Corpus Christi Caller Times Caller.com - Castro suspended for first five district games

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Thursday, February 8, 2001

Castro suspended for first five district games
Robstown coach receives reprimand from 31-4A committee following vehicle allegation
By George Vondracek
Caller-Times

Caller-Times file

Robstown baseball coach Steve Castro (white shirt) will miss the Cotton Pickers’ first five District 31-4A baseball games of the upcoming season.

Nine months after incurring the wrath of the District 31-4A Executive Committee and the University Interscholastic League, Robstown High School baseball coach Steve Castro finds himself in trouble again.
   The 31-4A committee on Thursday issued a private reprimand to Castro and decreed that the longtime coach of the Cotton Pickers be suspended for the first five district games this season.
   Those actions will be passed along to the UIL State Executive Committee, which could take further action.
   At issue were concerns raised to the 31-4A committee about an automobile being driven by Castro that he does not own, said James Warlick, superintendent at Calallen and a member of the committee.
   "We're recommending to the State Executive Committee that coach Castro be given a public reprimand an that he be suspended for the first five district games, including one against each district member," Warlick said.
   Telephone calls to Castro's home went unanswered Wednesday night. Robstown superintendent Leobardo Cano was out of the office Wednesday and unavailable for comment. Robstown athletics director Robert Cavazos and Flour Bluff superintendent Carol Moffett, the chairperson of the committee, did not return phone messages Wednesday night.
   By UIL statute, coaches in Texas cannot receive more than $300 annually for recognition of their efforts "above his contract," said Charles Breithaupt, the UIL's athletics director. Breithaupt said an example would be a state championship ring as falling into that category.
   Anything else that exceeded the $300 limit and was not included in the coach's contract "would be in violation," Breithaupt said.
   Without elaborating, the 31-4A committee determined that the use of the automobile exceeded the UIL limits.
   "There were some concerns about a car," Warlick said, adding it was a loan car Castro was driving.
   The decision of the 31-4A committee will be forwarded to the UIL for review later this week or early next week.
   The five district games Castro will miss are March 27 against Alice, March 30 at Kingsville, April 3 against Flour Bluff, April 6 against Tuloso-Midway and April 9 against Calallen.
   This latest incident involving the 19-year Robstown coach could loom large for him in the future. Castro received a public reprimand from the UIL in May after the Cotton Pickers played an ineligible player in all 31 ballgames last season.
   That cost Robstown its 11 district wins and ended a consecutive baseball playoff run that dated to 1986.
   The reprimand issued last spring, coupled with the ensuing recommendation from the 31-4A committee, could place Castro in a precarious position with the State Executive Committee, Breithaupt said.
   "Anytime you have a coach currently on probation, or coming off probation or a reprimand, (the committee) have usually looked at that very seriously," Breithaupt said. "Anyone who's been penalized, they look at that very seriously.
   "They'll listen to what the (31-4A) executive committee had to say and they'll also listen to what the coach has to say."
   Despite the decisions of the 31-4A and UIL committees last spring, attorneys for 10 parents of Robstown senior players filed suit to allow the team into the playoffs. The suit claimed that the UIL acted "arbitrarily and capriciously" when it stripped the Cotton Pickers of their wins and that the students would face irreparable harm being if denied the chance to compete.
   While the 4A postseason continued as the sides wrangled in court rooms from Corpus Christi to Austin, it finally ended on May 25 when the Texas Supreme Court overturned State District Judge Jack Hunter's order to reinstate the Cotton Pickers into the playoffs.
   The high court reaffirmed a 1980s decision in which it ruled that "individual student athletes do not have a fundamental constitutional right to participate in extracurricular sports."
   In effect, the court also reaffirmed the UIL's responsibility to govern and review athletic conduct issues.
   Breithaupt said that the state committee is not bound to follow the district committee's latest sanctions on Castro. It could impose no penalty or lesser or more severe sanctions.
   "There is a range of penalties extending from private or public reprimand, and/or suspension from a year up to three years," Breithaupt said.
   Baseball teams began practicing Jan. 29 and started scrimmage games on Monday. The season is scheduled to begin Feb. 19, but the first 31-4A game doesn't start until March 27.


Staff writer George Vondracek can be reached at 886-3731 or by e-mail at vondracekg@caller.com

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