By Kyle LoJacono
Land O’ Lakes High has been found guilty of six violations by the Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) involving two students who are siblings.
The Gators must forfeit 44 athletic contests, including 23 football games, 16 junior varsity volleyball matches and five boys weightlifting meets. The school was fined $3,200 and the entire athletic department is on probation until June 1, 2013.
The FHSAA’s report states a “concerned parent” told Land O’ Lakes about the potential violations on Feb. 3. The school conducted an internal investigation and the two students withdrew from Land O’ Lakes on Feb. 6.
Corey Sobers, FHSAA spokesman, said the final ruling was given to the school on Feb. 13. Land O’ Lakes can appeal.
The FHSAA report states the family was “assisted by a coach and a football booster parent, who helped them to obtain and submit a false address to allow the students to attend Land O’ Lakes High School, though they actually lived outside the district.” The same address was used in August 2012 when the younger sibling enrolled at Land O’ Lakes as a freshman.
Sobers said the football coach was Matt Kitchie, who was hired in 2009 but was relieved of his duties following an unrelated off-the-field incident at the end of the 2010 season.
Portions of Land O’ Lakes’ self-report released by the FHSAA state Kitchie knew one of the students’ parents because they both coached together at a college in Kentucky. The parent told Kitchie the player wasn’t happy at his school in Hillsborough County.
“(Kitchie) talked about how to orchestrate the documents needed that would allow (name redacted) to enroll at LOLHS,” the self-report states. … “Upon further review by the school, we determined that the address being used was at a local business, owned by football booster-parents.”
The self-report states the booster, who was not identified, was “hesitant” to go along with the plan “but complied because he did not want to fall out of favor with his son’s coach.”
Kitchie, now the coach at Leto, denies any involvement.
“I had nothing to do with this,” Kitchie said. “It’s completely false.”
Summer Romagnoli, spokeswoman for the Pasco School District, said no other Land O’ Lakes faculty was part of the investigation.
The booster involved is banned from any contact with Gators athletics.
The Laker/Lutz News has learned the football player in question is quarterback Ryan Bird. The senior transferred from Hillsborough High for his junior year.
Ryan, who was an International Baccalaureate student at both schools, started two games as a junior and 10 contests, including the kickoff classic, in 2011.
FHSAA bylaws state a team must forfeit any contest in which an ineligible player was on the active roster even if they did not play. Ryan was on the Gators’ roster for all 23 games, including two kickoff classics, the last two years and was a part of five Land O’ Lakes’ boys weightlifting meets last season.
The Gators went 9-2 in 2010, reaching the playoffs for the 14th straight season. Sobers said the program must vacate that postseason appearance, ending the streak at 13. Land O’ Lakes finished 7-3 in 2011 without making regionals.
Ryan has one sibling, a younger sister named Madison.
Steve Bird, Ryan and Madison’s father, is an assistant football coach at the University of South Florida. He coached at Eastern Kentucky University from 2005-06, the same time Kitchie was a graduate assistant at the college.
Steve Bird did not return multiple phone and email requests for comment on this story.
Land O’ Lakes could have been fined $2,500 for each of the 32 contests that either of the ineligible students played in for a total of $80,000. Sobers said the amount was lessened because the school self-reported the violations.
Sobers said the Gators are eligible for the postseason in other sports this year, but another violation by any Land O’ Lakes athletic program during the probation could result in playoff bans.
The FHSAA report states the school is “making changes to the enrollment requirements.” It also states Land O’ Lakes principal Ric Mellin “accepted full responsibility for the administration of these sports.”
