Montclair Prep Needs to Get Its Act Together

Does the punishment fit the crime?

That’s the question being asked regarding the decision of the Southern Section to ban all sports teams from Van Nuys Montclair Prep from competing in the playoffs for one school year because a student was allegedly told he should leave school if he no longer wanted to play football.

Montclair Prep appears to be the only school in the last 20 years to face such severe sanctions, and it has happened twice. In 1991, the school was banned from the playoffs following rules violations involving the football program.

What made this violation so serious is that the student implicated Principal Vernon Simpson.

The student, in an interview last week, said it was Simpson, with the knowledge of football Coach George Giannini, who made the threat during a phone call last summer.

“ ‘If you’re not going to play football, go look for another school,’ ” the player said Simpson told him. “They were my friends and mentors.”

First-year Athletic Director Ken Smith said the comment “was intended as a bluff” to motivate the student, but there’s no dispute over what was said, and it violated Rule 510, the section’s undue influence rule that bars schools from “inducing a student ... to enroll in, transfer to, or remain in, a particular school for athletic purposes.”

Giannini said, “Dr. Simpson was doing what he thought and what we all thought was best for him to have structure in his life by focusing on sports and academics.”

The student, a two-sport athlete, has since transferred and been given a hardship waiver to compete in athletics this spring. He said he hasn’t decided whether to play.

Adding to the concern is that the student was receiving financial aid while attending the private school, which means the threat to kick him out of school if he didn’t play was similar to a college coach threatening to take away a scholarship. Except high schools aren’t supposed to have athletic scholarships.

Southern Section officials have refused comment, but in simple terms, they came down hard on Montclair Prep for lack of institutional control.

What Montclair Prep should have done to prevent the Southern Section from penalizing the entire athletic program was fire those involved.

Riverside Notre Dame faced a far more serious rules violation last year when its football coach was caught on videotape offering scholarships to high school students. He was fired and no sanctions were imposed on the school.

In 1992, future major leaguers Brad Fullmer and Russ Ortiz couldn’t participate in the baseball playoffs because of sanctions against Montclair Prep. It was a bitter experience. Now another generation of Montclair Prep athletes faces a similar scenario.

The player said he is upset that Montclair Prep students not directly involved are being penalized.

“I’m really disappointed,” he said. “I didn’t think it would happen. I was sad because those are my teammates.”

Somebody at Montclair Prep had better start making sure its administrators and coaches start following Southern Section rules to prevent future sanctions.

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