Tech basketball coach Damon Turner suspended for past-link transfers violation

Tech basketball coach Damon Turner has been suspended for the remainder of the season following an inquiry by the Indiana High School Athletic Association into a violation of the past-link rule.

IHSAA commissioner Paul Neidig said Tuesday night “things came to light in recent weeks” that had not been disclosed during the transfer process for several of Tech’s players. The Titans have several transfers on the roster this season, including Reggie Bass, RaSheed Jones, Antonio Lisenbee and Tylan Harris.

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Turner has previously coached in the Team Teague AAU program. Tech, which has a 17-7 record, plays in Class 4A Sectional 10 on Wednesday against Lawrence Central.

The past-link rule prohibits a player who has played for a travel coach from transferring to the same school as the coach for a 365-day period. The school informed the IHSAA of its decision to suspend Turner on Tuesday.

“We learned that Tech had coaches who had coached some of the players on the team this past summer,” Neidig said.

Neidig added the reason the violation did not come to light earlier was due to the information on past-link not being reported in the transfer process by Tech, the receiving school. He said he did not feel it was fair to suspend the players at this point in the season. Neidig said that none of the Tech players will be suspended.

“Normally those things are handled in the transfer process,” Neidig said. “That information wasn’t supplied in the transfer report. But when the information came to light, the school handled it beautifully and we support the action of the school.”

Turner did not respond to a message on Tuesday.

Tech has a new athletic director this year in Monica Maxwell who was not at the school when the players transferred to Tech.

“I could not speak any higher of (Maxwell),” Neidig said. “Once they learned of this information, Tech took action. That’s the way this is supposed to work with any member school.”

Call Star reporter Kyle Neddenriep at (317) 444-6649.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Tech basketball coach Damon Turner suspended for transfers past link