Dec. 16—IRONTON — The Christmas season is indeed upon us, but based on the reactions — and real time comments — from the crowd at Monday's regular monthly meeting of the Ironton City Schools Board of Education, fans of Ironton football for sure were not in a receiving mood.

As the Monday meeting moved in location to inside Ironton's high school cafeteria, the major storyline from the meeting remained the same — centering on the Ironton Fighting Tigers football program, and the widespread speculation on the fate of Ironton head coach and athletic director Trevon Pendleton.

In short, following a lengthy presentation by Bradley Frick of Bradley Frick and Associates — and an even longer nearly three-hour executive session — Pendleton remains, as of Tuesday morning, both head coach of the Fighting Tigers and as Ironton's athletic director.

Frick presented to the BOE, Ironton City Schools Superintendent Sommer McCorkle and to the passionate Ironton football community on Monday his decision review — based on the Ohio High School Athletic Association's punishment of the football program for alleged recruiting violations.

The Fighting Tiger program, which captured the 2024 Division V state championship and its third all-time state football title, did not have an opportunity to defend last season's state championship — because the OHSAA on Oct. 24 removed Ironton from the 2025 state playoffs.

That Friday night ultimately marked the season and home finale for the Fighting Tigers, which learned earlier that day that their season would be over — after their annual rivalry game with Portsmouth.

Upon learning of the sanctions against the program, the Fighting Tigers played one or more ineligible players that night against the Trojans — and were forced to forfeit the contest despite winning on the field 55-13.

Playing an ineligible player(s) is a violation of the OHSAA bylaw 10-2-1.

Ironton's administration accepted the negotiated sanctions between itself and the OHSAA — as the result of the OHSAA's investigation into the football program for "ongoing and coordinated recruiting efforts, including communications with parents and students regarding methods to influence other prospective athletes' enrollment."

According to the OHSAA, "records show deliberate efforts to conceal recruiting activity, including direction on how to avoid leaving evidence of infractions, which demonstrates an awareness of wrongdoing and an intentional effort to circumvent compliance. The scope and coordination of these activities, as well as the number of impermissible contacts, represents a serious and pervasive violation."

Besides this year's postseason ban — after Ironton's 9-1 regular season in which the Fighting Tigers' lone loss was at Division V state runner-up Wheelersburg — the Fighting Tigers were put on three years probation (2025, 2026 and 2027), levied a $7,500 fine, and some members of the coaching staff were served a postseason suspension for next year (if they are coaching at an OHSAA school).

Frick's presentation focused on how, in his professional opinion, that Ironton City Schools was "correct" to accept the sanctions as negotiated between the OHSAA and the district — and to not fight the sanctions through litigation.

The OHSAA only offered Ironton a 24-hour period of Thursday, Oct. 23 and Friday, Oct. 24 "to make a decision" — one of those options being to challenge the sanctions through the court system.

He said the district "theoretically" could have filed suit against the OHSAA, but "practically, you can't do a case of this enormity in 24 hours. You can't do it right anyways. For myself, had I been hired to do this, to find eligibility and to try and adjoin these sanctions, I would have wanted at least two weeks, preferably three. The OHSAA gave your superintendent (McCorkle) 24 hours."

Frick emphasized that his services were not retained by Ironton City Schools, nor were they retained by any Ironton student-athlete.

The cost, he said, to litigate this particular case "would have been somewhere in the $50,000 to $150,000" range.

Frick's six stated reasons "why the right decision was to not fight" included:

1. Not enough time to properly prepare the case

2. The district would have entered the court with "unclean hands"

3. Not enough information known at the time

4. Suspension of membership.

5. Virtual certainty that the OHSAA would have appealed

6. Suing regulators is never good idea

Among the more demonstrative remarks Frick phrased were "you don't sue this organization half-cocked" and "for those of you who are in businesses that are regulated, you do not want to piss off the regulator. Unless you're right."

Had Ironton filed for and been granted an injunction, and "then that injunction been reversed, dismissed or overturned", Frick said among the penalties the program was facing included forfeiture of victories, vacating of team and individual records, public censure, payment of expensive legal fees, and even forfeiture of championships including the 2024 Division V state title.

However, he didn't stop when he mentioned forfeiture of that championship.

When discussing "suspension of membership", which Frick said he believed "wasn't on the table but it could have been", he simply said "that's the death penalty."

"If a school district has enough violations and a bad enough record and a deep enough history, it's theoretically possible that OHSAA could eject you from membership," he said. "If that ever happened, your athletic program is done. Because no non-OHSAA member can compete against an OHSAA member. In other words, you have nobody to play."

"I think it was a very wise decision to resolve this case based on the sanctions that were negotiated by the superintendent," opined Frick.

After offering his six reasons, Frick said that — since 2018 — there have been 31 transfers into Ironton City Schools which required approval from the OHSAA, with 23 of those for football.

