By Mitch Stephens
MaxPreps.com
The final days of the Franklin High football fiasco appear to be fading.
It's time for healing.
On Wednesday, San Joaquin County Superior Court Judge Lesley Holland denied Franklin's request to lift sanctions for recruiting players from American Samoa and then bashed coaches and school officials.
On Thursday, the Stockton Unified School District Board of Trustees accepted the resignation/retirement of Franklin coach Tom Verner, then placed the district's athletics administrator Joe Martin on paid leave.
On Tuesday, the Sac-Joaquin Section levied, according to the Associated Press, the most severe punishment in U.S. history against a high school football team, the suspension of play for the rest of this and the following two seasons for knowingly using three ineligible players in a game last Friday.
Those three players, according to a six-month SJS investigation, were among at least 10 players over the last three years recruited by Franklin, which prompted sanctions on Oct. 16, including forfeitures of 19 victories since 2003.
The SJS ruled that Franklin was guilty of 54 recruiting violations and spent close to $70,000 in travel and housing.
Following the Oct. 16 sanctions, Holland denied a restraining order sought by the school district that would have allowed the three players to participate. Holland added then that he needed more time to investigate and set Wednesday as the next court date.
Rather than wait for his final decision, Franklin, with the backing of the SUSD, decided to use the three players in a win at Tracy. That led to the more severe sanctions from the SJS's Board of Managers and a tongue-lashing from Holland on Wednesday.
He called the SUSC's disregard for Franklin and its community "appalling and reckless," and added that "the architects of this disaster are the coaches and administrators at Franklin High School and the Stockton Unified School District."
That prompted and a special closed session of the SUSD Board of Trustees on Thursday. Stockton Unified Superintendent Jack McLaughlin avoided disciplinary action, according to Board President Anthony Silva.
Not only is football shut down at Franklin through 2009, but its Winter and Spring teams are ineligible for the 2008 postseason though that sanction might be lifted if school officials work with the SJS to meet unspecified criteria.
See SUSD, Martin and opinion for more background.