Transfers Granted Eligibility : Holcomb Exonerated of Recruiting Charges

The Southern Section on Friday granted athletic eligibility to three youth athletes who moved from a disadvantaged neighborhood in Pacoima to the home of a Westlake Village man in a ruling that exonerates Buzz Holcomb of recruiting charges.

Southern Section Commissioner Stan Thomas announced the decision after consulting the section’s legal counsel in a case that defines the limits of authority of the California Interscholastic Federation, the state’s governing body for high school athletics. The Southern Section is the largest of the CIF’s 10 sections.

“I’m not going into court and lose,” Thomas said. “You pick your fights and this is not one for us.”

The decision extends athletic eligibility to Brian Brison, Leonice Brown and Mukasa Crowe, all of whom moved from Pacoima to Westlake Village with their parents’ blessing. Holcomb has assumed legal guardianship of the boys, who played on the same youth football and track and field teams in the San Fernando Valley with Holcomb’s son Erik.

Erik Holcomb, Brison and Crowe will enroll at Westlake High as ninth-graders but have been ruled academically ineligible for the first semester because they did not attend an accredited school during the previous grading period. Holcomb withdrew the boys from the eighth grade of a private school in Thousand Oaks in February and sent them to a private tutor for the rest of the school year.

Brown will enroll at Crespi as a 10th-grader.

“All I want to say is I’m very excited for the boys,” Holcomb said. “Let’s go on and get the kids in school and get them going.”

Thomas credited Holcomb for giving the Pacoima youths an opportunity to leave a troubled neighborhood. But Thomas also said that Holcomb violated the spirit of Southern Section rule 510, which prohibits anyone exerting undue influence on athletes in an attempt to lure them to a school outside their regular attendance areas.

Southern Section attorney Andy Patterson advised Thomas that the section has no jurisdiction over people not affiliated with member schools and with any students before they enter a CIF school.

Had the boys attended a CIF school last school year, it is likely that the Westlake transfer would have cost them their athletic eligibility, Thomas said.

“Eighth grade does not apply to us and people not affiliated with our schools do not live within our rules,” he said.

“I think Buzz violated 510 but he’s doing those kids a favor. I think Pacoima is a tough place to live, and he’s offering them a tremendous change in their environment. I give him credit for that.”

Thomas received little credit from some Valley-area football coaches, particularly San Fernando High’s Tom Hernandez. Pacoima falls in the San Fernando attendance area and Hernandez had accused Holcomb of recruiting. He greeted Friday’s news with cynicism.

“If you don’t enforce the rules, then don’t have them,” he said. “You can understand one kid having family problems. But when you see three kids, who are you trying to kid? If he can convince the CIF, then fine. I can see it happening anywhere, anytime.”

Thousand Oaks Coach Bob Richards, who also had accused Holcomb of blatant recruiting, resigned himself to a ruling he finds hard to support.

“Let’s just drop this issue because I don’t want the relationship between Thousand Oaks and Westlake to worsen. But that doesn’t mean my attitude has changed,” he said.

Thomas defends Westlake’s role in the case and also defends rule 510. He pointed to last year’s ruling against Mater Dei in Santa Ana. The Southern Section placed the school on one year’s probation, denied athletic eligibility to a Mater Dei transfer and forced the removal of an athletic administrator in the wake of recruiting charges involving the school’s basketball and football teams.

“It is a workable rule, one I can take to court and win with,” Thomas said. “But it is tough to prove. You have to have witnesses.”