WPIAL will investigate Imani Christian basketball, Baldwin football for recruiting and administrative issues

Mike White / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The WPIAL will have a formal investigation into alleged recruiting violations involving the Imani Christian boys basketball team, but will also look at the entire Imani Christian school administration for oversight issues concerning athletics.

The same with Baldwin’s football team and administration.

The WPIAL board of directors voted unanimously Monday to approve a motion for executive director Scott Seltzer to start the investigation into Imani Christian and Baldwin. Seltzer will report back to the board in a few weeks and the board will likely have a hearing with Imani Christian and Baldwin at some point in the next month.

Seltzer said the impetus for the investigations into Imani Christian and Baldwin were recent hearings with student athletes where another school presented allegations of recruiting. For Imani Christian, the allegations are for recruiting in basketball, while it’s football for Baldwin. Imani Christian won WPIAL and PIAA Class 1A championships in both 2023-24.

Under PIAA by-laws, which the WPIAL follows, a coach is automatically suspended for at least a year if found guilty of recruiting. Athletic programs can also be penalized for administration oversight.

“We heard things [in hearings] that made the board and made us wonder whether we need to have a little more information and communication,” Seltzer said. “[The board] instructed me to gather as much information as possible and then present it to them.

“We are going with the whole athletic program [at Imani and Baldwin] because is it a systematic thing that affects other sports? What we heard was in the [eligibility] hearings, one for football and one for basketball. But we don’t know if that’s all [of] it.”

On Sept. 30, the WPIAL had an eligibility hearing with Kieshaun Demus, a sophomore basketball player who transferred from North Hills to Imani Christian this summer. North Hills contested the transfer and the Post-Gazette learned that North Hills felt there was evidence of recruiting. The Post-Gazette learned from other coaches that Demus was playing with Imani Christian in a spring/summer league while he was still attending classes at North Hills in May and/or in the summer before he enrolled at Imani Christian, a small private school in the East Hills section of Pittsburgh. That is against PIAA rules and might come under the PIAA’s recruiting by-law.

Also, in August, the WPIAL had an eligibility hearing with Amaree Gonzalez, who transferred to Imani Christian this summer and then transferred back to Kiski Area in August. In the hearing, which was open, Imani coach Khayree Wilson and athletic director Cliff Simon testified that Gonzalez enrolled in July. But Gonzalez was playing for Imani in a summer league in June.

When asked if the WPIAL had received any other information besides what was presented in hearings, Seltzer said, “Yes, I’ve received some info from other sources. But that had nothing to do with the investigation.”

This isn’t the first time Imani athletics has faced issues with the WPIAL. The other was a little more than a decade ago.

Imani Christian was supposed to join the WPIAL in football and basketball in 2012, but the WPIAL board of directors suspended the school for two years for not complying with rules and regulations concerning transfers and eligibility paperwork. The WPIAL lifted the suspension in April of 2012. Wilson was Imani Christian’s basketball coach back then, but left after the 2011-12 season. He returned as an assistant a few years ago and became head coach last season.

As for Baldwin, the recruiting charge deals with football player Dre’on Fuller, who was ruled ineligible after transferring from McKeesport.

“It’s unusual [for the board] to make a motion for an investigation, but it’s not unusual to ask schools for information,” Seltzer said. “Counsel at the state [PIAA] suggested we do it this way.”

Top wrestler ineligible

As a sophomore wrestler last season, Dylan Pitzer finished second at the WPIAL Class 2A championships and fourth in the state. But he won’t have a chance at either title this season.

The WPIAL had an eligibility hearing Monday with Pitzer and declared him ineligible for wrestling this season after transferring from Mount Pleasant to Derry.

“The board just felt [the transfer] was for athletic intent,” Seltzer said.

Transferring for athletic reasons is against PIAA rules. Seltzer said there was no accusations of recruiting on Derry’s part.

About ‘conference’ tournaments

The WPIAL passed a new rule Monday where one “conference” tournament in any sport will not count against a team’s limit of competitions in the regular season. The rule might be a little confusing, but Seltzer said, “Wrestling will really appreciate this the most. But I could see other sports coming on.”

However, the tournament must be in a recognized “conference” like the MAC (Midwestern Athletic Conference) and schools must request for the WPIAL to approve the “conference.” In other words, the WPIAL doesn’t want a group of schools just coming together for a tournament when it’s not really a “conference.”

Requests for “conference” events must be made to the WPIAL for winter and spring sports by Nov. 11.