City Section Committee Clears Taft’s Starr of Illegal Contact

The City Section Rules Committee decided Tuesday to take no action against Taft High football Coach Troy Starr, who was accused of conducting an illegal workout with quarterback Brandon Hance during spring break.

Hance, a sophomore transfer from Notre Dame, was spotted with his father, Roger, and Starr at Old Orchard Park in Newhall by Hart assistant coach Rick Herrington, who contacted City Section officials.

Under City rules, coaches are restricted from conducting practice or making other contact with athletes in the off-season unless related to spring- and summer-league competition.

Roger Hance, recently hired as a Taft freshman-sophomore assistant coach, said he visited Starr at his home in Valencia to discuss a real estate matter. Hance, a real estate agent, said he asked Starr to demonstrate to him a coaching technique while Brandon was present at the park.

“This was not a coaching session [with Brandon Hance],” Starr said at the committee hearing.

The committee voted to accept the action taken by Taft’s administration, which stipulated that Starr not use Brandon Hance when providing coaching tips to Brandon’s father.

Gary Cordray, a rules committee member and former president of the Los Angeles Football Coaches’ Assn., said, “I’m not sure what they did is not going on in other programs.”

“The committee determined that the contact was incidental,” said Barbara Fiege, City Section commissioner.