PIAA denies Butler appeal
BUTLER TWP — The Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association denied Butler’s appeal regarding its eligibility for the District 10 football playoffs during a virtual hearing Wednesday afternoon.
Butler requested its hearing with the PIAA after District 7, better known as the Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League, informed the school district last month that the Golden Tornado football team wouldn’t be eligible to compete in the District 10 playoffs. Butler football has been an associate member of District 10 for the past two years and played in that district’s Class 6A championship game last season.
The Butler Area School District is considering legal action against the PIAA and WPIAL.
“We’re not sure the WPIAL has the authorization to make this ruling in the first place,” said Thomas Breth, the solicitor for the school district. “By-laws and policies need to be filed. There are a number of legal issues here.”
Breth said the district will present its legal options to the school board during an executive session at Monday’s scheduled school board meeting.
“If all goes well, this case will probably be heard by the Court of Common Pleas in Butler County,” Breth said.
He added that a decision could be rendered “in plenty of time” before the end of the football season this fall.
“It’s nice to know we have the support and backing of the school district,” Golden Tornado football coach Eric Christy said. “This ruling affects our program and affects our kids. The district understands. They get it.”
Butler will continue to be a member of District 10 football for the 2022 and 2023 seasons.
“Our schedule is set for the next two years and we’ll continue to play an independent schedule,” Butler athletic director Bill Mylan said. “Our presentation to the PIAA took about 20 minutes. We pointed out the positive affect this move (to District 10) has had on our kids, the community and our student body as a whole.
“We dressed 23 players for our game against Central Catholic in 2019. We had 75 kids on the roster last year. We made the playoffs, had our first winning season since 1997 ... We were 11-82 over our last 10 years in the WPIAL. We’ve totally shifted that culture.
“Now they (PIAA and WPIAL) are trying to take it away and we don’t even know the reason why,” Mylan added.
Brian White, Butler superintendent, admitted confusion over the PIAA ruling. Butler’s appeal was unanimously denied minutes after its presentation was complete.
“This directly impacts our kids,” White said. “For two years, it was OK (for Butler to compete in District 10 playoffs). Now it’s not OK. They’re saying it was a mistake in the first place? It doesn’t make sense.
"The WPIAL has 14 schools that are associate members in its district and they are all playoff eligible. So, why doesn’t that work when we go in the other direction?“
Mylan and Christy expressed concern about the football program moving forward without the possibility of playoff qualification.
“It’s a motivator,” Mylan said of the playoffs. “It’s tough to ask kids to commit without that carrot dangling at the end.”
“It’s a legitimate concern,” Christy said. “There are plenty of reasons to play football. Some can still move on and play in college. I coach to help make kids better people, better community members, fathers, better at whatever they go on to do in life.
“From a coaching perspective, that’s easy to see. If you’re a high school kid, maybe it’s not so easy. Some kids may choose to commit to other sports, especially three-sport athletes we have on the team now.
“Hopefully, this appeal process isn’t over. We will move forward regardless,” Christy said.
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