Ask Coach Wolff

In one of the strangest cases I’ve read about in some time, a champion HS swimmer from Missouri was offered an athletic scholarship to Colorado State University – -only to find that it was rescinded when the college admissions office read the less-than-flattering report from the girl’s HS guidance counselor.

In short, Shannon McKoy, who had won all sorts of awards as a swimmer and who carried a 3.0 GPA, was thrilled to receive the scholarship. But the college took it back when it read the recommendation letter from her HS guidance counselor. The counselor rated the girl as being “below average” in several key areas including integrity and leadership.

Outraged, the girl and her parents sued the guidance counselor and the HS. Colorado State, sensing bad publicity, reversed its position and gave the girl her scholarship back. But the lawsuit against the school and counselor continue. Among other claims is that the counselor didn’t even know the swimmer.

In any event, the case has gone national, and the parents are demanding $75,000 to take care of the psychological damages incurred by Shannon, their daughter.

In truth, there are lots of missing pieces in this case. Did the guidance counselor really know the girl? Why didn’t Colorado State simply call the school when it got the report and ask, in confidence, whether there was a problem with this kid’s make-up? And why did the parents make this into a lawsuit – that is, why embarass your kid even more?

All in all, a most bizarre case. But like the case last week where parents sued the hockey league because their kids got cut, this is just another example of sports parents going nuts.