Tim Starkey will have to wait a bit longer before making his debut as head coach of Marion County High School's football program.
The TSSAA has suspended Starkey for his team's season opener this Friday at Grundy County for recruiting violations. As part of his punishment, Starkey was also suspended from attending the Warriors' two quarters of exhibition competition this past Friday during the Best of Preps jamboree at Finley Stadium.
In a letter sent to the high school's administrators, TSSAA executive director Mark Reeves said allegations of the illegal recruitment of a girls' middle school basketball player were proven accurate through a series of text messages from Starkey to the player's mother, encouraging her to send her daughter to Jasper Middle, a feeder school for Marion County High.
Those messages violated Article II, Section 17 of the TSSAA bylaws regarding recruiting.
School administrators submitted to the TSSAA a recommended list of self-imposed punishments that were accepted by Reeves, who in the letter complimented the school for its swift action. In addition to Starkey's suspension, Marion County's girls' basketball program will be placed on probation for two years - running through Aug. 12, 2024 - and the high school has been fined $1,000.
The student-athlete involved in the violation is also ruled ineligible to participate in athletics at Jasper Middle for one calendar year.
"The mom reached out to ask why she was being told to leave Jasper Middle School, where she was enrolled at the time," Starkey said Saturday evening. "I told her she was making a good decision by being at Jasper Middle because, even though I know that school is a mess, it was going to get better. She's still enrolled at Jasper Middle."
During the first year of the probationary period, the Lady Warriors will lose five days of spring practices and five days of summer team competition. In the second year, the team loses two days of spring practices and cannot schedule a Hall of Champions game. However, it does not preclude the Lady Warriors from competing in postseason basketball tournaments.
When contacted by the Times Free Press earlier Saturday, Marion County High principal Larry Ziegler declined to comment on the TSSAA's ruling, adding, "I support all of our athletic programs and am looking forward to a great season."
The TSSAA's action marks the fourth time in 10 years the school's athletic program has been placed on probation. In April 2012, the TSSAA banned the football program from holding spring practices after it was discovered Warriors coaches had already conducted official practices for longer than the 10 days the state allows.
The football program also served two-year probations in 2013-14 and again from Sept. 7, 2016, through Sept. 7, 2018, with the latter punishment handed down for recruiting violations incurred by Starkey, who was an assistant at the time, and former head coach Joey Mathis.
Contact Stephen Hargis at shargis@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6293. Follow him on Twitter @StephenHargis.