John Augustavo, head coach of the Inglemoor High School’s Girls Basketball team, was given notice on March 27 that the school has declined to renew his contract after 13 years at the school.

The decision comes after it was found that Augustavo, unknowingly, had an extra player on the court during two post-season games. According to Augustavo, he hadn’t been notified about Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) rules concerning the number of players allowed in-jersey during the post-season games at state level.

“I wasn’t given the proper information prior to our regional game to be able to coach the team without getting a sanction because I wasn’t aware of what the roster sizes were supposed to be,” Augustavo said. “That information was never sent to me.”

This year the Inglemoor Girls’ Basketball team made it all the way to second place at the Class 4A State Tournament before losing in double overtime to Gonzaga Prep.

“We appreciate Mr. Augustavo’s service to the Northshore School District as basketball coach at Inglemoor High School,” said Leanna Albrecht, director of communications for the Northshore School District. “Inglemoor High School will not be continuing Mr. Augustavo’s contract. This is a personnel issue and the district does not discuss individual personnel matters.”

While Albrecht cannot comment on personnel issues within the Northshore School District.

According to Augustavo, since he had a clean record, the only reason he was let go was the issues with the post-season infractions.

“I was a little bit shocked and kinda disappointed in the whole way that the procedure went. What I want to make clear…is that there was nothing more to this whole situation than the two infractions, which the WIAA put against Inglemoor,” Augustavo said. “I’ve run that program for the last 13 years; it’s been clean, it’s been on the up and up, never had a sanction from WIAA, from Inglemoor, from the Northshore School District, from anything. I have a great rapport with my players and parents.”

According to the WIAA King County post-season basketball regulations, the maximum number of participants for each tournament game, and the maximum number of players a school’s team may have in full uniform for each tournament, is 15 players with only 10 in uniform. The incident came when the roster had 13 players in one game and, during a different game, when another player took off their warmup gear and became a uniformed player instead of a backup.

“Our office was contacted by the regional site manager after the regional game, indicating that they’d discovered the school had entered 13 players into the scorebooks and had played in the game,” said Mike Colbrese, executive director of WIAA. “Whenever possible, the penalty should be imposed upon everyone but the students, if any penalty is imposed at all. The initial request from the team players was ‘please don’t make me forfeit this game.'”

WIAA did not force the Inglemoor girls team to forfeit the game, as the 13th player didn’t impact the outcome of the game. However, there are incongruities in the WIAA’s 2014-15 basketball tournament procedures between King County tournament standards and state or regional tournament standards.

“What’s really interesting, is KingCo has a different rule than every other district in the state,” Colbrese said. “[King County programs are] the only ones that have a more liberal roster limit for pre-state tournament, the games before regional, than the [rest of] state.”

According to Colbrese, the organization is going to be looking into aligning the King County rules with those in all other Washington districts and for tournaments at State Level.

In King County tournaments, there can be five players on the floor and 10 players on the bench all in full uniform, for a total of 15. Section D of the WIAA King County Handbook notes that, “Each participating school will be allowed a maximum of 15 players in full uniform for each tournament game,” it later goes on to state in section G that, “Each team will be allowed to have a total of 15 individuals on their player bench. A maximum of 10 eligible players in uniform are allowed on the player bench.”

However, during regionals or state tournaments, there can only be five players on the floor and seven players on the bench, for a total of 12 players. Unknown to Augustavo, one player ended up taking off their warmup gear and was considered the 13th player in uniform on the bench during the second game when infractions were committed.

“The fact that their deal is – it’s about the kids – I would think that somewhere along the lines, as a coach, you want to expose these kids to an opportunity like I did, to bring them down to state, just to give them the experience and fun that goes with it,” Augustavo said. “I find it hard that you’d be penalized for something like that, if its truly about the kids.”

The penalty against the school and coach is part of the penalties on student players.

“The thing here is, that, no one wanted to see the students get penalized,” Colbrese said. “That’s what this penalty does, it focuses on those most responsible for the violation. The girls were an unwitting part of it.”

WIAA had decided on a punishment of a two-game suspension and a $500 fine for Augustavo, though according to Augustavo, the $500 fine has been waived, while Inglemoor High School let Augustavo’s contract end. Whether or not Augustavo will still have a two-game suspension next year has yet to be decided.

This is just the first decision by WIAA’s board about the first of two infractions involving the same issue, though at a different game. During the game with Monroe, Inglemoor’s team had 13 players, and during the state tournament, there were also 13 players. The final decision on the second infraction will take place at their June 2015 meeting.