WPIAL suspends Bishop Canevin basketball assistant for recruiting

By: HSSN Staff
Thursday, February 7, 2019 | 1:51 PM

Bryce Flenory, an assistant girls basketball coach at Bishop Canevin, received a one-year suspension Thursday from the WPIAL for violating PIAA recruiting rules.

The allegations involved the attempted recruitment of middle school girls basketball players, said WPIAL executive director Tim O’Malley. Bishop Canevin coaches and administrators attended a hearing Wednesday at the WPIAL office in Green Tree.

The school’s athletic administration was censured and the girls basketball team was placed on probation for one year, but head coach Scott Dibble was not disciplined.

“They specifically addressed the fact that (Dibble) wasn’t involved and didn’t know about it,” O’Malley said.

Bishop Canevin was WPIAL Class 3A champion and PIAA runner-up each of the past two seasons. The team is 18-2 overall and ranked first in WPIAL Class 2A this season.

“Once (Canevin administrators) found out what was done, they instituted a program where every coach has to go through a packet (of information) and sign that they understand the PIAA rules and regulations,” O’Malley said. “They should have done that in advance, but we accepted (the school’s response).”

According to PIAA rules: “Any person determined to have engaged in recruiting which is materially motivated in some way by an athletic purpose shall be disqualified from coaching any athletic teams of PIAA members for a period of at least one year.”

Chris Harlan is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Chris at charlan@tribweb.com or via Twitter @CHarlan_Trib.

Tags: Bishop Canevin