Salinas High School Placed On Probation

The High School Football Huddle is all about promoting the sport, but every so often, we have to tell the bad side.

Central Coast Section officials have come down hard on not only the Salinas High School football team, but the school's entire athletic program. The football program has been slapped with penalties that will keep it out of the playoffs for two years, and all of Salinas' other sports program will not be allowed to participate in CCS playoffs for one year.

Here's a list of some incidents that have occured over the past two years that put Salinas in the spotlight:

In 2003, a boys basketball player was reprimanded for unsportsmanlike behavior in a playoff game against Serra.

In 2004, a Salinas High football player assaulted a Live Oak High official on the field after a game.

In August, an unauthorized commercial was filmed using seven Salinas High football players on the Salinas High football field, a violation of California Interscholastic Federation bylaws.

In October, two Salinas football players were ejected from a game at Benicia.

In November, a football player was caught with a false address, resulting in his being declared ineligible and the team having to forfeit five games.

In late November, the Salinas girls cross country team had to forfeit a league title because of an ineligible player.

Since November, about 250 students have been investigated for fraudulent addresses.

In a letter sent to Salinas High on Friday, the hearing committee wrote: "The myriad of incidents involving the SHS football program in the past few years are of grave concern. The number of incidents is of concern but also the breadth of issues across so many different rules. The infractions in the football program reflect a lack of leadership, a skewed perspective on the role of football in the educational context of a high school, and an inability to respond appropriately to situations occurring within the program itself.''

After reading the above quote, you'd think that head football coach Mark Ironside would be on the outside looking in. Well that's not the case, at least as of now. As of Friday, Salinas principal John Macias said Ironside was still the coach.

The High School Football Huddle applauds the CCS officials for such a strong stand. Yes, some could look at this as one bad apple spoiling the whole bunch, but in the case of Salinas High, it seems like there are a whole lot of bad apples in the barrel. Yes there are innocent kids that are going to be hurt by this decision, but hopefully this will allow the truely good and innocent at Salinas a chance to step-up and clean-up.

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