School Missed Warning Signs

There’s nothing that can damage an athletic program faster than arrogance. And make no mistake, arrogance is the reason Westchester High’s defending state champion boys’ basketball team has lost two top transfers for this season and might be sanctioned for alleged rule violations.

Too many people associated with the Comets failed to heed warning signs when junior guard Gabriel Pruitt checked in from Compton Centennial and sophomore forward Ray Reese arrived from Carson.

It was obvious to seemingly everyone but Westchester officials that both high-profile transfers should be scrutinized.

In a 7-0 decision by a specially convened City Section rules panel, Pruitt and Reese have been declared ineligible for one year. Next week, the same committee may determine if Westchester representatives illegally recruited the players and if the program deserves any punishment.

The decision was reached Tuesday, in the shadows of the 10 freeway near downtown Los Angeles, in an atmosphere with all the intensity of a championship basketball game between bitter rivals.

Behind locked doors, in a cramped Los Angeles Unified School District driver’s training bungalow with no air conditioning, attorneys, administrators, coaches and parents representing Westchester and Carson made impassioned presentations trying to convince the rules committee that their testimony was truthful and compelling.

Emotions were so high that school police were called after Westchester assistant Marlon Morton directed a profanity-filled tirade at reporters and Carson officials outside the bungalow. He later calmed down and apologized.

The ugly side of high school basketball was on full display, with the issue of transfers front and center.

“I don’t like my integrity questioned,” Westchester Coach Ed Azzam said. “We’re not perfect and never have been, but we do try very hard to follow the rules and it’s real important to me that my reputation suffers because we have transfers.”

Frustration levels have been rising throughout the coaching community because of constant player movement, particularly in basketball.

Recruiting is suspected whenever a top player switches schools even though legitimate issues can be involved. The challenge is figuring out the truth.

“I don’t argue the fact we have transfers every single year,” Azzam said. “Why do they come and how do they come? I have no idea. Is Westchester an attractive place to go to if you’re a basketball player? Yes it is. The perception is no matter who we get in, we recruited them.”

Westchester has been the beneficiary of transfer students but also has lost its share.

Hassan Adams, the best player on the Comets’ state championship team last season, came from L.A. Verbum Dei. David Bluthenthal and Brandon Granville, who went on to play for USC, came to Westchester from Venice and Playa del Rey St. Bernard, respectively.

But Westchester lost center Jamal Sampson to Santa Ana Mater Dei, guard Jason Hart to Inglewood and forward Tremaine Fowlkes to L.A. Crenshaw, and they all ended up playing in the NBA.

As for Pruitt and Reese, it’s not going to be fun having to sit out this season, but they shouldn’t be worried about their college futures.

If they take care of academics, missing a year of high school basketball won’t matter. Jordan Farmar sat out two months last season after transferring from Lake Balboa Birmingham to Woodland Hills Taft. Now that he’s about to begin his junior season, he’s ranked among the top guards on the West Coast.

Azzam, who is about to enter his 24th year of coaching, insists that neither he nor any of his assistants recruit players. He said he supports a proposal scheduled to be voted on by the City Section in March that would make transfer students ineligible for one year if they do not change residences.

Let’s hope he gets his wish. The proposed rule won’t end the debate on transfers, but it would simplify things and start a thawing process in the bitter relationship among coaches.

Westchester administrators also should start taking seriously questions of player eligibility when another school raises legitimate concerns.

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Eric Sondheimer can be reached at eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.