Mercyhurst Prep soccer coach Pedro Argaez has resigned. Argaez was the head coach of the girls soccer team and assistant coach for the boys soccer team. He resigned Thursday effective immediately “for the good of the program and athletes involved” according to a release from Mercyhurst Prep.
In light of the resignation, Mercyhurst Prep has appealed the District 10 Committee sanctions handed down at its meeting Wednesday. The D-10 Committee suspended the girls soccer program from the 2012 postseason.
–Tom Reisenweber
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If he cared about the good of that program and those kids he would have not returned this season. And what of the AD? Is he still employed there? This is their 2nd infraction while on probation…their entire sports program should be banned from playoffs this year. This wrist slapping from the D10 committee is getting old.
PghDad,
I think losing your right to play for district and state championships is a little more than a slap on the wrist. Also, with Mercyhurst suspending Argaez, he didn’t get to coach one match this season.
All of this for scrimmaging a team two days early while on probation. What about this to you is a slap on the wrist? I’m just curious.
Thanks for the comment,
Tom Reisenweber
I agree the AD needs to go he obviously has no control and I believe if you pull footage from the news he also has violated PIAA when he had Wilwhols sister practicing with the team before states a couple of years ago!
The slap on the wrist statement may have been too harsh, I agree. To take away play- off games from a team who would undoubtedly be a force in the post season is indeed a severe blow to the program. This is a school that is currently on probation. Combine this offense with their baseball team’s problems last spring and one has to wonder if anyone at MPS has “gotten it” yet. There are rules in place for a reason and it is not the job of any coach or AD to decide which rules apply to their program. A coach with Mr. Argaez experience should have known when his team could or could not play a scrimmage. (the D7 team’s coach should have known better too) But because of his ignorance or arrogance, his team pays the price. Same thing goes for the baseball team. Here is a school that has been warned repeatedly to get their act together, learn the rules and adhere to them. As a parent I would be furious with the coach and the AD. They are the ones who should be held accountable, but how else do you discipline an athletic program without some how affecting the players? I believe the D10 officials have been mindful of that and finally came to the “enough is enough” conclusion and brought the hammer down. So when I say “slap on the wrist” I refer to the severity of what could have been the consequences: an entire athletic program shut out of post season. No one can take the talent or the state titles away from those girls and hopefully they will maintain a level of play that is equal to their talents despite the drama. Don’t misdirect the ire of this situation. D10 did not break the rules. Mr Argaez did. Again.
I agree with you for the most part. Mercyhurst Prep did this to itself. I just didn’t agree with the slap on the wrist comment.
However, it will be interesting to see if this suspension is overturned on appeal now that Argaez has resigned.
Thanks,
Tom
Play by the rules plain & simple. With everything that has gone on with Mercyhurst Prep sports, you would think everyone would be walking the line and keep everything on the up and up. I feel bad for the kids. Their coaches should be someone they look up to. It’s a shame that he could just follow the rules…
If D-10 decides to lift the ban, because a coach resigned, than I can agree with PghDad insofar as MHP would be getting a ‘slap on the wrist’ for three violations in less than 1 year. It is my opinion that not only should the AD, coaches and players know and adhere to the rules but that parents should also have some responsibility in this situation. Everyone who participates in High School Athletics should be aware of the rules that are in place and ALL should adhere to the rules. PIAA and District X have a website that is accessible to the public and on that site they post the rules that must be followed by ALL member schools. In the situation of the “illegal scrimmage” if parents, players and school officials were all aware of the rules someone should have questioned why MHP would participate in a scrimmage prior to the official scrimmage date. The same would go for the MHP baseball team this past spring. It is difficult for me to believe that not only coaches knew this was against the rules but that some players and parents knew it was a violation of the rules. If this is true,(and maybe that’s a big IF) and the parents and/or players allowed this to occur without questioning what was happening than do they not have some responsibility as well? I can understand that some may feel the rule or rules in question should not be in place, however the simple fact is that they are in place and even if individually or collectively people disagree they still must be adhered to. If people want to see the rules changed than they should petition the PIAA and gather support for the changes they feel should be made. I am not aware of the details as they relate the “recruiting violations” levied against MHP boys soccer program. If you have more details on that situation I would very much like to know exactly what occurred in that situation. While I feel very bad for the student athletes at MHP I would feel even worse if ALL of the responsibility was placed on the shoulders of one person. To me putting all of the blame on one person shows an unwillingness to accept responsibility by all involved.
