Two Big Stories - First Up, Why Doesn't Seattle Schools Stop Bad Athletic Decisions?
Honestly, I know the answer and it is something that plagues all of the United States. And that is the sports culture that infects high school sports.
Gotta win at all costs.
Most high schools in Texas spend more on their football stadium than curriculum. I saw more than one video during the World Cup of visitors from other countries who would see a high school stadium and shake their heads.
We're Number One...in (fill-in-the-blank sport)! That makes us proud (and prideful) to the point where those championships are our identity.
I've said this before - school is about academics. That it has evolved to spread itself over multiple areas to the point where academics somehow fade out a bit is truly sad. And that's not just sports. It's food safety, clothing, mental health, computers - you name it and schools are now supposed to do it.
And yes, yes, I know that for many students, athletics keeps them in school and they get out of it things like minimum grade to play, structure, discipline, etc.
HOWEVER, what is happening in SPS is that coaches at certain schools appear to be recruiting students. Do I think those students make a minimum GPA? Nope. Do I think they have ties to Seattle? Many don't.
We've had a number of high schools appear to do this recruiting - Roosevelt and Nathan Hale are two. But the main culprits seem to be Garfield HS and Rainier Beach HS. The alleged recruiting seems mostly for football and basketball.
I bring this up because of the saga of this year's basketball team at Garfield. And it truly is a saga. The district did not handle Mr. Roy's firing well and then made a complete 180 to fawn over him.
Here's the latest from The Seattle Times:
Last year, with virtually no explanation, Garfield High School fired boys basketball coach Brandon Roy, three-time state champion as Garfield coach, three-time NBA All-Star as a player and arguably the greatest basketball player in the history of the city.
Then in June, after it emerged that Roy had been fired following an alleged recruiting violation, Garfield rehired him as coach, with the principal and superintendent hosting a news conference to announce Roy’s return.
Now, records shed light on the allegation against Roy and Seattle Public Schools’ investigation into the incident. The details, obtained through a public records request, show that the student Roy was alleged to have recruited tried, unsuccessfully, to enroll at Garfield three times last September before Roy was fired. Investigators found “no direct evidence” that Roy had tried to recruit the student, “only hearsay.”
So this student - all on his own - tried to enroll at Garfield three times?Here's what needs to change in SPS:
The review also found questions about the validity of the enrollment for seven basketball players on Garfield’s boys and girls teams. Four of those seven players presented similar housing leases as evidence they were eligible to enroll at Garfield. The leases were all created by the same online document generation site and were filled with errors and inconsistencies — like a parent’s name entered in a field for landlord information — and all four students had rental insurance policies from the same company.
SPS said all seven players were ultimately found to have been enrolled correctly.
Really? You had seven players who had almost the exact same housing lease filled with errors and inconsistencies and SPS said it's all good. Hmmm.So what happened?
During its June 7 board meeting, the WIAA approved SPS’s findings of no recruiting violation. Garfield agreed to implement new processes around athletic eligibility and enrollment verification, including an eight-page Accountability and Monitoring Matrix, intended to help with compliance. SPS also listed Roy’s dismissal as a “corrective action” in its presentation to the WIAA.
SPS did not answer a list of questions about Roy’s firing and its investigation. An SPS spokesperson said it has consolidated athletics eligibility issues and compliance under a new districtwide director.
“Seattle Public Schools is working diligently to improve our processes around athletic eligibility,” spokesperson Bev Redmond said in an email.
No further explanation was given for six months, until The Seattle Times obtained records showing that a rival high school, Auburn Mountainview, had alleged that Roy had tried to recruit one of its players. Auburn Mountainview officials said they were told Roy was on a call with an NBA agent in which the student was offered cash, a car and an apartment if he transferred to the Seattle school.
The Auburn student and his mother refused to talk to the investigator, according to the Seattle Public Schools’ report. Auburn Mountainview boys basketball coach Kendall White told the investigator that the student said “never, not a chance” when asked if he would speak with the investigator.
“White said that Student A will go to GHS and play for Roy,” an investigative memorandum from Sept. 29, 2025, says. “White said that Student A sees this as an opportunity to better himself. White added that Student A and his family struggle financially and getting an apartment and a car is a ‘big deal’ to Student A and his family.”
The student remained enrolled at Auburn Mountainview through the summer but withdrew Sept. 2, the day before the first day of the school year.
“He withdrew from AMHS on 9/2/25 but to our knowledge has not yet enrolled at Garfield as they are still waiting on residence confirmation,” Auburn officials reported to the WIAA. “To our knowledge, this will NOT be a full family move.”
At the same time, the student was trying to enroll at Garfield. His mother made three attempts, submitting enrollment materials to Garfield on Sept. 12, 15 and 22. She told an enrollment staff member on Sept. 19 that someone in Seattle would provide guardianship for access to a “good school” and to “play sports,” according to the SPS investigation.
"Someone in Seattle" would be this student's guardian? Oh my.
After the third attempt, SPS staff notified the mother that her child was not eligible to be enrolled. The mother was contacted for an interview on Sept. 24. She responded that “nobody contacted me or my son about attending Garfield HS. And we do not wish to speak any further on the matter,” the investigation said.
The investigation concluded that the claims related to the Auburn Mountainview student were “unsubstantiated with no hard facts connecting coaches to students.” It noted there were no call logs, texts or communications from coaches, the student and parent refused to be interviewed and Roy denied the allegations verbally and in writing.
“Conclusion: Preponderance of evidence does not support illegal recruiting claims,” it says.
Here's what Hart said in June when Roy was reinstated:
“Coaches should be and will be trained,” Hart said during his opening remarks at the news conference. “Students will be supported in the classroom. Eligibility will be checked, program supervised, and records kept. Every program will meet school district, Metro League, and WIAA expectations.”
Okay, I'll bite. Did the number one boys high school basketball student in the country walk at the RBHS graduation? I'd lay money he didn't.
The district’s new matrix for overseeing athletics — developed for the upcoming school year — now lists what actions should be taken for potential recruiting violations. A minor or first-time violation leads to a meeting with the principal or more oversight. A repeat or substantiated offense leads to coach suspension and a blatant or continuous offense can lead to a permanent ban for the coach and possible forfeits for the team.
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