Langdon recruiting

[Stromer]

i think i'll wait and see what comes out of the ndhsaa meeting...regardless if there was recruiting violations or not, whatever they decide is gospel. some volleyball player from langdon's 'truth', much less the 'truth' of someone who doesn't like langdon volleyball...both mean nothing in comparison to sherm and the boys in valley city.

True dat.  What the NDHSAA usually decides is acceptable is usually the exact opposite of what I think is right.  Such a frustrating organizaton.  They used to be able to give the NCAA a run for the money but after the whole logo issue, I don't see anyone coming close to the NCAA.

[ndfan]

Langdon faces recruiting violations
By Kevin Fee, Herald Staff Writer
Published Friday, June 15, 2007


Langdon could face penalties as a result of its alleged recruitment of volleyball players from nearby Munich.
The North Dakota High School Activities Association says Langdon has made a rules infraction regarding recruiting, and Langdon has appealed to the association's executive committee.

The appeal will be heard at 10 a.m. Tuesday in Valley City.

Langdon coaches met with three Munich players and their family members in a Munich home in February, according to Langdon Superintendent Rich Rogers. But Rogers said Munich players and their parents had already indicated to Langdon coaches they wanted out of a cooperative sponsorship with Cando, Bisbee-Egeland and Starkweather for volleyball.

Cando, Bisbee-Egeland, Starkweather and Munich form the North Star volleyball co-op team.

Cando forwarded a letter to the NDHSAA about the alleged Langdon recruiting and Sherm Sylling, NDHSAA executive secretary, investigated and determined an infraction had been made.

Sylling said it's only the second time he's investigated an alleged recruiting violation. He didn't find proof of recruiting during the first investigation.

“The second one, I think I did,â€

[rep]

what i mean is, i'll wait and see what kind of punishment the ndhsaa hands out...it could be anything from a 'don't do this again' letter to keeping langdon from participating in the state tournament (from everything i understand). they have all the information and i don't, so when i see what kind of punishment is handed out, then i'll make my own conclusions on how big of a booboo this was.

[hgkmjtkitxf]

It appears to me, that if everything that is said is true (travel expenses...van provided for the football players), that this is a title IX issue with the munich school.  Give me a break here---there would be no talk of a new co-op IF Cando had a program that won year after year---these girls would continue to drive those miles. 

Just to provide some info: Cando only lost 1 regular season game last season...and it wasn't to Langdon. And in tournaments they played at a much lower level of vb, that wouldn't have to happen again. I guess I'm just saying that it's not about winning here.

[get_the_facts_straight]

It appears to me, that if everything that is said is true (travel expenses...van provided for the football players), that this is a title IX issue with the munich school.  Give me a break here---there would be no talk of a new co-op IF Cando had a program that won year after year---these girls would continue to drive those miles. 

The young lady from Langdon said a mouthful, with, the fact that Brittany (a great vball player) is severely under-appreciated at Cando.  I believe that's exactly how it's felt, she's under-appreciated, they'll form a new co-op where she's wanted 'Langdon' and boom the parents and kids from there are happy.

On top of this, it is VERY rare for someone from the NDHSAA to make a public statement of this nature: I'm putting my money on the fact that it's pretty much a sure thing (the recruiting accusations).

I do feel sorry for these kids involved. Your parents and coaches should have known better.

On top of that, if the issue really is the travel expense....that's a title IX issue--pursue that, not a new co-op that'll just happen to wind up at the state tournament

So i am to understand that its against the rules to apply for a co-op with a winning program?? They wanted a co-op because football already came.  I don't think it's fair to penalize either side here just because Langdon goes to state.  You aren't looking at these players as merely players, you are assessing their talent which is irrelivent.  We are all just individual atheletes.  Winning had nothing to do with it.  Teams other than langdon win all the time.

[vballer5]

I have played against Langdon for 3 years... they dont need to recruit!! i would actually bet on them playing in the state championship <that is if they are allowed to.> they have a lot of good, dedicated athletes left in their program! I just wish they didnt beat my team all the time! I hope the co-op goes through for the happiness of the munich girls. i do believe people stretched everything out a bit.... its funny how people believe the negative so readily before the positive regarding langdon. whatever... i have also played against northstar.. they have talent coming from 3 different towns and langdon still got past them to state.. no one ever critisized their loaded co-op... or is that because they havent gone to state.. hhmmmm???

[vballfan06]

My point was, and still is: if this issue is a travel expense/munich doesn't supply transportation for volleyball to cando, but supplies one for the football players to head to langdon---this is a title IX issue.  That's what the parents should have been arguing if they were looking out in the best interest of their daughters.  Not a new co-op.

