Welch Wins Temporary Injunction : Jurisprudence: Court directs school district to lift suspension of Canyon football coach.

Canyon High football Coach Harry Welch, suspended for conducting an off-season practice, won a preliminary court battle Wednesday in his attempt to regain his job.

A judge in San Fernando Superior Court granted Welch a temporary restraining order that directs the William S. Hart Union High School District to lift the 5 1/2-month suspension.

However, District Supt. Clyde Smyth said the effect of the court action appeared to be limited because “in football, nothing really starts until August 26, and the court has scheduled another hearing in this case for August 19.”

Welch, who conducted conditioning workouts with his players after securing the restraining order, was exultant. “I finally got due process,” he said.

The next hearing was scheduled by Judge Haig Kechejian to consider Welch’s request for a preliminary injunction on the ground that the district violated his rights by suspending him.

Kechejian granted the restraining order after listening in chambers to arguments by Welch’s attorney, Stephen J. Tully, and by the district’s lawyers.

Tully said that the judge warned him that “his decision today in no way prejudges how the case will be decided August 19.”

Courts usually insist on a full hearing with witnesses before granting a preliminary injunction.

If granted, a preliminary injunction likely would be in force until the case is tried.

Civil cases typically do not come to trial for years, and an injunction would give Welch the legal right to coach while awaiting final court disposition in the case.

Although the restraining order will be in force for less than three weeks, Tully said, “It means that he’s the coach right now, and that’s something.”

Smyth said that the district’s attorneys had advised him that despite the restraining order, school officials could continue their search for a replacement coach.

The district has advertised the post and is interviewing applicants, Smyth said, “and we can continue that, but we cannot hire anyone until we see how the next hearing goes.”

The district suspended Welch on the recommendation of the executive committee of the Southern Section of the California Interscholastic Federation.

Stan Thomas, the section’s commissioner, and the CIF are co-defendants with the district in the suit.

Officials say they were alerted to the off-season practice when a local newspaper ran a photograph taken May 7 of a Canyon football player practicing on a blocking dummy.

The photograph was published May 19, one day before the official start of practice.

Tully said that the power of the CIF to pressure a district to suspend a coach will be a “key issue at the hearing.”

Despite the search for a new coach, district officials say that after the suspension ends, Welch is free to reapply for the coaching post.

BACKGROUND

A May 19 photograph in the Newhall Signal showed a Canyon High football player hitting a blocking dummy with teammates and an assistant coach watching. Southern Section rules prohibit the use of sleds and blocking dummies in the off-season. Coach Harry Welch admits that a violation occurred but denies that he is guilty of wrongdoing. After the section recommended a one-year suspension of Welch and an investigation of the Canyon football program, Canyon Principal Bill White accepted a recommendation for a 5 1/2-month suspension of Welch.