I think it would hold more water if MPS had just fired him. That might show D10 that they reacted strongly to the situation rather than let the coach make the decision about his employment. To me it looks like they were willing to keep him on despite everything he did that endangered their athletic program. Perhaps they feel that winning soccer games is more important than the reputation of their school and student athletes… Regardless, it is a sad situation for the players.
It is a standard in our community that successful athletic programs have a target on their back and are under D-10′s as well as their competitors microscope. The entire administration at these schools should be paying attention to details especially when there are violations across multiple sports, it seems unjust to lay all the responsibility on a single person.
Isn’t it D-10′s responsibility to enforce PIAA rules for fair play and sportsmanship equally across all athletic programs? Should any violators be disciplined for infractions regardless of the success of their program?. I would imagine based on some of the recent violations that PIAA rules are very complicated and many schools violate the not so obvious rules, ie: alumni at practice. Given the complexity of the rules it would be naive of anyone to think that any school’s athletic program is 100% compliant, whether the violation is innocent or intentional every program at some point has violated rules. It would also be naive to think that D-10 could possibly be aware of all violations but you would expect that when they are aware it is their responsibility to take action even if the violations were not brought to their attention by their competitors or as in the most recent Mercyhurst violation the school itself.
Just about the time of the most recent Mercyhurst incident the Times ran an article with a picture of a soccer team practicing on 8/12, and quotes from the coach in the article about how they had been working all spring and summer on trying to emulate (ironically?) Mercyhurst. Given the date of the photo and time line in the quotes there appears to be multiple violations, had that article been about Mercyhurst I expect they would have been the subject of further D-10 discipline even before the ink had dried. It will be interesting to see if these are violations, seems as obvious as the start date for official scrimmages, and if they are addressed in the D-10′s next meeting or if it will be ignored and/or tossed aside due to semantics.
Contemplate for a moment how many athletic programs that aren’t currently successful get accused or disciplined for breaking the rules?
It is unfortunate that in our community the athletic programs that are currently successful bring out the worst in those who are currently not. Ironically those who are not are striving to be, only to become the target when they reach their goal.
Curious,
I agree with most of what you say. As far as working all spring and summer, teams can have voluntary workouts and open gyms for sports. There is a lot of grey area when it comes to this kind of thing. Most basketball teams are at “team camps” all summer, which are allowable, but it’s basically the high school team with the high school coach competing with other teams.
I’m sure more teams and schools violate these dates. Mercyhurst self-reported its violations and it is usually up to teams to come forward about themselves.
Thanks,
Tom
A few comments in my opinion:
1. Parents and players are not accountable to know PIAA rules. That falls on the principal, AD and coaches. Mainly it falls on the principal and AD – if they aren’t communicating to the coach then it’s their fault. If we depend on parents to know or enforce rules….well, have you seen parents at games recently? Lol
2. MP having success has nothing to do with them being penalized. Is D10 watching them? Maybe. But D10 should watch them more closely…because they are on probation! If D10 didn’t watch them closely they would be considered negligent. The “woe is me” argument doesn’t work. MP made their bed. Don’t blame other programs or D10 if they turned in MP.
3. I talked w/a few coaches and they all said they are aware of the scrimmage rule. There is a set date every year when you can have your “first scrimmage”. I’m sure the coaches involved in this incident knew – if not, shame on them, their AD and school. Regarding past graduates participating in practices – again all the coaches i knew were aware of this role which came about a few years ago. They were well aware of the rule.
4. I don’t believe “most” schools violate a PIAA rule. This isn’t the NCAA handbook schools are dealing with here. I believe most schools know the rules and follow them.
5. Regarding summer or offseason – your argument doesn’t hold much merit. In the offseason teams can pretty much do whatever. The only thing they can’t do is make it mandatory. There’s also this rule that says you can’t wear school “gear” over summer cause it can indicate the school sponsors and endorses off season programs.
6. I don’t think this is a slap on the wrist at all unless it is overturned. I really think MP administration needs to get some control though. When do you finally have some intergrity and say, “enough is enough”. After all this isn’t Ohio State football. It is HS athletics. There are more important priorities.
Thanks for letting me ramble!
Down South,
I agree with almost all of what you say; however as a parent of a student athlete I personally feel a responsibility that my child should and will “play by the rules” it is for this reason I, as a parent review PIAA and District X rules for the sports that my child participates. And as a parent if I became aware of a violation of a rule or rules I would think it is my responsibility to bring this up to the coach, as well as the Athletic Director and most of all I would bring it up with my child because I as a parent am ultimately responsible for the development of character and morals of my child.