[luvmy3gbb1wr]

Stromer's and vballfan06's post were dead on the money........i really like stromer's.....these folks who jumped the gun at munich and langdon need to quit trying to justify.....you should have had a little patience......if you'd waited until the paperwork was done there wouldn't even be a story......i bet the munich school admin is just fuming.......talk about cutting your own throat with this manuever

[rkmt]

Stromer's and vballfan06's post were dead on the money........i really like stromer's.....these folks who jumped the gun at munich and langdon need to quit trying to justify.....you should have had a little patience......if you'd waited until the paperwork was done there wouldn't even be a story......i bet the munich school admin is just fuming.......talk about cutting your own throat with this manuever

That is the whole point.  There have been some really good posts on this topic, and the bottom line is that what is wrong here is NOT that a couple excellent VB players will end up in an already strong (understatement) program - that part is fine, it's happening all over the place with coops, but what is wrong here is how this was handled.  What floors me is that someone who has coached as long and as successfully as Langdon's coach wouldn't know that this move was wrong - to go to a player's house and talk to some girls and their parents when there is no coop set up yet.  No, he probably wasn't "recruiting" them because he doesn't need to and they already knew where they wanted to be.  But people have to put what he did into some category, and it fits, by appearances, under "recruiting".   The timing was beyond questionable.  And parents, maybe you don't read the rule book cover to cover, but there's such a thing as common sense that was totally bypassed here.  If I were an AD in Langdon, I would be livid.  And like luvmy3gbb1wr said, Munich school admin should be livid.  These coaches and parents just took a coop that makes sense, and would have just slid under the radar for all but those of us who follow VB, and put it in the forefront for EVERYONE, VB fan or not, to weigh in on.

I hope the NDHSAA makes a decision in the best interest of the kids - sometimes they do, all too often they don't.  As for what to do with the coach of the program..tough to reprimand a coach who's been to state 9 consecutive times so we'll see.  Tougher NOT to reprimand a coach who's been around that long and should know better.  

[baseball]

Langdon faces recruiting violations
By Kevin Fee, Herald Staff Writer
Published Friday, June 15, 2007


Langdon could face penalties as a result of its alleged recruitment of volleyball players from nearby Munich.
The North Dakota High School Activities Association says Langdon has made a rules infraction regarding recruiting, and Langdon has appealed to the association's executive committee.

"The North Dakota High School Activities Association says Langdon has made a rules infraction regarding recruiting, and Langdon has appealed to the association's executive committee."


for everyone who says we blow it out of proportion before the NDHSAA says anything is wrong and it says it in the first sentence of the article.  "LANGDON HAS MADE A RULES INFRACTION REGARDING RECRUITING"

[point/center]

the hammer has fallen:

VALLEY CITY, N.D. – The Langdon volleyball team has been suspended from postseason play for next fall.
 
The North Dakota High School Activities Executive Board announced that penalty Wednesday at its Board of Directors meeting.
 
The Executive Board upheld an earlier ruling that Langdon coaches broke NDHSAA rules by meeting with parents and players from Munich, which was in a co-op with Cando.
 
“We certainly don’t want this going on,â€Â

[baller01]

I don't agree with the decision at all. Rules were broken but a postseason should not be taken away from athletes because of it. Fire the coaches, penalize the school, but don't take it away from the kids. Obviously NDHSAA felt something needed to be done. I just don't think kids that have nothing to do with it should have to pay for it.

[Stromer]

I don't agree with the decision at all. Rules were broken but a postseason should not be taken away from athletes because of it. Fire the coaches, penalize the school, but don't take it away from the kids. Obviously NDHSAA felt something needed to be done. I just don't think kids that have nothing to do with it should have to pay for it.

The thing is if you only punish the coach, it opens up loopholes for future rules violations.  I could become a coach somewhere, recruit a bunch of kids, get fired and then the real coach could coach all of these new players.  I wouldn't see that happening a lot but you never know.  I don't think this violation warranted the judgment either, but I don't mind it.  Hopefully it establishes a precedent that the NDHSAA won't tolerate recruiting in any way, shape, or form.

[get_the_facts_straight]

I think they are making Langdon into an example, turing us into a warning.  {"programs,... don't recruit. Look at what happened to Langdon"} They are sacrificing Langdon's season, my senior year, just so they have an example of wrongdoing.  I don't think the punishment fits the infraction at all.  Did you all know that during the "investigation", not all of the parents from munich who were at that meeting were contacted??  Just the anti-langdon one.  Funny, huh.  Out of the ten people at that meeting, eight of their stories match, yet those aren't the ones being listened to.
I think everyone involved right now is being punished because we are a good program and the munich girls are talented atheletes.  We're being treated like we're just products whose value is being assessed.  If langdon never won a game, no one would accuse us of recruiting.  If Brittany and Katrina weren't very good varsity players, no one would accuse us of recruiting because they don't think they would even play.   It's just as bad to descrimate against a program for being good, as it is to descriminate against a bad program for being bad.
Should my coach's entire career be ended because people who were given bias information speculated that he may have done something wrong ?? Does one unwise move measure his entire career??  Nine years in a row (with all langdon girls playing) at state..That says something. 
Should I be punished for that same thing that didn't have a proper investigation??
If the Langdon players were going to be punished for all of this, why weren't we even asked what we knew??

Some of you should be pretty happy about all of this.

[baseball]

k...im gonna stick with my recruiting is recruiting no matter if a good team or a bad team does it.  to be honest Ive never heard of a Brittney Wirth or Katrina ?? so to say everyone is against you cuz your good is wrong.  the coach did an act of recruiting, he got caught, and is now punished.  do i agree with the punishment...no.  you got your sr year taken away for something you did not do, thats the only bad thing about the penelty but you knew something was coming.

