Villa Park suspends Reynolds, Southern Section “disappointed”

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Villa Park High and the Orange Unified School District have suspended boys basketball Coach Kevin Reynolds for two days for allegations first brought to light in a Times investigation earlier this year, a Southern Section spokesman confirmed Friday.

The section, however, had urged the school and district to levy more substantial punishment against the walk-on coach, however, and a spokesman for the organization said it will ‘leave our options open.’

‘I won’t speak on specifics, but based on the information we found and shared with Villa Park, we don’t think the punishment fit the crime,’ Southern Section spokesman Thom Simmons told the Times late Friday night. ‘We don’t have the personnel power of the school or the district, but we have options to sanction the school that we still may possibly use.’

The Times reported previously that three basketball players who either played or attempted to play as transfers for Villa Park used an Extended Stay America hotel in Orange as their ‘home’ address. An Esperanza High student’s parent also alleged Reynolds violated Southern Section undue influence rules by meeting privately with her and encouraging her to move her son to Villa Park.

Reynolds told the Orange County Register’s OCVarsity.com that he accepts the suspension but denies guilt. ‘I feel I did not do anything wrong,’ he told the Register, adding he will accept the punishment Dec. 4 and 5 when the Spartans travel to a tournament in San Luis Obispo.

--Lance Pugmire