Carver, Valley Placed On Restrictive Probation
The boys basketball programs at Carver and Valley high schools have been put on restrictive probation, effectively immediately, because of the incident at the Regional Basketball Tournament Tuesday, AHSAA Executive Director Steve Savarese announced at a press conference here Wednesday.
Restrictive probation limits those programs to only regular season play and prohibits any participation in the boys’ basketball championship program. Both schools are removed from the Regional Tournament and Talladega High School, the other Class 5A boys’ team participating to the finals, will advance to the Final48 State Tournament next week in Birmingham.
This is an ongoing investigation and additional actions could be taken in the days ahead.
We have studied some video of the incident and met with school and law enforcement officials. We appreciate the cooperation of Montgomery School Superintendent John Dilworth, Carver principal Garry Hall and Coach James Jackson, Chambers County Assistant Superintendent George McCullough, Valley principal Larry McQuiston and Coach Marshon Harper, members of the Montgomery Police Department, and staff members of Alabama State University.
“We’re very disappointed for the student-athletes of our state,” said Savarese. “This is not what we’ve taught and stressed in our sportsmanship emphasis over the last three years,” This emphasis is so important to our program that our Central Board made the online STAR Sportsmanship program a mandatory eligibility requirement for all students involved in athletics at all our member schools.
“We have made a remarkable improvement statewide as evidenced by the significant reduction in the number of sports ejections over the last three years, and then this unfortunate incident occurs,” he said. “The 55 percent fewer player and coach ejections we have had is credited to the commitment of the state’s education leadership, athletic directors and coaches in using the mandated STAR Sportsmanship program.
“We will continue to put sportsmanship at the forefront of our program and hope we do not have any more incidents like this to cast a negative shadow on the progress of our efforts,” he added. “We will not tolerate this type of behavior in our program.
“I want us not to forget all our member schools who conduct themselves in a manner that represents the mission of the AHSAA where sportsmanship and behavior is always at the forefront.”