District to drop Sealth coaches
By Christine Willmsen and Michael Ko
Saturday, April 8, 2006
Seattle
Times
The Seattle School District plans to get rid of three Chief Sealth High
School girls basketball coaches after concluding they improperly
recruited girls to build their nationally ranked, state-championship
team — a scheme that ranks as the biggest prep-sports recruiting
scandal in state history.
But despite finding widespread recruiting, the district doesn't believe
the team should forfeit any games, or the state championships it won
this year and last.
That recommendation will be forwarded to the Metro 3A League, which
still could decide otherwise.
District officials on Friday announced those findings after a
seven-week investigation prompted by a Seattle Times report in which
parents and players detailed improper recruiting by the Chief Sealth
coaches.
The district notified head coach Ray Willis and his assistants, Amos
Walters and Laura Fuller, that it intends not to renew their annual
coaching contracts. All three coaches have until Friday to tell the
district if they plan to appeal.
The basketball program, undefeated and ranked No. 9 in the nation by
USA Today this year, will be placed on probation for two years, during
which any further recruiting would result in losing postseason
eligibility.
"Activity that violates rules will not be tolerated," Superintendent
Raj Manhas said in a news release. "School staff and adults have a
responsibility not only to abide by the rules, but to act as role
models in setting high standards of behavior for our students."
One parent told district investigators the recruiting was "relentless,"
while another said Willis claimed to be building a "dream team."
The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA), which
oversees high-school sports in the state, strictly forbids coaches from
recruiting or attempting to recruit athletes. Coaches can't offer
enticements such as playing time or help getting college scholarships.
"When there is repeated behavior that violates rules, conducted by
individuals in a leadership role ... we find that deeply troubling, and
it's unacceptable," said Seattle Schools spokeswoman Patti Spencer.
The school district decided not to strip the team of its state titles
because "evidence does not substantiate that students initiated the
recruiting activities, or that they were aware of the recruiting rules
or the consequences of violating those rules," the news release stated.
However, the district didn't cite any WIAA rules in explaining that
decision.
While the school district's sanctions against Chief Sealth didn't
include forfeiture of games or titles, the governing athletic body, the
Metro 3A League, will review the findings and decide how the team
should be penalized, if at all.
The Metropolitan Activities Executive Committee, made up of a principal
from each of the 13 schools in the Metro 3A League, could fine Chief
Sealth, expel or suspend the team from the league, or force the team to
forfeit its games. Forfeiture could lead to relinquishing its two
consecutive state championships.
The WIAA executive board has the final authority in determining if
Chief Sealth could lose its titles. WIAA executive director Mike
Colbrese declined to comment.
Coach Kathy Gibson of Issaquah High School, which lost the district and
state championship games to Chief Sealth this year by a total of four
points, said she is glad the district is acting on the recruiting
violations.
"Before, we were all thinking they were getting away with something,"
Gibson said. "Now somebody — possibly the coaches, possibly the school
— will be held accountable."
She said it was "somewhat surprising that's all they decided to do so
far. But I don't want to jump to any conclusions. Maybe more things
will be done."
Background on Chief Sealth coaches
Ray Willis
Willis, 52, took over the Chief Sealth High School girls basketball
program in 2002-03, inheriting a team that had gone 3-17 the previous
year. Willis, also a counselor at Chief Sealth, coached at Eastside
Catholic High School in Bellevue before joining Chief Sealth.
He was fired from Eastside Catholic after just two seasons, despite
guiding the Crusaders to the state tournament. Neither Willis nor
school officials would discuss why he was fired.
Willis played college basketball for George Fox University in Oregon,
and he says he played professionally in Europe and Australia. He says
he eventually wants to coach college basketball.
Laura Fuller
Fuller, 37, has been coaching with Willis since 2000, when they were
both at Eastside Catholic.
A supply-chain analyst at Boeing, Fuller is the assistant basketball
coach and head girls track coach at Chief Sealth.
She played on Garfield's 1987 state-championship basketball team.
Amos Walters
Walters, 45, has been coaching with Willis for the past three seasons
and has previous experience coaching track. He is the head boys track
coach at Chief Sealth. Walters works in King County's risk-management
division as an administrative staff assistant.
"We were sold a dream"
The district began investigating Chief Sealth after a Seattle Times
report Feb. 15 detailed how the coaches recruited girls with promises
of starting spots, college scholarships and other benefits. Parents
said coaches even provided bogus lease agreements so their daughters
could enroll at the school without having to move from the suburbs.
