Big news out of Richland Springs. The UIL has suspended Richland Springs High School Head Football Coach and Athletic Director Jerry Burkhart for three years.
The UIL also put the Richland Springs High School on three years of probation. The school was also found to have violated Section 409 of the UIL Constitution & Contest RulesIn addition, today, a Richland Springs player was denied his appeal for varsity legibility, with the UIL upholding a previous ruling.
Burkhart was 223-12 at Richland Springs, and the Coyotes were one of the favorites to win the state title this year. Richland Springs has won 9 state titles, the most by any Texas Six-Man football team. Burkhart was the head coach of all of them, winning in 2004, 2006, 2007, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2016, and then one more in 2019 when he returned as the Head Coach after two years away.
The center of the issue is recruiting players and players transferring for athletic reasons. Much of the testimony against Burkhart revolved around a 14-minute long phone conversation between Burkhart and a star player from Mullin. That player transferred to Richland Springs four days after the phone call. The allegations of wrongdoing pre-date the phone call.
You can read the UIL Press Release here: UIL State Executive Committee Meeting Results
For more details, Amy McDonald of the San Angelo Standard-Times had a detailed article with quotes from multiple parties here: UIL suspends Richland Springs coach Burkhart for three seasons
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