Coaches Angry Over Transfer of Woodruff to Chatsworth

City Section basketball coaches have criticized the transfer to Chatsworth High of a player who was involved in a physical confrontation with his former coach at Canoga Park.

Steve Woodruff, who averaged 18.6 points and 9.7 rebounds as a sophomore two seasons ago, was granted an opportunity transfer to Chatsworth on Dec. 18 and has begun playing for the Chancellors.

Woodruff was disciplined for an incident that followed Canoga Park’s 97-53 road loss to North Hollywood on Dec. 8. After the bus ride home, Canoga Park Coach Jeff Davis ordered a team meeting. Davis said he was discussing his team’s performance when Woodruff shoved him.

“I didn’t single anybody out for the way they played,” said Davis, who immediately suspended Woodruff. “He got very upset.

“I didn’t want him around anymore. It was partly a fear thing. I didn’t want it to happen again.”

Canoga Park Athletic Director Bob Marks said that Woodruff requested and was granted an opportunity transfer to Chatsworth because it was the next closest campus to his residence. Woodruff’s mother teaches at Chatsworth.

Even before Woodruff joined the team, Chatsworth was expected to contend for the West Valley League title. City coaches reacted angrily to the transfer, and some called Davis to ask why Woodruff was granted athletic eligibility at Chatsworth.

“The opportunity transfer has become carte blanche for players to go where they want and play where they want to play,” said Reseda Coach Jeff Halpern, whose team plays in the Northwest Valley Conference with Chatsworth. “It’s getting ridiculous, and I think it has to be looked at.”

Taft Coach Jim Woodard, whose team also plays in the West Valley League, said he would not allow a player to join his team under similar circumstances.

“There should have been an agreement between the coaches,” Woodard said. “If the reason he transferred is because he accosted the coach . . . then I couldn’t justify using him.”

Marks said opportunity transfers--designed to give students a fresh start at another Los Angeles Unified School District campus--are granted by the principals of the two schools and that athletic eligibility rarely is suspended.

“If the principal did that, it might be viewed as vindictive,” Marks said. “They felt that it was in (Woodruff’s) best interest to play basketball and to remain active.”

Chatsworth Coach Sandy Greentree said he accepted Woodruff after a discussion with Davis. Greentree said that Davis told him to give the 6-foot-4 forward the benefit of the doubt.

“If the other coach said, ‘Don’t give him a chance,’ then I might have looked at it differently,” Greentree said. “An opportunity transfer is supposed to give kids another chance. For a lot of people, it won’t make sense that he was thrown off one team and played for another right away. But this is the way it works.”

Davis said he played no part in the transfer, other than to fill out the requisite paperwork describing the incident.

Monday, Woodruff made his first appearance for Chatsworth and scored two points against Huntington Beach in the Las Vegas Classic.

Woodruff suffered a knee injury as a junior and missed the 1991-92 season.