Pay-To-Play Means Something Else Entirely In High School Hoops

Two pairs of parents are suing their Kansas school district because they claim the basketball coach solicited personal loans from them, and cut their kids from the team after they pressured him to pay up.

The first pair of plaintiffs, the Peffly family, claim Jason Stucky approached them "out of the blue" last winter asking for $3500 to buy a lawnmower. The loan was due in September, and when Stucky hadn't paid them back, they threatened him with a lawsuit. A couple weeks later, he cut their nephew from the team.

They found out that Stucky had approached at least two other sets of parents asking for money as well. (The second set of plaintiffs' son was also cut from the team, though they weren't involved with any money. We can only assume that their son is no good at basketball and they haven't the heart to tell him, and saw this as a way to extend the charade.)

Stucky resigned as coach last month, and the lawsuit is asking the school to hold new tryouts for those who were cut under his reign. There's a lesson here somewhere. Coaches, don't borrow money from your players' families. And parents, don't try to play loanshark with the man who controls your kids' extracurricular standings. Or at least be a good loanshark: the threat of broken thumbs will get your money back and your unathletic kid a starting role.

Andover High parents claim former basketball coach created pay-to-play atmosphere [Wichita Eagle]