The boys basketball team at Greenwood Christian Academy has had tremendous success during Jonny Marlin’s four seasons as head coach, winning sectional titles the last two years and the Johnson County tournament title last winter.
The Cougars were the state’s top-ranked team in Class A when the 2019-20 season was cut short due to the coronavirus pandemic.
But that success has not come without controversy — the Indiana High School Athletic Association placed the basketball team on probation in December of 2018 — and it appears that the depth of that controversy may be far greater than had been reported previously.
C. Scott McCorkle, a GCA basketball parent, sent a letter to the IHSAA Wednesday, alleging numerous violations of the organization’s bylaws by Marlin and the rest of the Cougars’ coaching staff since Marlin was hired in April of 2017.
Among the potential infractions detailed in the letter are the following:
• Marlin may have violated Rule 20 of the IHSAA bylaws, which prohibits recruitment of a potential student-athlete through the use of undue influence, by contacting Derek Petersen while the guard was still enrolled at Center Grove and actively participating with the Trojans’ summer league team in June of 2019. Screenshots of text messages show communication between Marlin and Petersen at that time discussing how the coach foresaw Petersen fitting into the Greenwood Christian lineup.
"I can see you playing the 1 and 2 at different times based on line ups [sic]," one message from Marlin read. "We will be able to do some fun things defensively with our length."
Petersen transferred to Greenwood Christian shortly thereafter and was an All-County player during the 2019-20 season, helping the Cougars defeat Center Grove in the county championship game.
McCorkle’s letter also alleges that there were similar improper contacts between Marlin, GCA assistant coach Ben Carlson and a current Cougars player dating back to at least last March, when that player was still enrolled at another school north of Indianapolis.
If that player did transfer to the school primarily for athletic reasons or as a result of undue influence, he would be ineligible to play under Rule 19 of the IHSAA bylaws.
• Greenwood Christian is alleged to have provided false information to the IHSAA during an investigation into the enrollment of prospective player Tim Adetukasi in 2018, a situation which resulted in the boys basketball program being placed on probation in December of 2018 for providing an improper tuition benefit. The school did not receive a postseason ban as punishment in large part because it self-reported the infractions, but McCorkle’s letter alleges that the school’s account of the story while self-reporting was incomplete.
The school said after it was placed on probation the GCA athletic department did not permit Adetukasi to participate in any sports, his name was never on a roster and he never wore a team uniform. While it is true that Adetukasi, who now plays at Indiana Wesleyan University, was not on the Cougars’ roster during the 2018-19 high school season, video footage showed him playing for the Cougars in June of 2018 at a summer league tournament and practicing that July in the Greenwood Christian gymnasium.
The latter video was part of a series called "GCA: Road to State," and the installment that showed Adetukasi practicing at the school was entitled "Welcome Tim."Â Both videos were posted to YouTube in July 2018, but have since been made private.
McCorkle’s letter also alleges that several Greenwood Christian players took part in summer training sessions run by GCA coaches outside the contact periods allowed by the IHSAA, from the beginning of Marlin’s tenure until April of 2020, when someone not affiliated with the Cougars’ basketball program began running the offseason workouts instead.
Additionally, the letter alleges that the parent of a former GCA player leveraged information about some of the aforementioned potential violations to secure more playing time for his son during the 2019-20 season. Emails from that parent to Marlin spell out allegations of "pay to play" wrongdoing and suggest that players who paid to train with Marlin in the offseason were given preferential treatment during the high school season.
When asked to comment on the above allegations, coach Marlin left it up to GCA athletic director Devin Gray to respond on his behalf. Gray said Monday afternoon that "GCA has self-reported any and all known possible violations to the IHSAA. We are committed to excellence, integrity and transparency within our programs."
Superintendent Mike Chitty and principal Angelique Randall did not respond to separate requests for comment but were copied on Gray’s statement, which he said was the school’s official statement.
IHSAA spokesperson Jason Wille confirmed the organization received an email from McCorkle containing the allegations, but its policy is to not comment publicly on any possible investigations. Wille added that "our expectation of any member school is to self-report any violations from within their programs, and if it becomes necessary, the IHSAA reserves the right to look further into it."
The expectation that a school will investigate and self-report any potential rules violations is spelled out in Rule 17 of the IHSAA bylaws.
With the exception of the Adetukasi case more than two years ago, GCA administrators have not reported any of the other incidents to the IHSAA despite having been apparently provided the information on multiple occasions. In his letter, McCorkle lists several instances in which he informed various administrators, board members and staff about the alleged violations listed above or at least offered to provide that information:
• An email to Chitty and Randall on June 5, 2020;
• An email to Gray on Oct. 1, followed by an in-person meeting with Gray and Marlin that same day and follow-up communication on Oct. 2;
• An in-person meeting with six of the seven members of the GCA school board on Nov. 17;
• Another email to Chitty on Nov. 29;
• A lengthy text message to the coaching staff, subsequently forwarded to school administrators, on Jan. 19. Chitty sent a letter to McCorkle the following day banning him from the Greenwood Christian Academy campus.
Of the Oct. 1 meeting with Gray and Marlin, McCorkle wrote that "Marlin did not dispute a single (allegation)" at that time and Gray gave assurances that any further IHSAA violations would be reported.
The IHSAA and Greenwood Christian, however, both confirmed Monday that nothing has been reported by the school since the Adetukasi case in 2018.