Several of those girls helped Chief Sealth win its 3A state title last
year and led this year's team to another.
Rebecca Rogers, a parent whose daughter was recruited by the coaches,
commended the school district for taking some action against the
coaches.
"I feel that they definitely should lose their jobs," she said.
Rogers told the district one of the coaches provided her with a fake
lease agreement and rent receipt for a West Seattle apartment so her
daughter, Leah, could attend Chief Sealth in 2003-04. The family never
moved from its Renton home.
"I'm not going to deny any fault, because I did choose to go along with
it in the end. But I think the truth of the matter, too, was I felt
awkward, and they were so encouraging," Rogers said. "The calls that
Ray, Laura and Amos made daily, numerously, they made it so that you
couldn't say no. When they wanted you, they wanted you. I believe we
were sold a dream. It's a very hard place for a parent to be in."
In another case, the district found, Willis attempted to recruit a
student who lived outside the district. Willis purchased a blank lease
from an office-supply store and provided a West Seattle address for the
girl's mother to use to meet residency requirements for enrolling at
the school. The coach then drove the student and mother to the
enrollment center where they enrolled using the fake address.
District investigator Eddie Hill said he found that parents and players
who shared their stories were credible. Two parents denied allegations
of recruiting and some would not speak to Hill.
All three coaches denied wrongdoing. Hill said that when interviewing
Willis, Fuller and Walters, he found them "to not be credible."
"Their flat denials of any improper conduct were not consistent with
information and documents provided by other witnesses," Hill wrote in a
report on his findings.
The coaches denied wrongdoing when interviewed by The Times in February.
Attorney Christopher Thayer, who represents Willis, had no comment
concerning Friday's announcement: "For reasons that should be obvious
to you, I do not believe Mr. Willis has any interest in talking to The
Seattle Times."
It's unclear whether Willis will keep his job as a counselor at Chief
Sealth.
"At this point, the actions we've taken are limited to the
investigation at hand, which related to the coaching activities,"
Spencer said.
Walters and Fuller, who also coach track, have been placed on
administrative leave from those duties while the district considers
whether they can keep those jobs.
Principal had concerns
The investigation focused on the coaches' misconduct and not the
culpability of players. That is why the district did not recommend
forfeiture of any games, officials said.
"After significant thought and reflection, I decided not to rule any of
the recruited players as ineligible," Ammon McWashington, Seattle's
director of secondary education, stated in a letter to the Metro 3A
League. "My primary reason for this decision is that adult coaches and
adults parents/guardians engaged in the recruiting activities."
McWashington said that during the two-year probation, which starts
Friday, the district will monitor the school. The district also will
require all of its high-school athletic directors to attend rules
clinics.
Chief Sealth principal John Boyd on Friday declined comment on the
report or how the probation will affect the team, referring all calls
to the district.
But Boyd said in an interview with investigator Hill on March 31 that
he had been concerned about the large numbers of girls transferring to
Chief Sealth to play basketball. Boyd said then that he and two other
administrators, including McWashington, had their "radar out" about the
issue.
"Boyd himself had between four and seven conversations with Willis in
Willis' office about such allegations," district investigators wrote.
Mike Kelly, Chief Sealth athletic director, said in an interview with
Hill on March 31 that he tried to substantiate complaints about
recruiting, seeking advice from administrators and even keeping a
database of new girls who started playing basketball at Chief Sealth
between 2002-05.
He said he asked for signed statements, and none of the parents
provided them.
"He talked to the players involved, and confronted the coaches," the
report stated. "The players always said that they had not been
recruited, and the coaches denied that they had been involved in
recruiting."
But the report stated that Kelly failed to follow through in at least
one instance, in 2003. Kelly was scanning a computer report and found
that one of the girls lived outside the Seattle School District. Kelly
confronted Willis, who twice said that the girl had moved into the
district.
But Kelly did not check her student records.
"No one suggested that the volume of complaints and transfers indicated
that a more thorough investigation was needed," the report stated.
The Seattle School District was supposed to complete its investigation
of the Chief Sealth program March 2, but was granted two extensions
because Hill needed more time to interview people.
The investigation included interviews with parents or guardians of
current and former players, school administrators, and the coaches
themselves.
Before this year's state tournament in March, the district conducted a
preliminary investigation to determine if all the players on the
current team were eligible to play.
That investigation determined that senior Valerie Cook and her family
had lied about their residency. The school ruled her ineligible to play
but did not force the team to forfeit any games she had played in,
saying it had no evidence the coaches had known of the deception.