![On Sunday, May 15, the Free Press observed more than 60 kids on the field at Waterford Mott. MHSAA rules prohibit coaches from providing instruction to more than four of their players at a time until early June.]()
On Sunday, May 15, the Free Press observed more than 60 kids on the field at Waterford Mott. MHSAA rules prohibit coaches from providing instruction to more than four of their players at a time until early June.
The Waterford Mott football program under head coach Chris Fahr is being investigated by the Michigan High School Athletic Association and Waterford School District for multiple allegations of MHSAA rule violations relating to out-of-season workouts and undue influence for athletic purposes.
If found guilty of undue influence — attempting to induce athletes to transfer to Mott or enroll as ninth-graders — Fahr and some of his assistant coaches could be banned by the MHSAA from coaching at their respective school for up to four years.
Violating out-of-season practice rules could lead to restrictions for allowable summer workouts.
The Free Press learned recently that Fahr has been holding workouts at Mott on Sundays from 5-7 p.m.
On May 15 at Mott, the Free Press observed more than 60 kids — many Mott football players and some students from the Waterford district’s two middle schools — split into two groups with coaches present: skill position players in a 7-on-7 scrimmage at one end of the field and linemen working on footwork and blocking technique at the other end. They were not wearing pads or helmets.
MHSAA rules prohibit football coaches from providing instruction to more than four players at a time from season’s end to the Sunday after Memorial Day. This is for grades 7-12 in a coach’s school district.
Fahr told the Free Press over the phone after the May 15 workout that he estimated there were 14 varsity players at one end of the field. Fahr’s estimate did not include linemen at the other end of the field, many of whom appeared to be varsity players. Fahr had left the field before the Free Press observed the workout but assistant coaches were still there.
Fahr said it was not a practice.
“There’s sixth- and seventh-graders and eighth-graders,” he said. “It’s a camp. Money is collected from them. It’s open to anyone in the Waterford School District.”
For the MHSAA, it doesn’t matter whether it’s a practice or a camp — both are considered rule violations, according to Nate Hampton, associate director of the MHSAA, the governing body for prep sports in the state.
“If there’s a sport-specific activity and a coach or coaches are working with more than four students, then that would be in violation of the current regulations,” Hampton said.
“Camps cannot occur now.”
Allison Sartorius, the Waterford district athletic director, said that she knew nothing of Fahr’s camp until the Free Press began asking questions in the days after May 15.
“I’ve just been made aware of the situation,” she said. “I’m currently conducting a thorough investigation and been thoroughly communicating with the MHSAA through the process. I have had a discussion with Nate.”
It’s unclear how long Fahr’s Sunday camp has been taking place. Under MHSAA rules, a camp or any athletic activity with more than four athletes and coaches coaching cannot begin until early June.
“I think it started a couple of weeks before Mother’s Day,” Fahr said. “It’s been two weeks, no more than three.”
One Mott football player, whose name is being withheld for fear of possible repercussions, told the Free Press a much different timeline.
“Since November,” he said May 15 while walking off the field. “We started early.”
Fahr laughed at the suggestion that his camp began shortly after last season ended.
“There was snow on the ground,” he said. “How would it start in November?”
Mott’s football website (waterfordmottfootball.org) included a post — until it was removed days after the May 15 session — that promoted a third annual “football skills and speed and agility camp” from 5-7 p.m. every Sunday in the school’s south gym starting March 6.
“I’ve been doing it for years,” Fahr said of the camps.
If any of the camps from the previous years were held before the Sunday after Memorial Day and involved more than four football players and a football coach, those camps also would violate MHSAA rules.
![Waterford Mott coach Chris Fahr]()
Waterford Mott coach Chris Fahr
Two coaches from other schools familiar with Fahr’s Sunday workouts who did not want to be identified for fear of possible repercussions told the Free Press that attendance was mandatory for Mott football players — a charge Fahr disputed.
“Nothing is mandatory for these kids,” Fahr said. “Whoever wants to. … Half of our kids got track right now so they wouldn’t be coming anyway.”
