The family of Tupelo High school track star Andrew Brown issued the following statement.
The Browns also argued that the procedure by which a student-athlete's eligibility is questioned was not followed, pursuant to Rule 2.3 which required such inquiry to be made in writing, which Jim Brown explained was not done.
Andrew and his parents are going to take a few days to decide whether to continue their pursuit of having his eligibility restored. Mississippi's track & field season ends this weekend and time constraints will be considered.
While the Browns are very disappointed in the MHSAA's decision, they appreciate the outpouring of support from the track and field community nationally, statewide and locally. They have received countless emails and social media posts from track coaches and players from throughout the state of Mississippi and surrounding states supporting Andrew's position. The Browns also thank Dr. Rob Picou, superintendent of the Tupelo Public School District, for his unwavering support of Andrew, and who also personally appeared with the Browns at the hearing in Clinton on Thursday.Regardless of the final outcome of this matter, Andrew and his parents urge the MHSAA to closely examine its rules to insure that they do not hinder Mississippi's student-athletes from participating in top level events that showcase the athletes' skills and abilities. The Browns strongly believe that Mississippi has some of the very best athletes in the country and they need and deserve to compete at the highest level.
Kingfish note: Jim Brown, Andrew's father, told JJ:
The MHSAA’s decision to uphold their ban on Andrew is devoid of any common sense and is in direct conflict with its own mission statement that claims to “increase participation opportunities” for its student athletes.
43 comments:
So, the best kid in MS at what he does is being told by the state to go out of state to accomplish anything. Makes perfect sense for this backwards hellhole.
Link to executive committee. Call them outaround town.
https://www.misshsaa.com/about/mhsaa-executive-committee/
Here is the Executive Committee. When you see them, say the name Andrew Brown.
https://www.misshsaa.com/about/mhsaa-executive-committee/
MHSAA has lost massive ground in terms of credibility over the past decade. Really they will be inconsequential if more athletes just did AAU or club baseball basketball softball soccer etc… they will be there own worst enemy
Wow. Does that mean that all of the MHSAA track athletes that have participated in any of the area 5k’s, half marathons, or marathons will be DQed as well? That policy seems designed to encourage track athletes to leave the MHSAA.
this is the most disgraceful act in sports history since stripping jim thorpe of his olympic medals.
I’m still trying to figure out how a private non-profit governs public school athletics. Do all public schools HAVE to be members of the MHSAA? I know there are some private schools that compete in the MHSAA.
It still takes Mississippi longer than any other southern state to realize we are part of national competition on every level. It's not the Dixie league anymore. Our prep athletes can compare themselves to other athletes on a national level not just the boy or girl in the next county. At one time it was unthinkable for our athletes to compete against the "Yankees" and in integrated contests, so we have made some progress...but it's slow. This is a reminder.
Honestly...just get out of Mississippi.
There was no written complaint, so no one had to sign their chickenshit name to this BS.
Even after the season ends, the case might qualify as an except to the mootness doctrine, should the family decide to pursue it in court. Sooner or later, some shithead is going to try this again.
misshsaa has control over each and every public school activity in Mississippi . From cheer to football- bass fishing, archery, etc to band- They control all activities. It is a money making machine - charging public school districts fees for each student participant, and all kinds of other fees during the year. Also, collecting huge funds from a percentage of gate ticket sales to competitions and games.
Diddywahdiddy says "The folks at MHSAA are incredible idiots. Their decision is nothing but putting 'the pedal to the metal' for any and all athletes, businesses, or other sports-related entities to abandon any thoughts of 'progress' in this state.
Damn glad I own property out of state, as someday there may come a tipping point, to see it permanently in the rear-view mirror.
Somebody please give me some good news regarding a living/breathing entity in this state.
e.g. Rankin County Sheriff & his Goon Squad
-Feel Bryant & Brett Favre & Nancy New
-Tater "Mizzippi lubs Trump and we ain't gonna expand M'Caid"
-Adams Timber fiasco and the Law Firm involved
-Kemper County Lignite Plant
-Jackson Water Works, Siemens Contract, Waste Disposal Contracts entangle due to 'baby-daddy' mayor of Big Boss' daughter knocked up
-PERS...ongoing mismanagement
-highest infant mortality rate/percent 'living in poverty'/number of murders per capita/percent uninsured motorists costing the rest of us increased auto insurance, etc etc.
Pardon any errors in spelling or grammar...
