First and Ten Again on the Football Field

By Shawn Healy

The Supreme Court is hearing oral arguments today in a case concerning the First Amendment rights of a football coach to send letters to potential players prior to their official enrollment at the high school for which he once worked. The Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association sanctioned the school, Brentwood Academy, for illegal recruiting with a nominal fine and a two-year suspension from the state playoffs ( a true penalty for a ten-time state champion). In an earlier ruling the Court, with since-retired Justice O'Connor in the majority, deemed the TSSAA a state entity and thus beholden to the First Amendment. This airing will consider whether Coach Calton Flatt's First Amendment rights were violated.

As a former high school football coach I am particularly interested in the outcome of this case, First Amendment implications aside. While I admit that illegal recruiting undermines the spirit of interscholastic competition and occurs in both public and private schools, I think that this particular incident is particularly harmless. I served as head freshman football coach, and my boss, the varsity head coach, used to send out letters to all male newborns at the local hospital welcoming them to the football family. That Coach Flatt did the same to 12 eighth graders already committed to attending Brentwood Academy, merely inviting them to practice, seems like a senseless gripe.

Justice Alito's position on this case may prove pivotal given his replacement of O'Connor and her position as part of the 5-4 majority last time the case was decided in the High Court. Alito's pro-free speech record as a District Judge may predict another victory for the old football coach.