MHSAA rules prohibit coaches from making any off-season activities mandatory.
Marty Greenspan, one of the managers at Oakland Yard Athletics in Waterford, told the Free Press that Fahr rented the sports dome facility on a weekly basis for organized workouts.
“He had some kind of practice here during the wintertime from 4 to 5 o’clock,” Greenspan said. “He just had individuals show up and he coached them.”
Greenspan said Fahr was charged $10 per kid.
Fahr was asked by the Free Press about the Oakland Yard workouts.
“That was entirely different,” he said. “That was a 7-on-7 group of kids. We had kids from Clarkston there. There were kids from all over the place. That was totally different. That was those guys just throwing for their 7-on-7 teams. That hadn’t (anything) to do with me, really, at all.”
MHSAA rules would still apply to those workouts if more than four Mott players were working with a coach.
Fahr, 41, is entering his fifth season as head coach at Mott. His record is 18-20. He previously had been the head coach at Birmingham Seaholm. His overall record is 44-50.
Fahr’s past two teams have made the state playoffs in Division 1, for the state’s largest schools. Last year, Mott went 6-3 before a 42-6 playoff loss to Novi Detroit Catholic Central.
Coaches who know Fahr described him to the Free Press as something of rebel.
On the home page of the Mott football website, it declares: “MOTT VS. EVERYONE.”
The MHSAA has a rule that prohibits “use of undue influence for athletic purposes” to “secure or encourage” students to enroll in a school. This means coaches cannot recruit players from other schools at any level.
The Free Press has learned that Fahr and at least one other Mott football coach have reached out to players from other schools on a number of occasions.
Defensive lineman Eddy Wilson told the Free Press that he was contacted via Facebook from an account with the name Chris Fahr following his sophomore season in 2012 at West Bloomfield. Wilson, who will be a sophomore at Purdue this fall, said he was invited to workouts at Mott.
“I would leave my high school and go over there,” Wilson said. “It was definitely during the off-season. Most of the time I would work out with their football team.”
Once Fahr got Wilson to workouts, Wilson said Fahr asked him to transfer to Mott, telling him he could make him a star.
“He pretty much just guaranteed a lot of things — starting, I think jersey number at one point,” Wilson said. “Just stuff like that to convince me to transfer. He pretty much was just telling me stuff they had to offer that West Bloomfield didn’t.”
Wilson ended up staying at West Bloomfield. A three-star recruit who’s now 6-feet-3 and 306 pounds, Wilson played in nine games as an 18-year-old true freshman at Purdue in 2015.
Last August, before high school practice officially began, Pontiac athletic director Lee Montgomery was looking at a miprepzone.com collage of pictures of a 7-on-7 tournament when he noticed three familiar faces and quickly called Fahr.
“I saw three of my athletes in Waterford Mott uniforms over there,” Montgomery said. “So what I did was I gave him a phone call and told him I needed my athletes back immediately.”
All three athletes returned to Pontiac and played for the school last season, but Montgomery said he became wary of Fahr and the Mott program and complained to the MHSAA.
“Fair is fair and that’s the type of program that I’m running,” Montgomery said. “My athletes that’s in my district, that’s where they need to be playing. As leaders we have to model leadership and when you’re sending that type of vibe and that type of representation and you’re representing your school in that type of manner, then that’s not right.”
In 2015, Fahr and Mott freshman football coach Nick Linseman made attempts to recruit an eighth-grader who is now a freshman at Auburn Hills Avondale, according to Facebook messages obtained by the Free Press from accounts bearing the names of Fahr and Linseman.
On Jan. 4, 2015, Linseman invited the player to work out with the Mott team. Three days later, he asked whether he was coming.
Later Linseman wrote: “We gotta get togeather with mom and pops about what’s next with getting you to Mott.”
To the same youngster, Fahr wrote: “If you want to check it out and chill for a bit, if u know u don’t want to come here, we want u but I don’t want to bother u, u feel me.
“I know your (sic) a great fit for us as a player and student but your happiness is most important. I want you to know that.”
