Baseball: Koziol ruled eligible to play at Providence

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Ryan Koziol

Updated: February 21, 2012 8:11AM

Ryan Koziol will be eligible to play baseball at Providence this season.

The Koziol family appealed an Aug. 30 ruling that deemed Ryan ineligible for the upcoming baseball season at Providence. The ruling was overturned Thursday by the IHSA.

Koziol, a senior, transferred to Providence from Brother Rice over the summer.

“In this particular instance, there has to be some evidence that a rule has been violated,” IHSA executive director Marty Hickman said. “Nobody was alleging that Providence recruited or that Ryan had broken a rule. There is nothing in the bylaw that says you can’t transfer for athletic reasons. The way the bylaw — 3043.4 — is written now, we don’t have a rule for that.”

In its rule book, the IHSA sets forth a “Philosophy Underlying IHSA Eligibility Rules.” That philosophy states “Standards governing eligibility are a necessary prerequisite to participation in interscholastic athletics, because ... they keep the focus of educators and students on the fact that students attend school to receive an education first and participate in athletics second; ... (and) they prevent ‘district hopping’ or ‘shopping around’ for schools or athletic programs which may suit an individual’s personal interests.”

Nowhere does it state a student-athlete can’t transfer for athletic reasons.

“We don’t think it’s a good idea, but we don’t have the language in our bylaws that say you can’t transfer for athletic reasons,” Hickman said. “But it might be time to have that discussion within our membership.”

Brother Rice principal Jim Antos refused to sign off on the Principal’s Concurrence Form, and Hickman supported the decision by initially ruling Koziol ineligible.

During the appeal process, however, Hickman gathered additional information and reversed his decision.

Brother Rice has no hard feelings.

“We respect Marty and the IHSA’s decision,” Brother Rice president Kevin Burns said. “Ryan is a heck of a kid, a smart kid and a great baseball player. We hope he has a great season.”

Ed Koziol, Ryan’s father, said in a story published in the June 15 SouthtownStar that Brother Rice having “the worst facilities in the Catholic League” was a driving force to his son transferring.

“We don’t like the baseball facilities at Brother Rice,” Ed Koziol, an assistant coach at Rice from 2007 to ’11, said then. “They’re by far the worst facilities in the Catholic League.”