Colleagues Assail Oxnard High Coach

His team has staged a dramatic turnaround due in part to an influx of several new players, but Oxnard High girls’ basketball Coach Ryle Lynch-Cole is unable to enjoy his good fortune.

Instead, he is fending off a full-court press of criticism from rival Channel League coaches, who have banded together to accuse Lynch-Cole of using undue influence to recruit players.

A strongly worded letter filled with accusations and signed by the league’s seven other coaches was mailed Wednesday to Oxnard Union High School District trustees. According to San Marcos Coach Ken Nedler copies were sent to the Southern Section, each league school, and the school boards and superintendents of the Oxnard, Ventura and Santa Barbara districts.

The letter, obtained by The Times, alleges that Oxnard’s second-year coach last spring “went on a recruiting rampage” and reads in part: “It is our belief that Lynch-Cole is a rogue element in our coaching society. As professional educators dedicated to the proper teaching of the young people entrusted to us, we can no longer ignore this . . . behavior. Off the court, Lynch-Cole scoffs at the rules and willfully disobeys authority.”

Lynch-Cole, 36, was upset by the allegations and shocked to see the signatures of all the league’s coaches.

“My character has been destroyed by this letter,” he said. “It makes me look like I rob banks. I think they stepped in deeper than they anticipated. I will be taking legal action.

“Deep in my heart I know what is true and [what is] wrong. Basically, I have nothing to hide.”

Concerns about Lynch-Cole were initially raised two months ago at a meeting of Channel League administrators by Joe Vaughan, Buena’s athletic director and coach of the school’s perennially powerful girls’ basketball team. Oxnard Athletic Director Debbie Manuel and Principal Daisy Tatum investigated and found no wrongdoing.

“We did a thorough check and found out everything is above board,” Manuel said. “We went through each case and everything came through fine.”

Manuel staunchly defended Lynch-Cole after reading the letter for the first time Wednesday.

“I’m so disappointed that this took place,” she said. “This is the first time in years we have a successful program, so we must be doing something wrong? What do they want? We investigated this.”

The letter contains a litany of accusations against Lynch-Cole but no evidence is provided. Lynch-Cole, who previously coached 12 seasons at Channel Islands, is accused of recruiting players from Channel Islands, Ventura, Westlake, Rio Mesa and Hueneme highs in the past year.

Several players transferred to Oxnard last summer, including Nicole Black, the top player from Hueneme High, and Danielle Curtis, the top player from Channel Islands. In addition, talented freshman guard Jaline Bradley enrolled at Oxnard through the district’s open enrollment policy although she lives in the Channel Islands attendance area.

The sparkling Oxnard campus, which opened last fall, and the opportunity to transfer via open enrollment are the reasons Manuel and Lynch-Cole believe the team’s roster has improved.

“If you are a child who has spent your life playing basketball, you want to play for a good program,” Manuel said. “If you are supposed to go to a certain school where the program is not so great, then there is Oxnard High with a coach well-known throughout the Oxnard area. Where would I go if I had a choice?”

Lynch-Cole, a walk-on coach, is an employee of the Oxnard Recreation and Community Services who referees and conducts youth tournaments in several sports. Although rival coaches view his employment as an opportunity for him to recruit, Manuel believes he should be commended for dedicating his career to young people.

“Ryle works hard and for years has helped kids in this area,” she said. “He is a great man.”

The letter paints a different portrait, reading: “[Lynch-Cole’s] behavior says to those who learn from him that ‘If you can’t succeed by hard work and following the laws, break them.’ ”

Black, Curtis and Bradley have keyed the Yellowjackets’ improvement from last season’s 10-14 record, 2-13 in league play, to 11-5 this season, including a 5-1 league mark. Each player is averaging more than 10 points.

Black, a 5-foot-10 junior forward, played on the Hueneme varsity the past two seasons. After initially being ruled ineligible after transferring, Black filed a hardship petition with the Southern Section and was granted eligibility.

“She was having problems at Hueneme, and I’d rather not even discuss it,” said Willie Black, Nicole’s father. “If [the transfer] was for basketball purposes, I’d have had her go to Buena. I like Oxnard, it’s a new campus and a new environment.”

But Hueneme Coach Barry Long believes Lynch-Cole recruited Black through direct contact with her family.

“When she decided to transfer I had an hour conversation with her and she said, ‘It’s my dad. I’m sorry. Coach Ryle said he would get me a scholarship,’ ” Long said.

Both Lynch-Cole and Willie Black deny that any such promise was made.

Other coaches seemed to back off from the strong language used in the letter.

Don Salado, a longtime boys’ and girls’ basketball coach at Channel Islands, resigned as girls’ coach after last season, the letter read, “in protest of Lynch-Cole’s behav ior and the failure of Principal Daisy Tatum to render appropriate discipline to control Lynch-Cole.”

However, Salado stopped short of saying that in an interview. He said he expected Curtis and Bradley to enroll at Channel Islands, and was disappointed when they surfaced at Oxnard. Curtis moved to the Oxnard attendance area.

“I never spoke with [Curtis] or her parents,” Salado said. “I didn’t want to get involved with that. I went to our principal and said that I don’t like recruiting. I got out of [coaching] because it was too hectic.”

Salado was Lynch-Cole’s coach at Channel Islands in the mid-1970s, which he said gives him mixed feelings about the complaints over alleged recruiting violations.

“I like Ryle. I’m real proud of any of my guys who have gone into the coaching profession,” he said. “As far as the recruiting, there’s a lot more I could say but I’m not going to.

“I’ll just say that Ryle needs to sit down and read the CIF rulebook.”

Similarly, Ventura Coach Glenn Gray Jr. is hesitant to detail the undue-influence charge involving one of his players outlined in the letter.

“I got the story from her that [Lynch-Cole] drove by while she was walking in Oxnard and asked her about coming to Oxnard High,” Gray said. “I don’t have a written account from her. It was more of a casual thing. I don’t think he tried to intimidate or coerce her.”

Yet Vaughan, whose Buena team is ranked No. 1 in the state, and other coaches are blunt in the letter with contentions that Lynch-Cole flagrantly violates recruiting rules.

“The purpose of the letter is to make the Oxnard school board aware of the situation,” Vaughan said. “It asks them to contact people who can give accurate, detailed information. Obviously, [Lynch-Cole’s] behavior reflects on Oxnard High School and the district.”

The letter ends by requesting that the school board respond in writing to each of the seven Channel League coaches. Manuel made Oxnard’s position clear.

“The coaches here know that if violations take place, they are gone,” she said. “We are very diligent. We go by the book.”