Wilson Central boys basketball placed on 2-year probation after recruiting rule violation

The Wilson Central boys basketball program has been placed on two-year probation and fined $1,000 for a recruiting violation, according to a letter from the TSSAA that was sent to the school Monday.

Wilson Central self-reported a violation it said was inadvertent after two Wilson County eighth grade students were permitted to sit on the bench and enter the locker room during a Jan. 26 Wilson Central varsity basketball game. Further investigation by the school revealed one of the eighth graders was on the bench and in the locker room for a game two weeks prior on Jan. 12.

The TSSAA accepted Wilson Central's self-imposed two-year probation and the school was fined $500 for each year of probation.

TSSAA executive director Mark Reeves said his organization received a letter from Wilson Central's administration Feb. 1 about the violation. In that letter, the school detailed that boys basketball coach Michael Teeter alerted the school administration of the violation Jan. 29, three days after the Wildcats' home game against Lebanon in which the two middle school students were on the bench.

Both students are middle school athletes and participate on Teeter's AAU basketball team, according to the letter from the TSSAA.

"It's a textbook case on how you'd hope a member school would handle a situation like this," Reeves said. "They realized they may have messed up and they went to their administration and self-reported it and (Wilson Central) sent it to us."

Allowing middle school students to sit on a high school varsity bench and enter its locker room constitutes what Reeves described as "undue influence" under the TSSAA's recruiting rule.

Article II, Section 17 of the TSSAA bylaws states: "Athletic recruiting is the use of influence on a student or the parents or guardians of a student, by any person(s) directly or indirectly associated with the school, to secure or retain a student for athletic purposes."

The school forfeited two Play Days and five days of spring practices for three years beginning this spring. All Wilson County coaches will be required to participate in counseling next month on how travel sports and AAU can cause violations of the TSSAA's recruiting rule.

Wilson Central is 12-15 this season and 3-6 in District 7-4A.

"We want to commend you on the manner in which this situation has been handled and for self-reporting the violation," the TSSAA said in its letter to Wilson Central. "We know you will take the necessary steps to ensure this type of violation does not occur again."

Reach sports writer George Robinson at georgerobinson@theleafchronicle.com and on the X platform (formerly Twitter) @Cville_Sports.