"That's way out of whack," he explained. "You don't find that anywhere unless you go to Massillon (Washington High School)."

Following Frick's formal presentation, he concluded by saying "when the day comes when you have a case in which the evidence is different, I'm happy to help,"

But that comment immediately provoked vocal outrage from the public, some who believe Frick deliberately misrepresented the facts — or even flat-out lied about what he told his audience.

Four individuals publicly addressed the Board and McCorkle — Hugh Scott, Scott Schmidt, J.T. Holt, and former football player Mason Wheeler.

Holt and Schmidt spoke on behalf of the 33-year-old Pendleton, especially Schmidt, who transferred his grandson Gavin Hart to Ironton from Notre Dame a few years ago.

"I didn't transfer my grandson here to Ironton to play football for him (Pendleton)," said Schmidt. "I transferred him here to make him a better young man. Coach Pendleton did that and continues to do that. Makes these young men better young men. There's more here than just playing football at this school."

Schmidt then listed Pendleton's head coaching accomplishments, as he was the 2024 Ohio Division V Coach of the Year — and Ironton's players have received "$35 million in scholarship money" during Pendleton's eight-year tenure.

"Facts. All you have received is facts. You can have facts, but sometimes you don't have details of the facts," said Schmidt. "Until we know the details, until Mr. Trevon Pendleton has his time in court, until he has his chance to be heard on this, until he has his chance to tell his side of the story, he shouldn't be burned at the cross. Trevon is a hell of a coach, but he's a better man and a great role model to our kids. Bring your army if you want to beat him up."

Naturally, with the pro-Pendleton crowd in attendance, Schmidt's remarks were met with applause.

Then Wheeler went to the podium, and the senior captain was highly critical of McCorkle.

He made two requests of the first-year ICS Superintendent: "an official apology" from her and "on behalf of the entire senior class and football team, we are requesting that Ms. McCorkle not be involved in our graduation so that it can be a positive memory and that we can move on with our lives and from this situation."

Wheeler's words too earned applause, before Holt spoke — and then the Board recessed into executive session for almost three hours.

At first, Frick and Mike "Red" Burcham were requested to accompany the Board and McCorkle into the executive session, before Pendleton was eventually called back.

Pendleton emerged first, and sat down with Schmidt upon his return to the cafeteria.

The entire Board and McCorkle came back out exactly two hours and 50 minutes later, and five minutes later at 9:30 p.m., the meeting was declared adjourned — without any action taken on the "consideration of employment, dismissal, and/or demotion of a public employee or official."

A few members of the public shouted at the BOE and McCorkle as they prepared to leave, as McCorkle met momentarily with media members — before leaving Ironton High School under the escort of law enforcement.

McCorkle made a statement to The Ironton Tribune via text message late on Monday night.

"Now that final sanctions from the Ohio High School Athletic Association have been received, the Board of Education and district administration are taking deliberate and responsible steps to ensure accountability and to prevent this from ever happening again. This will not be a surface-level response. We are implementing systemic changes to strengthen oversight, reinforce compliance, and put safeguards in place to protect our student-athletes, coaches, and the district. We are committed to honoring the proud tradition of Ironton and moving our athletic programs forward with integrity and trust."

It's highly likely the situation will be discussed again on Thursday, Jan. 8 — when the ICS BOE meets for its 2026 Organizational meeting, which is set for 5 p.m. at the Ironton High School cafeteria.

Iowa State University in Ames. (Photo by Cami Koons/Iowa Capital Dispatch)

A world-champion Cuban wrestler, Reineri Andreu Ortega, is suing the National Collegiate Athletic Association over rules that he says have unfairly barred him from wrestling for Iowa State University.

The lawsuit was filed this week by lawyers for Ortega, a student and prospective college wrestler at ISU, in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa. The lawsuit challenges the NCAA’s so-called “Five-Year Eligibility Clock” and the manner in which the NCAA decides when that clock begins running and thus when a student’s eligibility to compete expires.

Attorneys for Ortega argue that the NCAA’s application of the rule violates antitrust laws and unjustifiably restrains the ability of Ortega and other college athletes to “earn meaningful compensation that is now available to (other) NCAA Division I athletes.”

The lawsuit has its origins in a 2021 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that paved the way for college athletes to receive compensation for use of their names, images, and likenesses. Since then, the market for name, image and likeness compensation opportunities available to NCAA Division I athletes has “exploded into a multi-million dollar industry,” the lawsuit claims.

However, the lawsuit adds, that form of compensation is largely available only to NCAA Division I athletes. Athletes who compete outside of what the lawsuit calls “the NCAA monopoly” have no meaningful opportunity to collect revenue-sharing income or profit from their name, image or likeness.

