A Question of Eligibility : Moorpark Clashes With State JC Officials Over Participation of 5 Players

Five Moorpark College football players may drop below the state’s 12-unit eligibility requirement on Friday, but school and state officials disagree on whether those players would remain eligible for Saturday’s Brahma Bowl game against Pierce College.

Moorpark could be forced to forfeit the game, according to the sports commissioner of the California Assn. of Community Colleges, if any ineligible players participate in the game.

In addition to the situation involving the five players, Moorpark’s athletic director said two other football players were allowed to enroll in classes just last week--13 weeks into the 21-week semester--in order to carry the required 12 units.

The school has set Friday as the deadline for all students to drop classes they are failing and receive a withdrawn status on their grade report instead of a possible D or F. The state board that oversees community colleges mandates that athletes maintain at least 12 units to remain eligible for competition in sports, but Moorpark officials said the actual deadline for athletes was late last week when an eligibility list was compiled and sent to Sacramento.

Fifty-six football players, including five who told Moorpark Coach Jim Bittner that they wanted to drop one or more classes, were on that list. Therefore, according to Bittner and Athletic Director Paul Dunham, those 56 players are eligible for Saturday’s postseason game regardless of whether they drop below the 12-unit minimum on Friday.

The Brahma Bowl appearance will be the first postseason game in Moorpark’s history.

Word that several players were considering dropping classes reached Bittner last week, the coach said.

“It has all been resolved,” Bittner said. “Some of our players were contemplating dropping classes, either because they didn’t need the units or they were not getting a high enough grade in a specific class. I called the whole team in and explained the situation to them and found out there were several people, five people, in that situation.”

Bittner identified four of them as linebackers Bryan Bradley, Pat Knowd and Mike Ledesma and running back Uasi Latu. Bittner refused to name the fifth player.

“We had to draw up the eligibility list for all athletes late last week,” Bittner said. “That list will be in Sacramento before Friday, and that is our deadline, not the Friday drop-class deadline. Anyone on that list of eligible athletes will be allowed to play in the Brahma Bowl.”

Dunham said the school is abiding by the state rule governing community colleges.

“The rule only states that an athlete must be enrolled in a minimum of 12 units to be eligible for sports,” he said. “As long as an athlete is indeed enrolled in 12 units at the time we make up our eligibility list, then he or she remains eligible until the next eligibility list deadline.”

The current semester ends Jan. 23. The next eligibility list is compiled early next semester.

Dunham added, “A player could still drop classes on Friday, but it won’t matter because the list has already been sent in.”

Walt Rilliett, the commissioner of athletics for the California Assn. of Community Colleges, said, however, that students must maintain 12 units at all times to remain eligible for sports. He said that if an athlete fell below the 12-unit minimum this Friday, then he would be considered ineligible for sports, starting the following day. In the Moorpark situation, that would mean no Brahma Bowl.

“If, let’s say, the starting left guard dropped all of his courses, then that student was ineligible for all games after that,” Rilliett said by telephone from Sacramento. “If, in this case, a student drops below the 12 units this Friday, then he’s ineligible Saturday and if he plays, that team would have to forfeit the game.

“The code is that in order to be eligible, a student athlete must be continuously and actively enrolled in a minimum of 12 units.”

Bittner said that a forfeit was never mentioned by Rilliett.

“He never voiced that to me,” he said. “He never said anything about a forfeit. If somebody drops a class on Friday, we have no way to check it. It’s impossible to find that out before Saturday.”

Rilliett said that each college is held responsible for the validity of its own eligibility list and that the California Assn. of Community Colleges does not verify the lists.

“We take those eligibility lists at face value,” he said. “It’s up to them to make sure everyone on their list is eligible.”

The school’s conference, however, can conduct an investigation if any community college in the state makes a formal request for an investigation. Moorpark is in the Western State Conference.

Dunham said he was not aware of the situation involving the five football players who told Bittner they intended to drop a class. But Dunham did say he knew of two players who had fallen below the 12-unit minimum and enrolled in other classes last week to maintain their eligibility.

“Two people on that list we sent in were under 12 units a few days before we made the list, and they had to be reinstated in another class before I could send the list,” he said. “They would have been ineligible, but the instructors admitted them into their classes. The players had to go to the instructors and tell them, ‘Please reinstate me, I’ll attend all of your classes and I’ll make up all the work I’ve missed.’

“If you can find an instructor who will let you into a class, even at this point in the semester, then you’re back in. Even if he gets an F or a D in the class, he’s still back in 12 units and still eligible for sports.”