Bulls fined, put on probation for girls basketball recruiting
By Kyle LoJacono
Wiregrass Ranch High has been fined $12,525 and placed on administrative probation by the Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) after a seven-week investigation identified recruiting violations.

The FHSAA’s 68-page report found 10 violations of its policies in the months leading up to point guard Briahanna Jackson’s transfer to the school from Wesley Chapel and in her time playing girls basketball with the Bulls.
Among the allegations, the governing board of school athletics charges Wiregrass Ranch with “a lack of institutional control.” Another potentional violation accuses girls basketball coach Greg Finkel, who has coached the program since the school opened five years ago, falsifying information given to the FHSAA and not being fully cooperative with the investigation.
Wiregrass Ranch Principal Ray Bonti said the school is still going through the report to determine if the school will appeal any of the potential violations. He was first given the report on June 6, more than a month ago.
The school has already given written responses to the FHSAA, where they deny any wrongdoing in all but two of the 10 charges. Four of the violations come with $2,500 fines and one cost the Bulls $400. The remaining $2,125 was to repay the FHSAA half the money spent in conducting the investigation, which is standard policy.
Wiregrass Ranch girls basketball was placed on two-year probation, which will end on June 1, 2013. The Bulls entire athletic program is also on probation for one year, which ends on June 1, 2012. Any additional violations that happen within that time could trigger harsher penalties in the future.
“It’s common for a school to go on probation when one of its teams is charged with something like this,” said Bulls athletic director Dave Wilson. “That doesn’t do anything to prevent us playing next season in districts, regionals or state events.”
Bonti and Wilson said no decision has been made on Finkel’s status with the girls basketball team. Finkel is currently a driver’s education teacher at Wiregrass Ranch.
Transfers draw attention
The story starts in May of 2010, during Jackson’s junior year. Jackson transferred from Lecanto High in Citrus County to Wesley Chapel High. She had been living with her mother Cathleen Grippe before coming to Pasco County.
Grippe said, in an interview with Wesley Chapel principal Carin Nettles, that she asked former Wesley Chapel staff member and girls basketball coach Warren Jones to become Jackson’s legal guardian. Grippe said she was a single mother of five and Jackson was struggling in school at Lecanto because of financial problems at home. The family did not want Jackson to drop out of school like her old brother did, according to the report.
“She moved in with me on May 13, 2010,” Jones told the FHSAA.
In the report, Jones told the FHSAA he knew many of the teachers from his time on staff at Wesley Chapel. He felt he could work closely with them to help improve Jackson’s grades, with the goal of getting her into college. At the time, he was working at Anclote High.
Jackson was the starting point guard at Lecanto her junior season and led the Panthers with 18.6 points per game while adding 158 rebounds, 131 steals, 89 assists and 19 blocks.
The FHSAA started looking into the matter because Jackson transferred to Wesley Chapel the same day Shanel Sweet did from Gaither High. Sweet a point guard, subsequently transferred to Land O’ Lakes High and FHSAA spokesman Seth Polansky said she was cleared to play her senior season as the family established permanent residence within that district.
The report states Nettles asked Jones on May 26, 2010 where he and Jackson lived. He said in the Delano Apartment at Cypress Creek on Saxony Way, within Wiregrass Ranch’s district.
Jones told Nettles they were moving into a home on Lexington Oaks Boulevard, within the Wildcats’ district, the next day. Jackson was withdrawn from Wesley Chapel on May 27, 2010 when Jones did not present documentation of the move. She was enrolled at Wiregrass Ranch on June 1, 2010, very close to the end of the school year.
Summer league adds to violations
Jackson played with the Suncoast Basketball Club, an AAU team started in the summer of 2010 by Jones. The club practiced at the Bulls’ gym on at least two, and as many as eight, times before Jackson became a Wiregrass Ranch student.
FHSAA regulations state that any student-athlete who participates with a team affiliated with a school before becoming a student there, and then transfers to that same school, will be considered, “bona fide evidence that the student is attending the school in whole or in part for athletic reasons.”
The report state Jackson participated in two such practices, leading to two of the violations. Because she participated before transferring from Wesley Chapel, Jackson was found to have received improper benefits.
Wiregrass Ranch’s response states the Suncoast Basketball Club is in no way a Bulls’ team because no one affiliated with the school was a part of the program. However, the FHSAA conducted interviews with Jones, Jackson and other parents whose kids played with the club. The organization found evidence that Finkel not only spent time at the practices, but also sat with Jones on the bench for several games.
Additionally, Finkel signed the activity request form that allowed Suncoast to use the Bulls gym instead of Jones or another coach. Suncoast was never charged for use of the gym as it should have, based on FHSAA and Pasco School Districts’ rules, according to the FHSAA report.

The FHSAA findings state Finkel’s contact with Jones while Jackson played with Suncoast while she was attending Wesley Chapel constitute illegal recruiting.
