC to the football program for four years, and dismissal of the coaching staff, as well as other sanctions.
Among the defendants are the conference, SeaKing District 2, the Washington Interstate Athletic Association, and Bellevue School District.
Tami Hansen, mother of a current BHS football player and whose connection with the program spans generations, claimed the program was “unfairly targeted from the beginning, with an original investigation that was biased and fraught with error, leading to sanctions for activities that, frankly, are par for the course across other districts.”
The BWFC no longer directly supports the BHS football program, and is not affiliated with a newly formed booster club, the Bellevue High School Football Club. Instead BWFC focuses on community outreach programs across the region.
The plaintiffs claimed “it was important to take legal action, considering their experience and frustrations throughout the investigation, which disregarded key facts and evidence, misapplied WIAA regulations, and heavily sanctioned BHS for conduct that is similar in nature to activities of other booster clubs throughout Washington.”
The plaintiffs noted that the suit focuses on “two broad areas of the investigation and resulting sanctions: donations by BWFC to The Academic Institute (AI) and payments to the coaching staff.”
The plaintiffs provided an “overview” that summarizes the “facts” in the complaint.
False Allegations Regarding Donations to AI.
“Context: Since 2010, AI has been the only alternative high school in Bellevue, and today continues to be an educational resource for a wide range of students. On average, four to five BHS football players per year attended, full or part-time, and the vast majority (15 out of 21) paid the full tuition. Some received need-based tuition waivers, as did other students. Only 8 percent of students receiving such tuition assistance were football players.
“The facts: From 2012 to 2015, the BWFC made donations to AI ranging from $2,100 to $16,000, intending the donations to AI to be used for any purpose or any student at the discretion of AI’s principal, the suit states. In the latter two years, BWFC expressed this intent in writing, according to the complaint.
“The Allegation and Plaintiffs’ Response: According to the complaint, WIAA investigators and KingCo concluded that in making these donations, BWFC was violating a WIAA rule prohibiting the payment of tuition of student-athletes.
“Such a conclusion can be drawn only if one ignores the language of BWFC’s grants and the statements of the principal of AI. The sanctions also single out BWFC, ignoring the fact that even a quick web search shows that other teams’ booster clubs provide benefits to players not available to the general school population, such as tutoring and college scholarships.”
False Allegations Regarding Club Payments to Coaches
“Context: Bellevue School District paid Butch Goncharoff a $7,000 stipend, per year, for leading one of the state’s most successful football programs, which is essentially a full-time job from August through December. The stipend is based on a set of job duties and tasks that has never included coaching spring football or at summer football camps. Like other similarly situated coaches throughout Washington, Coach Goncharoff chose to earn additional money to support himself and his family.
“The Facts: Since the early-2000s, Coach Goncharoff has been paid either directly or indirectly by BWFC to coach a weeklong summer football camp. Administrators at BSD and BHS knew this, and knew that Coach Goncharoff’s annual stipend did not compensate him for the camp, and never had done so. Additionally, and separately, BWFC hired Coach Goncharoff each year to attend a wide variety of events: keynote speaking engagements at community events, leading youth football clinics, and others.
“The Allegation and Plaintiffs’ Response: All defendants claim that such payments violate a WIAA rule prohibiting ‘coaching stipends’ of more than $500 ‘in a season’ unless approved by the school board. The WIAA rules are very specific about the definition of a ‘season,’ and summer camps have always fell outside that definition, so the rule does not even apply to the compensation paid to Coach Goncharoff by BWFC for the summer football camp. In addition, BHS and BSD had long known about the camp (indeed, they began sponsoring it in 2012), but they did not pay Coach Goncharoff for his work there. BSD and BHS knew he was being paid by others, and tacitly approved of that arrangement. BWFC’s other payments to Coach Goncharoff, for motivational speaking and attending youth events, are not stipends for ‘coaching’ the BHS football team and thus are also outside the rule.”