Under NCAA bylaws, an athlete has five years of eligibility to play four seasons of “intercollegiate competition” in his or her chosen sport. This five-year window is known as as the “eligibility clock” and begins to run from the date on which an athlete registers as a full-time student at any “collegiate institution” – regardless of whether the institution is a member of the NCAA and regardless of their participation in sports.

Lawyers for Ortega say this rule has had the effect of barring students from competing in NCAA sports even if they’ve never competed. They say students such as Ortega “can attend a non-NCAA college for three years without playing any sports, take two years off from school for personal reasons, transfer to a four-year NCAA school, and the student will have used all of their eligibility without ever having competed in a college sport for a non-NCAA or NCAA college.”

Ortega studied in Cuba before coming to ISU

The lawsuit claims Ortega completed high school in Cuba in the spring of 2016, and then, beginning in the fall of 2016, he began taking courses at Manuel Fajardo University in Cuba. In 2017, Ortega began training and wrestling for the Cuban National Team, which has no affiliation to a college or university, while continuing to study at Manuel Fajardo University until the spring of 2019.

Ortega is a two-time U23 world champion and two-time Pan American gold medalist, according to USA Wrestling.

In December 2022, Ortega left the Cuban National Team and came to America as a refugee. In the spring of 2023, Ortega enrolled at ISU where he earned a spot on the wrestling team but without competing during the 2022-23 season.

According to the lawsuit, the NCAA has denied Ortega’s request for eligibility beyond the 2022-23 season due to the five-year rule, indicating Ortega’s eligibility clock started while he was attending Manuel Fajardo University, not when he enrolled at ISU.

Counting the years that a student attends a non-NCAA institution as years on their NCAA eligibility clock is arbitrary and capricious, the lawsuit alleges. “Ortega, and other wrestlers or prospective athletes in other sports who are harmed by this illegal restraint have a small window of time to compete in Division I sports and earn the permissible compensation now available to them,” the lawsuit claims.

Ortega claims that the NCAA has effectively excluded him from an NCAA Division I college career, and because, as a 130-pound athlete, he has very limited pro-wresting opportunities open to him after college, a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction barring the continued application of the eligibility rule is necessary.

Lawsuit cites pro athletes’ eligibility 

According to the NCAA, the purpose of the five- year rule is to “move student-athletes toward graduation in a timely manner” – eliminating any incentive to remain in school simply to compete. Lawyers for Ortega, however, contend the rule doesn’t exist “for reasons of competitive balance or it would preclude other older athletes from competing” in Division I NCAA sports.

The lawsuit notes that students who graduate high school and become a professional athlete in one sport can play that other sport for years, then go to college and still have five years of eligibility to play four seasons of some other sport.

“The NCAA rules, therefore, do not limit the ability of the former professional athlete to earn permissible compensation while competing in Division I athletics, even though they have had a chance to physically mature well beyond a typical 18-year-old college freshman,” the lawsuit alleges. “For instance, Chris Weinke entered Florida State University as a freshman following a six-year professional baseball career and ended up winning the Heisman Trophy, awarded annually to the most outstanding player in college football, at 28 years of age.”

The lawsuit claims the NCAA’s application of the five-year rule violates the Sherman Act by restraining the market for NCAA Division I college athletes by barring Ortega and similarly situated athletes from having an opportunity to earn money through revenue sharing and the use of their name, image and likeness.

As part of the lawsuit, lawyers for Ortega also argue that should the court grant their requested injunction against the NCAA, it must also address a separate NCAA rule. That rule says if a student-athlete who is deemed ineligible by the NCAA is permitted to participate in sports in accordance with the terms of a court order that is later vacated or reversed, the NCAA can take punitive action against the school – such as vacating wins or imposing postseason-competition bans and financial penalties.

The lawsuit seeks an immediate temporary restraining order, a preliminary injunction, and then a permanent injunction that will block the NCAA from applying the five-year rule to students such as Ortega.

The NCAA, which is an association of post-secondary institutions that functions as the governing body of college sports, has yet to file a response to the lawsuit.

The NCAA includes more than 1,100 member colleges and universities organized into three divisions, with 350 of them in Division I.

Sheehan boys basketball coach John Wodatch was all set to get his team together for practice Sunday after a number of his players, including quarterback and point guard Jake O’Brien, played Saturday in the Class S state football championship game (and won the title).

But it snowed Sunday and practice was canceled. So his whole team finally practiced together Monday afternoon. Sheehan plays its first game Tuesday at home against Darien.

The Titans, and other teams like Windsor and Northwest Catholic, had to wait for some of their players because the football finals took place Saturday.

“There’s pros and cons,” said Wodatch, whose team was the Division IV runner-up to unbeaten Ellington last year. “The con is you’re missing out on some of your guys that need valuable preseason time to get their bodies and their minds ready to play. But the positive is that it gives other guys experience they wouldn’t otherwise have if they were here. It better prepares those guys.

