A former Ursuline football player who transferred to Mooney over allegations of mistreatment from the coaching staff will be permitted to play at his new school. 

That's the ruling from Mahoning county magistrate Tim Welsh after a lengthy hearing on the matter was held last Friday. 

At issue was whether or not Ohio High School Athletic Association bylaws discriminate against students who transfer from one religious school to another. 

According to the lawsuit filed by the family of the former Ursuline student claims that head coach Dan Reardon — between 2022 through 2025 — 'fostered and enforced a toxic team culture characterized by bullying, ridicule, and fear.'

The lawsuit is seeking to allow the student, who is currently a senior at Cardinal Mooney, to play football for Mooney, as he transferred on August 22 ahead of the hazing allegations coming to light and before Ursuline canceled its football season on September 12.

The lawsuit, filed by the law firm Betras Kopp on behalf on the student's parents, is against the Ohio High School Athletic Association (OHSAA) and Cardinal Mooney High School.

The lawsuit claims that OHSAA "discriminates against students who choose to attend religious schools" based on an OHSAA rule that allows students to play when "a student enrolled in a non-public school that does not offer a particular sport may transfer to a public local school for the purposes participating in that sport, without being subject to transfer consequences."

 

OHSAA transfer bylaws state: If a student transfers at any time after commencing the ninth-grade year, the student shall be ineligible for all OHSAA tournaments in those sports in which the student participated during the 12 months immediately preceding this transfer. In addition, the student shall be ineligible for all contests at all levels after the first 50% of the maximum allowable varsity regular season contests have been competed in those sports in which the student participated during the 12 months immediately preceding this transfer. The transfer consequence shall remain in effect until the one-year anniversary of the date of enrollment in the school to which the student transferred, at which time the student is no longer considered a transfer student. 

Exception to the OHSAA bylaw has several exceptions, including: 

If a student is compelled to transfer from a high school as a result of this documented harassment, intimidation or bullying, the Executive Director's Office, in its sole discretion, may waive all or part of the period of ineligibility for one or more sport/sports seasons provided:


1) The District's Anti-Harassment, Anti-Intimidation, and Anti­Bullying policies and procedures adopted in accordance with ORC
§3313 .666 have been substantially followed and complied with; and

2) The District provides the Executive Director's Office with a copy of the duly adopted policies and procedures; and

3) The District secures the appropriate releases from the student/student's parents authorizing the District to provide a complete record of the events and circumstances on which the policies and procedures were initiated including: 

 

a) A specific, detailed report of the prohibited incident(s);
b) An outline of the procedures used to respond to and investigate the reported incident( s );
c) A copy of the findings that were a result of the complaint process and investigation;
d) A specific, detailed disciplinary procedure for any individual found guilty of harassment, intimidation or bullying;
e) All reports of notification to parents or guardians of any student involvement in the incident(s);
f) A report of the intervention strategies and remedial action the school has undertaken to assist the student and redress the complaint.

 

4) The District provides the Executive Director's Office with all of the above-referenced records.
5) In concurrence with ORC §3313.666 (A)(2), this exception cannot be used for any isolated incidents or alleged incidents of harassment, intimidation or bullying, nor can this exception be used in cases where there has been no contemporaneous reporting of the alleged bullying, harassment or intimidation.

In a ruling on Tuesday, Magistrate Welsh wrote that to require further evidence that inappropriate behavior from coaches was directed at the student in question would place "an enormous burden on a young student athlete, already besieged by intimidation, frustration, humiliation and fear to document the episodes which he has experienced at or near the time of the occurrence." 

Welsh went on to write: "OHSAA chose to become embroiled in the
mimutiae of its Bylaws without considering the factual testimony which was utterly unrefuted by any credible
testimony or evidence, whatsoever. The OHSAA did not even resort to any factual findings other than the
Plaintiffs' apparent failure to document what they have established by sworn testimony.

"Finally, the Magistrate can think of no greater public interest than participation in scholastic athletics that would indeed by served by issuing the injunctive relief sought by the Plaintiffs herein." 

It is not clear from the ruling whether Mooney has any obligation to allow the student to play, only that he can't be prohibited from doing so by the OHSAA.