When the player responded that he would like to come to Mott, but his mother’s health issues are a reason he doesn’t want to put pressure on her, Fahr wrote: “We can always make it happen if you want to.”
Earlier this year, Linseman also used Facebook to contact a four-sport athlete who played on Avondale’s varsity as a freshman in 2015. He viewed his profile on Hudl, a website where athletes post highlight videos and contact information.
In his initial contact, Linseman wrote:
“Was checking out you (sic) Hudl tape, got a great chance to be one of the best players in the state by junior year, kid. Just seeing if they got you as main wide receiver and are playing corner or safety.”
When the player responded that he was a slot receiver and a cornerback, Linseman responded:
“Alright my man. Stay on the books and study. If you ever need some advice or want to chat with a coach, let me know. #wish you was in navy blue and grey.”
Navy blue and grey are dominant colors in Mott’s home uniforms.
When contacted by the Free Press, Linseman said he was “not quite sure” about making contact with the Avondale players.
Avondale athletic director Keith Gust had the players send him the social media correspondence from Linseman.
“I just thought it was odd that an adult would be contacting a kid,” Gust said. “They weren’t overt, but you could tell what the theme was. Somebody told me he was going after a bunch of your young kids.”
Gust said he did not notify the MHSAA but did contact Sartorius, who handles the AD duties for Mott and Waterford Kettering.
“I talked to Allison, the athletic director out there, and I told her a couple of the ninth-grade boys that are good football players showed me text messages and e-mails from one of the assistant coaches,” he said.
Waterford has two middle schools: Pierce and Mason, which both feed Mott and Kettering high schools. When the middle schools played in football last fall at Mott, a flier was distributed by Linseman to the players at both schools.
This sheet of information was addressed to incoming Mott freshman football players. It hyped the Mott football program, referenced sending players to college, noted playoff appearances and contained phone numbers for Linseman and freshman defensive coordinator Matt Castillo.
“Those were handed out to kids that would be Mott football players,” Linseman said.
Linseman did not restrict the fliers only to players headed to Mott.
“It’s hard to really do that,” Linseman said, “when I don’t know who’s a Kettering kid and who’s not.”
The MHSAA’s undue influence rule would prohibit fliers from being distributed to students headed to Kettering.
“Not sure what happened that day,” Linseman said.
Asked whether that could violate the undue influence rule, Linseman said: “I’m not sure on that, either.”
Sartorius said she took action when she learned of the fliers.
“I am also aware of that and that was immediately taken care of,” she said. “We disposed of those.”
The undue influence portion of the MHSAA handbook includes this: “The offending school shall be placed on probation for up to four years and offending individuals disconnected from the program. The offending coach or coaches shall not be permitted to coach at that school for up to four years in any sport and shall not coach for up to four years at any other member school in any MHSAA tournament in any sport.”
Ed Couturier coached football at Mott for 14 years. He left after Fahr’s first season. Now an assistant football coach at Birmingham Seaholm and track coach at Avondale, Couturier said he was not surprised to hear about Fahr’s camp or undue influence allegations.
“He’s done that for years,” Couturier said. “There were times he was caught by the Kettering coach practicing in helmets and shoulder pads on Sundays out of season in the summer. It’s amazing to me that he’s still in the position.”
MHSAA associate director Tom Rashid said the maximum penalty for undue influence violations was increased from a two-year ban to four years prior to the 2014-15 school year. Rashid said the four-year ban had not been imposed on anyone and the prior two-year ban was rarely imposed.
“There are two coaches that come to mind,” Rashid said of the two-year penalty. “There were a few where the one-year penalty had been assessed.”
The MHSAA refused to disclose the names of the penalized coaches, citing organization policy.
Penalties for out-of-season practice violations vary on a case-by-case basis.
“Dependent on the severity and frequency and generally we penalize out of season,” Rashid said. “Hypothetically you would restrict otherwise allowed activity out of season.”
For instance, for violations in football, the MHSAA could restrict the number of allowable 7-on-7 summer competitions of a violating school.
Contact Mick McCabe: 313-223-4744 or mmccabe@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @mickmccabe1.
