Butler plans legal action after PIAA upholds WPIAL ruling keeping football team out of District 10 playoffs

By: Chris Harlan
Wednesday, February 23, 2022 | 6:57 PM

Purchase Photo Options

Butler intends to take legal action after the PIAA upheld a decision banning the football team from the District 10 playoffs, said the school’s athletic director.

The PIAA board on Wednesday heard a nearly hour-long appeal from Butler and voted unanimously to sustain an earlier WPIAL ruling that made the Golden Tornado ineligible for playoffs in District 10. Butler is a member of the WPIAL (District 7) but has competed in District 10 football as an associate member for two years.

Butler can continue to play regular-season games in District 10 but can’t compete in the postseason, a situation Butler athletic director Bill Mylan called “heart-wrenching.”

“Our solicitor’s office will proceed with legal action,” Mylan said. “I think it’s a known fact that Butler School District sued the governor. We’re not going to be afraid to be involved in litigation with anyone else.”

District 10 includes schools from the state’s northwestern corner. Butler joined that district for football two years ago, hoping a favorable schedule there might help its long-struggling program.

PIAA executive director Bob Lombardi said the board rejected Butler’s appeal largely on “constitutional and jurisdictional” ground. The PIAA doesn’t recognize so-called associate memberships, so Lombardi asked Butler’s representatives whether they might consider moving all sports to District 10.

“To go play one sport in another district and not make the usual, traditional transfer to the district becomes difficult,” Lombardi said, “because districts’ strengths are their schools.”

Butler principal John Wyllie said he couldn’t make that decision about moving all sports to District 10 without consulting others in the school district.

The Golden Tornado football team saw improvement last fall, finished 5-5 and competed in the District 10 playoffs. However, after the playoffs were over, the WPIAL board informed the school that it wasn’t allowed to qualify for the District 10 playoffs, saying Butler’s participation there is limited to the regular season.

The WPIAL board voted Jan. 18 to ban Butler from future District 10 playoffs. Butler already was ineligible for the WPIAL playoffs unless it plays in a WPIAL conference.

“It’s heart-wrenching for me not to have an answer for our student-athletes when they ask why they’re doing this to us,” Mylan said. “As an athletic administrator, there’s a part of me that understands some of the WPIAL’s stance, I guess. But there’s also the part where you gave us permission to do something, we set a course of action with our program, we set goals to get back on our feet, and you’ve taken that away.”

Mylan, Wyllie, superintendent Brian White and attorney Tom Breth represented Butler at the PIAA appeal hearing.

The situation dates to the winter of 2019-20.

After enduring two winless seasons in a row, Butler administrators decided to withdraw the football team from WPIAL competition. The Golden Tornado had gone 15-78 combined in the previous decade and the school saw player participation dwindle.

Butler asked for permission to join District 10 as an associate member, but the WPIAL board denied that request at its meeting in December 2019. About a month later, the WPIAL under then-executive director Tim O’Malley reversed course and sent a letter to District 10 saying the WPIAL no longer opposed Butler’s request.

However, current WPIAL executive director Amy Scheuneman on Wednesday told the PIAA that the January 2020 letter was sent without WPIAL board approval.

“The letter you received was contrary to a board vote,” Scheuneman said. “There are no minutes that indicate our board at the WPIAL level voted to allow playoff implications.”

Butler administrators accused the WPIAL of a double standard since some City League teams compete in the WPIAL as associate members and are eligible for the WPIAL playoffs.

In years past, the WPIAL granted Altoona, Hollidaysburg and McDowell associate membership to play WPIAL football.

Lombardi questioned what would happen if every school was allowed to pick and choose different PIAA district for every sport. He questioned the logic of letting schools try to find an easier path to the playoffs in a different PIAA district.

“Why would we even have districts then?” Lombardi asked Butler’s representatives. “It seems to me – and this isn’t a shot at another district – you’re saying one district may be a little more competitive than the other, and you want the choice of going where you want to go. Other districts don’t have that choice throughout our state. Why are you different?”

Chris Harlan is a TribLive reporter covering sports. He joined the Trib in 2009 after seven years as a reporter at the Beaver County Times. He can be reached at charlan@triblive.com.

Tags: Butler