Sad
Free the runner!
Are we expecting anything any more?? The state of MS could miss a tap in putt. What a bunch of f’ing idiots!!
Looks like MHSAA is short on legal advice and long on hubris. Should make for a quick lawsuit.
Sounds like MHSAA is operating some kind of union with forced dues which needs addressing. This should be overturned in a court of law as unconstitutional. Tack on some damages and a binding warning and MHSAA will get over themselves real quick.
Unless all these buffoons are "connected" whereby the MS Supreme Court will slap down the Browns ruling that: "Say after me boy, you in Mississippi, not the USA. This is how we do things here."
So I can report anyone that ran the blues marathon or 5k?
Ask your Legislator to cut the funding that they give MHSSA! They pay their LOBBYISTS Big Big money to work the Capital and protect their state funding. Kingfish, please use your platform to get the Legislator's involved in this! I believe that the people that support Andrew Brown would be shocked when they see how much state funds go to this "non-Profit" BS backward entity!!!
If Andrew Brown leaves Mississippi after graduation and never returns, it’ll be hard to blame him. In fact, that’s exactly what he should do.
The SOS website reports MHSAA has only one lobbyist. His comp is $30k per year.
He should transfer to MRA, be a hold back, and then run again next year as a 9th grader!
It’s amazing how many hold backs they have!
Rule 6.2.4.6 says that an athlete is allowed to participate in two “showcase” events per season “with the approval of his/her coach and school administration.” Receiving approval from the MHSAA is not mentioned in this rule.
indoor track and field is not offered in Mississippi. It was not even listed on the MHSAA’s original 2023-24 sports calendar but was added after Brown was ruled ineligible. The revised calendar says indoor track and field season ended Feb. 3. The tentative 2024-25 calendar does not list an indoor season.
So let me get this straight...
Mississippi has a nationally ranked runner and rather than have him be a beacon of positive national publicity for Mississippi and for his coaches, you want to make the kid a national martyr in track and field?
Does somebody on the MHSSA have a son, grandson or nephew who can't beat him? If so, way to be even more stupid... running against those with better times, makes you faster.
Or is it that some college or university track coach hopes if he's not "seen", they won't have recruiting competition?
Or, is it that they are clueless about the support that comes when a kid wins that competition...both in their rankings and recruitment but also that for the coach and schools?
In short, is there any logical basis for such a stupid rule and decision to keep it? Because as a grandparent of a runner who has run in the New Balance event with the encouragement of their high school, this is impossible to understand at any level...bad for the kid, bad for his school, bad for our state so explain why the stupid rule exists!!!!!!
From the looks of the MHSAA board, I don’t think they understand much about running. They look like they haven’t run a mile combined in their lifetime unless it was to the buffet.
Set up a go fund me account for the athlete to travel and compete.
The comment at 7:29 might the most incompetent, ill-informed legal analysis of this entire story. Dude, you have no idea what you're talking about.
I never dreamed I'd type this.
Shad, they receive public dollars. Request an audit. If they refuse, make a request to all its members you can find and ask how much they pay.
If you think parents are frustrated talk to MHSAA referees. Very few of the best referees I know, and I know very many, haven't walked away from the MHSAA.
They all say that the refs who called games for the love of the sport have left in frustration. All that are left are the refs who care little more than to collect the game fee.
@1:20pm Everyone's waiting for your oh-so-competent legal analysis....and Dude, the part about the MS Supreme Court is spot on.
You're likely born and inbred in MS and one of the "connected" mentioned - and have no earthly clue of how things work EXCEPT inside the Mississippi bubble. So let's hear that legal take you've got that explains this insanity that is ONLY Mississippi where you of course pride yourself knowing incest is best.....
3:05, You took that kind of personally, didn't you. Here are my thoughts:
Miss. Code. Ann § 37-7-301(q) states that a school board is responsible "[t]o provide athletic programs and other school activities and to regulate the establishment and operation of such programs and activities."
MHSAA is not an administrative agency, or otherwise acting under color of law, yet it is exercising the school board's statutory power to regulate the operation of high school athletic programs.
I do not believe this is an issue of the athlete's rights under the U.S. Constitution, mainly because this private organization is not acting under color of law. One of the problems with this private organization exercising government power is that it is doing things the government would never be allowed to do, such as:
1. Holding a "hearing" that is not open to the public;
2. The Executive Director is given "unlimited authority to investigate the case and impose a penalty," which means he is both prosecutor and judge - an absolute conflict of interest.
