Snow forfeits 11 games

EPHRAIM — Not having James Sonneberg on the basketball court may have hurt the Snow College Badgers in their first three conference games, all of which resulted in losses.

But having him on the court in eight pre-conference games before that, seven of which the Badgers won, may have hurt the team even more.

All 11 of the games were declared forfeit losses by the NJCAA after the organization discovered that Sonneberg, a transfer from Utah Valley State College, had been ineligible to play.

On Dec. 6, college officials received a letter from the NJCAA informing them of the infraction and the ruling, said Gary McKenzie, the school's assistant athletic director who also oversees player eligibility.

McKenzie explained that Sonneberg, during his last semester at UVSC, failed to meet an NJCAA rule that requires players to pass a certain number of credit hours with a minimum 2.0 grade-point average. The rule applies to full-time students, however, and McKenzie says he misinterpreted Sonneberg's UVSC transcript even though the Chicago native had attended the school only part-time.

As McKenzie answered questions about the eligibility problem this week, he made sure to distance head coach Roger Reid from the matter.

"Roger had nothing to do with it," he said, explaining that he himself was the one responsible but that it was an honest mistake.

"I blew it," he says. "I misread the document. I don't have anyone to blame but myself."

Likewise, Reid also defended McKenzie.

"Gary does a tremendous job," he said. "This one just slipped through the cracks."

McKenzie emphasized that he has no desire to break rules, especially regarding a player that sees only four or five minutes of playing time per game. But Reid, with all his years of college coaching experience, wondered how news of Sonneberg's ineligibility reached the NJCAA, even though the organization maintains they found the error through a routine audit.

"There are many junior college players," Reid says, "that I question that the NJCAA would have just caught this.

"I'd like to find out where this all originated," he said, but declined to speculate about it.

Snow officials have appealed the declaration of forfeit on the 11 games, and are optimistic about how the NJCAA executive committee will rule on the appeal in mid-January.

"I think we've got a good shot." McKenzie says. "It seems like they're working with us. It's not like we have a record of breaking the rules; hopefully they'll take that into account."

Sonneberg should be eligible to play when the team's season picks back up after the semester break, McKenzie says.