IHSA Board reinstates Class 3A boys teams after appeal

Following an appeal Thursday afternoon, the Illinois High School Association's Board of Directors reinstated three Class 3A boys basketball programs who'd been ruled ineligible for the upcoming postseason.

Uplift, Hyde Park and Bogan, all in Chicago, will participate in their sectional complexes in games they were originally scheduled to play.

Uplift is the No. 2 seed in the Antioch sectional; Hyde Park and Bogan will compete in the Chicago Vocational sectional.

The teams were initially ruled ineligible by IHSA Executive Director Marty Hickman on Feb. 24 after it was determined all three schools had violated IHSA by-law 5.042, pertaining to boys basketball season limitations.

"After thoughtful and deliberate consideration," said IHSA Associate Executive Director Kurt Gibson in a news release, "the Board ultimately felt that a scheduling error by the coaches and administration was not a severe enough infraction that it should result in the team losing the opportunity to play in the postseason."

The Board ruled that the head coaches at Bogan, Hyde Park and Uplift will be suspended for the remainder of the season. During that time, they will not be allowed any contact with their teams at practices, games or other team activities.

In addition, the schools will forfeit the extra contests they played this season, will be placed on probation for one year and administrators from the school will be required to attend the IHSA New Administrators Workshops in 2014 and 2015.