3. An appeal from his judgment to the Executive Committee is a privilege and not a right, which means there is no built-in right to judicial review of his decisions.
If there is a contract between the school board and MHSAA that grants MHSAA authority to declare this kid disqualified, I believe it constitutes an impermissible delegation of statutory authority to a private organization.
MHSAA's procedures, if adopted by a court or an agency, would be shot down as unconstitutional, and providing an inherently unfair hearing process, not to mention they would violate "sunshine laws," the public policy of presumptively-open courts, and the open-court provision of the Mississippi Constitution.
As for the rest of your comment, go f*ck yourself.
The Mississippi Rules
1) No good deed goes unpunished.
2) WE don't promote or cheer our best and brightest (showoffs and eggheads!), we punish them.
3) If you as a poorly educated hick or has been jock make a dumb mistake, double down on it if challenged.
4) The dumbest and loudest get first dibs. Call it "upscale" or "flagship" and keep at it.
5) Governing bodies serve to promote self interest and family, not the law or spirit of the law, much less community
6) If ever in doubt, refer to Rule 3, and, yes, you can triple, quadruple, even infinitum down on dumb. We do it best.
These hicks ought to look up sports by participation. Nationally, the number one sport is outdoor track and field. Our healthiest, best, and brightest kids, some of whom become doctors and go to Ivies and at least carry the college football and Bball teams in academics. And work harder in practice. No reward for them here, just punishment, a wrong.
15th ranked, and, yes, it's a separate class that we don't have, is INDOOR track and field. And, yes, I've done both, incl the Millrose. Add that up and it's even farther beyond fewtbawl, which gets unlimited money and attention from hicks.
It's beyond sad to see this stupidity, but these rubes doubling down on a clear, clear mistake is not surprising. But, it's still disheartening.
Start a GoFundme and litigate. The race goes not always to the fastest, but to those who keep on filing. And filing fast never hurts.
So whats the difference with high school basketball players playing in AAU leagues or baseball
with travel teams ?
8:49 am The difference is that those going to New Balance didn't go as a team or with an organization. They paid their own way and for any fees and the kids usually have a parent or their approved guardian.
So, I guess he didn't get to go to San Francisco this past weekend either. I know several from southern states who did. Most of them were in the top ten. This young man's time would have won first just as it would have in New Balance if he'd done his best or better time.
This is outrageous and here's some bad news...it's making the rounds and again we all look like fools who tolerate fools running things or corruption.
The MHSAA is making the MAIS look good.
I expect nothing less than blazing humiliation and incompetence from Mississippi leaders.
Thanks for keeping us last guys and gals!
Kid can't run - sheriff can't be fired - ballot initiative scrapped - money for the poor stolen - teachers can't have a pay raise - the water is dookie - no trash collection in Capitol of Mississippi- REPUBS have dominated Mississippi politcs for the last 20 years.
Hookah said:
"Kid can't run"
Do you really want the legislature and governor involved with athletic disputes?
The rest of Hookah's post is equally non-sensical. Since businesses and tax-payers are fleeing Jackson, Hookah better hope his mayor can get Soros to send a few billion to Chokwe to float the city.
"Kid can't run" is a legislature and governor problem because you have MHSAA a private entity trying to be the disciplinary arm of public high school sports with absolutely no constitutional authority to do so.
You sound like ole bitter KF posing as ANON again.
8:10: The legislature is already involved.
3:48, MHSAA doesn't have the statutory authority to regulate public high school athletics, because the legislature vested that authority solely in the school board.
Who is the other Wow commenting on this blog now? Haha.
In all seriousness. This is sick. I had no idea the MHSAA is a private organization with a role in public sports. This needs to be handled next legislative session.
MHSAA is a private, non-profit organization. Not subject to public records laws.
I really, really hope this gets in front of a judge. In regulating public school activities, MHSAA has placed itself completely beyond the law, and it needs a dose of reality.
As power-mad as some agency board members are, they are subject to public records laws, the accused have a right to assistance of counsel, and their decisions are subject to judicial review, unlike MHSAA.
I taught Andrew Brown. He was an absolutely fantastic child. But unfortunately, he is a causasian and therefore isn't entitled to fair treatment in Mississippi. I'm sorry Andrew. I hope you will leave Mississippi at the first chance you can. Not every state operates this way.
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