I dont know so i will ask....how many times did Langdon win state in the last 9 year that they were there?  another theory of mine, say a bad team had their coach go into the homes and got the same penelty.  people would just say they canceled their postseason because they probably wouldnt have done much anyway

[Stromer]

 If langdon never won a game, no one would accuse us of recruiting. 

O I think they would.  If I was Cando and some team tried to lure my star player away, I would be up in arms whether it was Langdon or St. John that was doing the recruiting.  I would be more apt to let it go if it wasn't my best player and I am willing to bet most if not all schools would do the same thing.

[wahoo]

Last year I remember watching Brittany play at the semifinals of regionals. 

The TEAM  must not be so shabby if they made it all the way to the SEMIFINALS OF THE REGIONALS!  Recruiting is recruiting and thats all there is to it.  If you and your team and your parents and your coach feel that you were being treated unfairly and you felt like the facts were not staight and that all  this would become a HUGE issue...where were you all when the NDHSAA was having a hearing on this?  Shame on all of you especially the coach...a coach that has taken a team to the state 9 times definitely should know better than to even concider talking to other team players in such a manner!!!  Horray to the NDHSAA for pounding the gavel.

[baseball]

So Brittany.......are you and Katrina still planning on playing for Langdon or do you now want to play for Cando and stay in that co-op.  supposedly everyone makes it a big issue because Langdon has gone to state 9 times in a row.  I wonder if that had anything to do with you wanting to play there instead of Cando..........:?

[baller01]

I don't agree with the decision at all. Rules were broken but a postseason should not be taken away from athletes because of it. Fire the coaches, penalize the school, but don't take it away from the kids. Obviously NDHSAA felt something needed to be done. I just don't think kids that have nothing to do with it should have to pay for it.

The thing is if you only punish the coach, it opens up loopholes for future rules violations.  I could become a coach somewhere, recruit a bunch of kids, get fired and then the real coach could coach all of these new players.  I wouldn't see that happening a lot but you never know.  I don't think this violation warranted the judgment either, but I don't mind it.  Hopefully it establishes a precedent that the NDHSAA won't tolerate recruiting in any way, shape, or form.

Why disicpline the kids when they have no control over whether or not there coaches "recruit"?

[Stromer]

I don't agree with the decision at all. Rules were broken but a postseason should not be taken away from athletes because of it. Fire the coaches, penalize the school, but don't take it away from the kids. Obviously NDHSAA felt something needed to be done. I just don't think kids that have nothing to do with it should have to pay for it.

The thing is if you only punish the coach, it opens up loopholes for future rules violations.  I could become a coach somewhere, recruit a bunch of kids, get fired and then the real coach could coach all of these new players.  I wouldn't see that happening a lot but you never know.  I don't think this violation warranted the judgment either, but I don't mind it.  Hopefully it establishes a precedent that the NDHSAA won't tolerate recruiting in any way, shape, or form.

Why disicpline the kids when they have no control over whether or not there coaches "recruit"?

As I said before, just punishing coaches provides a loophole that can be used to keep recruiting.  Secondly, the coach represents the school and the program, just as the AD or Administration does.  The kids are at the mercy of their actions.  Its a cruel thing but thats how it goes.  If a coach knowingly plays an ineligible player during the season and it is discovered, they have to forfeit the games that player played in.  While the other kids might have not known, they still get the loss for those games.  The coach screwed up and now everyone is paying the price.

[vballfan06]

i don't agree with the ruling. i hope, coach olsen steps up and offers to resign, if landgon can participate in postseason play. my heart really goes out to their players.

[get_the_facts_straight]

this is my last post.  All of you are entitled to your personal opinion. My opinion is that most of you are wrong and don't understand what this is like. That's the beauty of freedomn of speech. whatever.  How would you feel if i was your daughter and all you could do was stand by and watch?  think whatever.
goodbye

[baseball]

this is my last post.  All of you are entitled to your personal opinion. My opinion is that most of you are wrong and don't understand what this is like. That's the beauty of freedomn of speech. whatever.  How would you feel if i was your daughter and all you could do was stand by and watch?  think whatever.
goodbye

the only person that was wrong was your coach....

[luvmy3gbb1wr]

I'd be upset with the coaches and parents who pulled this shenanigans....you're mad b/c they got caught and punished and you're angry b/c most of the posts feel the munich parents and langdon coaches were wrong, but young lady, you are angry at the wrong people...be angry at the people who didn't obey the rules....its true that the penalty is hard.......but i also understand why it was imposed.....i also believe there should be some penalty for the involved munich players as well

[baseball]

I'd be upset with the coaches and parents who pulled this shenanigans....you're mad b/c they got caught and punished and you're angry b/c most of the posts feel the munich parents and langdon coaches were wrong, but young lady, you are angry at the wrong people...be angry at the people who didn't obey the rules....its true that the penalty is hard.......but i also understand why it was imposed.....i also believe there should be some penalty for the involved munich players as well

after all, the Wirth girl stated they initiated the conversation......