Bishop McCort wrestlers facing 3-year postseason ban; coach suspended due to alleged recruiting violation; all sports teams on probation

Bishop McCort Catholic High School’s wrestling team was slapped on Thursday with an extraordinary ban that could keep its athletes from competing in the PIAA postseason for up to three years, and its coach was suspended for a year. The ruling came down from the District 6 executive committee due to violations of the state governing body’s rules regarding transfers and recruiting.

The decisions came after a virtual hearing that stretched over portions of two days. The committee voted 16-1 in favor of a postseason ban of 20 to 36 months — Richland Principal Tim Regan cast the lone dissenting vote — and 17-0 in favor of the suspension of coach Bill Bassett.

The postseason ban is believed to be the strongest penalty ever handed down to a PIAA program.

“I’m stunned,” said Rod Frisco, a former Tribune-Democrat staff member who covered the PIAA for decades during his time as a journalist in Johnstown and Harrisburg. “I cannot remember any type of multiple-year punishment for any type of violation — at least anything that I’ve been involved in.”

Frisco now works for the PIAA, but was not speaking on behalf of the organization.

In addition to the penalties leveled against the wrestling program, all of Bishop McCort’s athletic programs have been placed on probation for three years.

‘Very disappointed’

Thomas Smith, Bishop McCort’s principal and chief administrative officer, said the school intends to appeal the decisions to the PIAA and that he supports Bassett, who was hired as the school’s coach in May.

“I’m going to stand by Bill the whole way through this,” Smith told The Tribune-Democrat on Thursday afternoon. “We’re not dismissing him from the position. Based on the evidence presented and our own internal investigation, we do not believe that he has done anything wrong. … He did nothing different than he did when he was a coach at another local PIAA member school.”

Bassett previously served as junior high coach at Forest Hills, where he was named the District 6 junior high coach of the year after his team went undefeated during the 2019-20 season and was ranked No. 1 in the state. He was dismissed from that position after the season, and many of his top wrestlers — including his son Bo and his cousin’s sons Erik and Mason Gibson — transferred to Bishop McCort last year.

Following his transfer, the District 6 committee ruled that Erik Gibson, a Cornell recruit who was ranked No. 1 in the state, was ineligible for the 2020 postseason.

Thursday’s ruling would prevent him from resuming his quest for state gold as a senior. Mason Gibson, who was ranked as the country’s top freshman at any weight last season, was a state runner-up in Class AA in March. If the ban is upheld and extends to 36 months, he would never be able to win a state title wrestling for Bishop McCort.

“I’m very disappointed that District 6 would make a ruling like this and come down so harshly on student-athletes,” Bill Bassett said.

“I could see if there was evidence. There is nothing. What I’ve done the last five or six years, I’ve changed nothing. I’ve coached at other public schools, and I’ve changed nothing.”

Bassett’s Ranger Pride Wrestling organization has been drawing national attention for years as it features several of the top young wrestlers in the country. Bo Bassett, who is in eighth grade, won a Cadet freestyle world title this summer. High-level wrestlers and their families have relocated to the Johnstown area from Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee in recent years, but all did so before starting their high school careers, and no school district challenged the moves as being motivated by athletic intent.

Bill Bassett said that, as a private school, Bishop McCort is being unfairly targeted.

“It’s just sad that they’re going to do this to any kid, but some of the best kids in the world and the best in the country, just because this area doesn’t like Bishop McCort,” he said.

‘200 pages of evidence’

The recruiting allegation that led to Thursday’s ruling centered on a sophomore who transferred from Forest Hills to Bishop McCort prior to the start of this school year. Because the committee found that the athlete was recruited, the sophomore on Thursday was declared eligible to compete for the Crimson Crushers. That same finding led to the punishment that will prevent him and his teammates from competing in the postseason.

William Marshall, chairman of the District 6 executive committee, declined to go into specifics about the proceedings.

“I believe, when we’re all done, there will be 200 pages of evidence — because both hearings were documented by a court reporter,” Marshall said, referring to the size of the transcript from the meeting.

“We believe that the facts presented were made based on the bylaws of the PIAA. We respect (Bishop McCort’s) opinion, and they have the right to appeal to the PIAA. We’ll see how that process plays.”

Club coaches serving as high school coaches can be a slippery slope when it comes to transfer students.

Evidence offered against Bishop McCort and Bassett was a photo of the sophomore transfer student participating in a workout at Bassett’s home. The principal said that Bassett, who operates The Compound youth fitness center in Richland Township, offers early-morning workouts at the wrestling room in his basement to club members. The sophomore also was shown attending an event celebrating Bo Bassett’s world title.

Marshall would not comment on evidence presented to the committee.

“The record is the record,” Marshall said. “We’re not going to discuss facts related to the case.”

‘There is no rationale’

Bishop McCort is being required to develop a form that outlines the questions that the Bishop McCort administration will use to determine if there was any athletic intent any time a student transfers into the Johnstown school. That form will be submitted to the district chairman in coordination with the submission of the transfer paperwork in the PIAA portal.

Smith said the punishments handed down by committee members were unfair.

“I don’t know how they came to this decision,” he said. “There is no rationale that comes to this decision, to hold kids out for three years. I’m at a loss for words. I don’t understand that thinking, and to be honest, I don’t want to understand that thinking.”

Smith reiterated his belief that students transferred to Bishop McCort because the school was able to conduct in-person classes during the COVID-19 pandemic while many other institutions were forced to use online learning.

“Internally, our wrestling families are very, very upset,” he said. “They feel as if their rights were trampled on. They transferred here during COVID because we offered an excellent educational piece. We’re very disappointed.”

Smith said that 88 students have transferred to Bishop McCort due to its pandemic response, and about 10 of those were wrestlers.