In the report, Finkel said he only knew Jones from when their teams played against each other years ago. Jones resigned the girls basketball coaching job at Wesley Chapel in 2008 to join the coaching staff at Saint Leo University.
Finkel told the FHSAA he did not know Jackson was attending Wiregrass Ranch until two days after she started at the school. That statement was considered false by the FHSAA.
The winter basketball season
Jones told the FHSAA he and Jackson lived at the Delano Apartment until the beginning of October. At that time they moved into a home on Amberly Drive, within Freedom High’s district in Hillsborough County.
Jones said he was house sitting for a relative. He told the FHSAA he had an agreement with the manager of the apartments so he and Jackson could move back at anytime. The FHSAA said that does not constitute residence within Wiregrass Ranch’s district because they did not live there, pay for rent or even have furniture after October.
In an interview with the FHSAA, Jones said he told Finkel of the move. When asked what the Bulls coach told him, Jones said, “Nothing. I told him that we started the school year here in zone so we should be OK.”
The Bulls girls basketball season began with two straight wins; a 66-38 victory over Ida Baker High on Nov. 11 and 62-52 against Gulf on Nov. 13. Jackson scored 30 points in those two November contest while adding five rebounds, five assists, four assists and two blocks. She also participated in two preseason games.
Both regular season games happened after Jackson moved in Freedom’s district, so Wiregrass Ranch will forfeit both wins, according to Polansky. The Bulls final record for the 2010-11 season is 14-12.
Finkel wrote a letter to the FHSAA in an attempt to clear Jackson to play her senior season. It reads in part, “I believe in this case, we are stripping (Jackson) of her education and experiences as a senior at Wiregrass Ranch High School. She has been through a lot at home and at school. Since arriving here reluctantly at Wiregrass, she has grown as a young lady. She has made a 180-degree turn as a student and as a person.
“Through this month long investigation, she has had to endure much without anyone telling her why. (Jackson) loves her new school and most of all loves the game of basketball.”
Despite the letter, Jackson sat out the rest of her senior season as the Bulls sought more information on her eligibility. In the report, Bonti said they removed her from competition as soon as the school was told she might be ineligible.
Grippe speaks out about charges
Jackson declined to comment for this story, but Grippe, her mother, did speak. She expressed frustration because she said the FHSAA never directly interviewed her.
“Basketball is my daughter’s life, she lives and breathes it,” Grippe said. “What seemed fishy for me throughout the investigation was they had so many questions as to why Bri was even transferred. They never contacted the one person who could have answered all their questions. Me, her mother. They made remarks and insinuations as to why she was there and they had no idea. I did what was in the best interest of my daughter for her to have every opportunity in life and at what she will make her career, basketball.
“I am appalled by how some individual, probably a parent themselves, that they could do this to a young girl who had and still has nothing but great things happening for her,” Grippe continued. “We do not know where this even stemmed from for them to begin an investigation and we will probably never will know, but the only one who suffered was Bri herself by losing her senior year to play basketball.”
In the end, Jackson may not lose as Grippe said she has several Division I colleges interested in her as a basketball player.
Grippe said Jackson, who graduated from Freedom, will attend IMG Basketball Academy in Bradenton on a full scholarship this year. The facility will allow Jackson to continue growing as a basketball player in a highly competitive environment, while taking classes designed to help on college entrance exams so she can attend the best school possible.
“All I can say to the individual who brought all this on is that all your efforts to discourage a young athlete didn’t work because although this experience for my daughter cost her an important year, she has bigger and better things waiting for her future and my daughter has the drive and the ability to make all her dreams come true,” Grippe said. “… Bri is a natural born athlete and it shows.”
Grippe’s words about Jackson became evident after enrolling at Freedom, where she became a leading athlete on another team.
Flag football at Freedom
Jackson began attending Freedom at the start of 2011 and was quickly named the starting quarterback on the Patriots flag football team. Polansky said the FHSAA will not comment on the eligibility of any student-athlete, but said Freedom is not under any investigation as Wiregrass Ranch was.
During the flag football season, Jackson said she had not played the sport for almost 10 years, but did play in a league in Citrus County. She picked up where she left off years ago, guiding Freedom to a 10-1 record to finish as the District 12 runner-up. The Patriots only loss came to Alonso, the eventual state runner-up.
Jackson set several program records in her only year playing at Freedom. Her 1,023 rushing yards and 18 rushing scores are more than anyone else in program history. She also added 1,289 passing yards and another 18 touchdowns.
As a defensive back, Jackson became the first Patriot to ever have 23 interceptions in a season, and also added 26 flag pulls.
Jackson was selected to the All-Western Conference National Division first team. She was also named the All-Laker/All-Lutz News Player of the Year for flag football. Because she has not been found ineligible to play at Freedom, she will keep that distinction.
–All stats as recorded to Maxpreps.com by coaches, or by coaches themselves.
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