UIL penalizes Tom Bean football over alleged athletic recruiting

TOM BEAN, Texas (KXII) - After recent allegations against Tom Bean athletics, the UIL District Executive Committee, made up of local superintendents and athletic directors ruled Tuesday that Tom Bean did recruit several kids for athletic purposes.

The UIL voted to disqualify Tom Bean ISD from football honors for three years.

Meaning, they can not win a district championship or participate in the playoffs.

Wednesday, UIL met with three of the families involved in the alleged recruiting violations.

“We have a unique circumstance here,” said Mike Motheral, Chair of the UIL State Executive Committee.

Motheral added, “we’ve got several cases here today that are somewhat tied together and there’s evidence in these first cases that are going to overlap some.”

Students from other school districts have transferred to Tom Bean, but Superintendent Lusk said it’s not just athletes who transferred in.

“We’ve worked hard to make Tom Bean a place people want to come and go to school at, I would say in relation to the number of kids that have come in for athletics this year, it’s very similar to the number that came in last year,” Lusk said.

In a press release, Lusk strongly denies all recruiting allegations and adds, “the district believes these allegations are the result of local resentment following the district’s decision to allow home school students to attend tbisd through the district’s open enrollment policy.”

In regards to the students who transferred, Motheral said, “four of them [are] from a neighboring district and three [are] homeschool kids that are all basically the same age, moving school district, which raises a red flag.”

Of the three students whose families appealed the committee’s decision Wednesday, two were suspended from athletic participation for two years and the other for one year.

According to one committee member, suspensions of more than one year are rare.

UIL Deputy Director, Dr. Jamey Harrison said, “it has not been utilized in several years, the last time it was used, it was used in an incident that involved a number of students all following a coach, in that time, for that particular case.”

The committee’s decision only applies to football.

Superintendent Lusk said the district plans to appeal the UIL District Executive Committee’s ruling.

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