The Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association released its decision letter Monday afternoon on excluding Bishop Fenwick from the state playoffs for the 2023-24 school year, detailing what the state believes was unacceptable cheating and a complete lack of accountability aimed at getting a star baseball player a fifth-year waiver.
MIAA Executive Director Bob Baldwin said he was breaking with the MIAA’s longstanding tradition of not publicly discussing the details of its decisions because of considerable misunderstanding of the issues across the state.
The The letter, which was sent to Fenwick administrators on June 8, outlines the resignation in question as well as the appeal process. The state determined that the waiver application contained multiple falsehoods and misrepresentations of the player’s experience as an underclassman and his ability.
According to the state, Fenwick filed a waiver request that said the player had never been a major league star. In a November hearing, the review board, however, found in news articles and the player’s Twitter bio that he was an accomplished pitcher who received the team’s Player of the Year award. The state also claimed a Fenwick representative said the player played the infield and outfield, omitting that he was a pitcher.
A court decision led to a new hearing in March. Before that, Baldwin wrote, Fenwick was reminded that,
“I have attached Rule 87.6 which encompasses the expectation of all members of the MIAA and anyone else present at an appeal hearing to be truthful, honest and forthright. Efforts to mislead the MIAA, including any member of its staff or those of the EAB, would also be a serious violation of Rule 87 or Rule 876 of the MIAA. It is a serious matter and can have serious consequences for both the ‘MIAA member school as for its students.’
At the second hearing, the MIAA said Fenwick failed to disclose that the student-athlete had briefly transferred to a different school. Publicly available statistics were also cited and the waiver denied in writing by the MIAA Board of Eligibility Appeals,
“The MIAA wishes to point out that this appeals process has been filled with contradictory and misleading information, and a serious failure on the part of Bishop Fenwick to do his due diligence before submitting a resignation request.”
Fenwick administrators were then brought before the MIAA Board of Directors to explain the discrepancies. The school has maintained that they were honest mistakes with no intent to mislead the state and that the incomplete information had been provided by the athletic director at a previous school who could not remember the player; an MIAA official, however, said he called the athletic director who was in fact familiar with the student.
“Although Bishop Fenwick admitted that he could have been more thorough in his information gathering, he did not correct the record, despite having multiple opportunities to do so. It is particularly troubling that they did not accept responsibility for their actions even after receiving communications from MIAA that their previous representations were ‘widespread of contradictory and misleading information’ and a lack of diligence,” Baldwins read.
The Board of Directors also noted Fenwick’s omission from the Student Player of the Year Awards. They were outraged that they claimed he had received no college baseball attention when he was overheard discussing Division 1 recruiting with his lawyer and committed just three weeks later.
Fenwick tried to distance himself from the waiver request and claimed the court appeals were the result of the family, not the school. Under MIAA guidelines, however, a manager must enforce and understand its rules and Fenwick’s president fully supported the application.
“From the MIAA perspective, no one took responsibility for what had happened,” Baldwin wrote. “At the very least, Bishop Fenwick’s actions were negligent and failed to meet his obligations to know and apply MIAA rules.”
Although the student-athlete never played in a game during the 2023 season, the MIAA punished Fenwick for repeatedly submitting incorrect information in the waiver process.
The MIAA also detailed the circumstances that caused Bishop Fenwick’s baseball team to miss several games in the spring of 2022. A parent submitted a complaint to the MIAA that his son had been cut from varsity baseball and that a seventh grader was playing in his place. MIAA rules state that high school students playing sports must be under the jurisdiction of the high school principal, and Fenwick President Tom Nunan reported that he found no violation of MIAA rules.
The state disagreed, feeling that Fenwick’s association with St. Mary’s Danvers was a clear violation of MIAA Rule 32.8 which prohibits private agreements to circumvent MIAA rules. Also, even if the deal had been approved under another MIAA rule, the student would have been limited to junior varsity competition.
A seventh-grader also played on Fenwick’s varsity girls soccer team this school year, but the MIAA letter makes no mention of wrongdoing in that case.
Although a letter from Fenwick’s Board of Trustees said the punishment was only related to the fifth-year single waiver, the MIAA’s decision letter makes clear that the middle school issue played a role in the decision.
“Furthermore, this is not the first time that Bishop Fenwick has attempted to excuse a clear violation of MIAA rules as demonstrated by his actions by playing a seventh grader without meeting clear MIAA criteria on his varsity baseball team at the expense of other Bishop Fenwick students,” Baldwin wrote.
Last week, Bishop Fenwick expressed dismay that the MIAA had released the punishment publicly on a Friday afternoon without notifying the school. Baldwin responded by saying that a press release was drafted when the decision letter was sent, but it was agreed that it would not be issued until there were consultations.
On Friday afternoon, The Salem News asked the MIAA to clear up any investigation into Fenwick after multiple sources suggested an unprecedented sanction could be coming.
“It is not the jurisdiction or responsibility of the Association to inform a school community of a decision. That responsibility rests with the member school receiving the MIAA’s decision,” Baldwin said.
Fenwick will hold a community meeting to address the ban Monday at 6 p.m., and says dialogue between his attorneys and those of the MIAA is ongoing with the hope that the sanctions can be overturned or altered.
