Mater Dei Wants More Facts Before Compliance With CIF

Mater Dei High School officials implied in a statement released Friday that they will not comply with a decision that the school be put on a year’s probation for recruiting violations until Southern Section officials provide a “factual basis for their decision.”

Father John Weling, Mater Dei principal who issued the statement, said a school attorney had requested such information in a letter to Stan Thomas, Southern Section commissioner, last week.

The request has angered Thomas, who said he referred the letter to the Southern Section’s attorneys.

“It’s no longer Stan Thomas talking to John Weling,” Thomas said. “Now it’s lawyer talking to lawyer. Isn’t that sad? Lawyers are controlling this situation.”

After an open hearing two weeks ago, the Southern Section Executive Committee found the school guilty of violating Rule 510, which deals with undue influence of prospective students. But Weling said in the statement that Southern Section officials admit the rule is vague and that Mater Dei acted according to the rules.

Dennis Evans, principal at Corona del Mar, brought recruiting charges against Mater Dei after Danny O’Neil, a former student-athlete at Corona del Mar, transfered to Mater Dei. Evans was the only person to testify against Mater Dei at the hearing.

“We have felt that we were judged guilty until proven innocent,” Weling said in the statement. “After the evidentiary hearing, we are not even sure that proof of no wrong doing made any difference in the outcome.”