NJ HS coaches suspended over recruiting

They were literally paying a HS player to transfer from his school to theirs. I fully support this penalty, though I hold no ill will towards a HS kid for taking cash, especially if his family was in need.

I'm just surprised that something was actually done to punish a school, especially a private school, for shady recruiting. It happens everywhere, despite there being rules in most places to either limit or ban it.

In my area it's seldom punished, as investigations inevitably fail to find proof of the allegations even when something strange is clearly happening. I know of public schools who do it, privates who do it, etc. I personally know of one coach who owns some (inherited and paid for) rental properties that he leases rent-free to the parents of transfer athletes from other areas.

I guess NJ treats this differently. Recruiting via texts and other documentation was a bad move.

The strangest part about this was that the school whose player was recruited away was able to appeal the school's initial penalty and successfully got stricter punishments handed down. I've never heard of that before.