“As a team it’s a little bit of a setback before we get our full team together. The snow messed with our plans (Sunday), unfortunately, so it was another setback. But all the football guys are there today in the gym.”

Sheehan, the 23rd of 27 seeds in the Div. IV tournament last year, made an improbable run to the finals last year.

“We’re lost a good senior group that had a lot of leadership and team connectivity, but they are leaving that with us and we’re in a better starting spot because of that mentality,” Wodatch said. “That (run) gave them a lot of confidence in terms of what it takes to play winning basketball.”

Most of the football players were in the gym Sunday for Windsor, after winning their second state title in program history in Class MM. Missoni Brown, the MVP of the Warriors’ state basketball championship team as a freshman, and Jayden Compton, two juniors, are key players returning for the Warriors. Senior Theo Perkins, who transferred from East Catholic and played on the football team, is also expected to play a key role on the basketball team. Quarterback AJ Robinson played basketball as a sophomore and didn’t play last year, but Windsor coach Ken Smith expected him to be back, too.

“I’m trying to work with the kids,” Smith said. “I know some of them (are) going to be banged up and they can’t go but they want to go. But they’re not going to have the stamina they need and it’s going to be hard.”

Windsor lost in the Div. I quarterfinals last year to eventual champion Notre Dame-West Haven.

At Northwest Catholic, John Mirabello was dealing with the same issue; two of his main players – Vincent Burbank and Kayden Davis – were on the football team that lost to Sheehan in the Class S final Saturday.

“It’s a good thing, it’s great for the school, the run was terrific, even though it didn’t end the way they wanted it to,” Mirabello said Sunday. “Today was the first day and they came in and I said guys, ‘You’re not running, you’re not bumping into anybody, let’s just start slowly.’”

Northwest lost in the Div. I quarterfinals to East Catholic, 59-41 last year.

Around the CCC

East Catholic coach Luke Reilly is catching up to his father and uncle as far as victories go. Reilly is three wins short of 500; his uncle Gene is 11th on the all-time wins list in the state with 548 wins and his father Joe is 15th with 512.

East, which lost in the Div. I semifinals last year to St. Bernard, lost four players to transfers – two to prep school, one to Windsor and one to Bloomfield.

But the Eagles return senior guards Sincere Folk and Joey Montalvo.

“Those guys have a lot of experience,” Reilly said. “I think the challenge is going to be that we lost some size but we’re going to try to make that up in style of play and some other ways. We’re kind of reinventing ourselves, which is exciting.”

East Catholic opens Thursday against Southington.

Manchester, which won its first state title in boys basketball since 1938 last year in Division II, lost all its starters to graduation and is starting over.

“I’m a big crossword guy and I was thinking, ‘It’s a good thing I like crosswords because this is a big puzzle,’” Manchester coach John Reiser said. “It’s putting all these pieces together, finding out combinations, who’s ready – all those things. We just need time. We have our moments when things come together but it’s not consistent.”

Manchester, which beat New London 77-74 in the state championship game, opens with Cheney Tech Tuesday, then has to play Windsor on Thursday and East Catholic Monday.

The Red Hawks have also moved up to Div. I this year.

“The good thing is the energy’s good, the vibe’s good,” Reiser said. “We got that going for us.”

Bloomfield has a new coach in Corey McKeithan, who was coach Brooks Sales’ assistant the last three years. The Warhawks graduated seven seniors from last year’s team, which lost in the second round of the Div. II tournament to East Hartford but gained four transfers, including senior Kahil Bell from East Catholic, junior Rob Hall from the Masters School and senior Ken Hardy from SMSA.

“We have a pretty decent squad, I’m pretty excited,” McKeithan said.

Bloomfield will open against East Hartford Saturday at the GHPA Spirit of Doc Classic at Trinity College.

Ellington ready to defend its title

Ellington, which went undefeated and won the Div. IV state title last year, has most of its team back but has moved up to Div. III.

“It’s a fresh new year, the past is the past,” Ellington coach Bob Freitas said. “They’re bigger, they’re stronger and they’ve played so much together.”

Junior Jack Curtis had 19 points and four steals for top-seeded Ellington (27-0) in the state final and sophomore Reese Nicol had eight rebounds and nine points, while junior Ty Fieldhouse and senior Dylan Killoran both had eight rebounds.

Andrew Flickenschild was the only senior on last year’s team and 6-4 Jack Weigand is expected to step into the center role.

Cromwell’s new coach

Cromwell’s long-time coach John Pinone resigned after last season and Steve Ciarcia, who was an assistant at East Catholic and Newington, has taken over in his first head coaching job.

Cromwell, which won the Div. IV title in 2023, returns two starters from last year. The Panthers will open with Innovation, the 2024 Div. IV champion, Tuesday.

“It’s a good challenge,” Ciarcia said. “It’ll show us where we’re at.”