Kenwood Wins on Court, Loses in Court

Kenwood Academy Head Coach Mike Irvin (right) unsuccessfully appealed a ruling by the IHSA that saw five of his players be ruled ineligible for the state playoff series, meaning the Broncos have a tough road ahead.

Cook County Judge Sophia Hall heard arguments from the IHSA and lawyers representing Kenwood Academy boys’s basketball players and coaches late Friday evening regarding the suspension of five players and three coaches. Hall ruled in favor of IHSA and denied a temporary restraining order, meaning the Broncos will have to go the rest of the way with the players they have. Kenwood defeated Oak Lawn 60-54 in an exctiing regional final as the judge was deliberating her ruling.

Kenwood attorneys argued that the student athletes and coaches who were deemed ineligible to participate in the IHSA State Series were not given due process. Their main claims centered around a lack of notificiation by the IHSA of who was being investigated and why before the IHSA Board made their ruling. Kenwood attorneys also argued that the residency rules by the Chicago Public Schools conflicts with those of the IHSA.

"Beacuse this entire process conducted by IHSA deviated from its own rules...the coaches were not notified there would be an investigation into them and the executive director of the IHSA who conducted the investigation never notified them." Kenwood’s lawyer argued.

Lawyers centered their residency arguments mostly around senior Edwin Duling, who is a transitional student. They said he is a student without a college scholarship yet, even though he has a 3.0 grade point average and is still being looked at by potential schools. They said many of the other players ruled ineligible by the IHSA also come from tough circumstances and basketball is a gateway to better life opportunites.

Irreperable harm was claimed by Kenwood’s lawyers in regards to the social media blitz that took place after the IHSA ruling. They claim harm was done to the school’s name, the coaches repuations and players as a direct result of the IHSA ruling.

IHSA Atty. Ken Vanko argued the IHSA did not violate its contract or own bylaws. As it specificially related to Bylaw 3.033, Vanko said students that attend boundary schools within the CPS guidelines, must meet the residency requirements for athletic eligibility as well. CPS listed Kenwood as a neighborhood boundary school.

“It is a boundary school that has a magnet option available. All of the students in this case were accepted based off of the boundary rules not under the magnet option,” Vanko argued. “The office of the Inspector General has subpeona power… it was entirely appropriate for the executive director to rely on this type of material. The idea here that nobody here knew what the executive director relied on is simply not true. He provided six source files with informaiton provided by the inspector general.”