High school football: UHSAA fines Jordan High coach, principal

Jordan High School's football coach missed the Beetdiggers' game against Hillcrest on Friday night as part of a punishment handed down by a Utah High School Activities Association hearing panel nearly 10 days ago.

First-year coach Eric Kjar was fined $750 and suspended for one game, while Jordan High Principal Tom Sherwood was also fined $1,000, according to Utah High School Activities Association attorney Mark Van Wagoner.

Kjar and Sherwood were punished because they didn't correct a student-athlete during a transfer hearing last month when he was untruthful with a UHSAA hearing panel.

The player, a sophomore, was asked if he was practicing with the team, and he said he was not.

"The coach was asked, 'Is that right?' And he said, 'Yes,' " Van Wagoner said. "The principal said nothing."

The truth was that the player, who was denied eligibility and thus requested a hearing, had been practicing with the team, although he is only a junior varsity player. The sophomore attended a junior high in Riverton as a freshman and did attend at least one day of basketball tryouts at Riverton High last fall. Any freshman who tries out for a high school team, even if he doesn't make the team, establishes eligibility at the high school where he tried out.

The punishment was significant because the UHSAA relies on coaches and administrators to operate effectively.

"It's a big fine because he deliberately misrepresented himself," said Mark Van Wagoner. "If we can't rely on the coaches and administrators to tell us the truth, then we have no ability to enforce our rules."

Van Wagoner did praise Kjar and Sherwood for telling the truth about the practices in a subsequent appeal, in which the boy was allowed to play sub-varsity sports at Jordan High.

"I thought in coming in and telling the truth, he did something that will help his credibility in the future," said Van Wagoner. "It was a very hard thing to do. "

Unfortunately, Van Wagoner said some people who are dishonest with the hearing panels never do correct the facts and it makes it almost impossible for the UHSAA to be fair with student athletes and schools.

Jordan High athletic director Marc Hunter declined to comment on the incident, referring any commentary on the issue to the UHSAA. Kjar's voice mail was full and he didn't answer phone calls Friday night.

UHSAA Executive Director Rob Cuff said the UHSAA will hold a hearing on whether to punish the student athlete in October.

"The student wasn't at the hearing, so we couldn't deal with it," said Cuff.

Transfers are a contentious issue among school administrators and coaches, and the UHSAA's constitutional by-laws committee recently discussed the issue and the difficulty in enforcing the rules.

"We're sending out a survey to our member schools to see what things they'd like us to address," Cuff said. The group will meet in early December and Cuff hopes it will have recommendations for the UHSAA's Executive Committee by January.

Cuff said both fines have already been paid by Jordan High School.

e-mail: adonaldson@desnews.com