Lack of Systemic Control in Seattle Public Schools: Why Bad Facts in the Stokes’ Transfer Could Get the Plug Pulled

Why the Tyran Stokes eligibility matter could result in the suspension or SPS athletics...or worse.

Six months ago, a wide-ranging probe into serial recruiting violations at Roosevelt High School culminated with a report finding evidence of improper recruiting occurring against a backdrop of “a broken athletic honor system at many levels” throughout Seattle Public Schools. An independent state investigator’s report concluded that safeguards designed to protect students and the integrity of athletics failed at every level, due to actions of SPS personnel. Coaches were complicit in illegal recruiting.

Building administrators overlooked incomplete student registration packets, lied or covered for ongoing recruiting schemes, and in some cases actively assisted coaches in obtaining fraudulent McKinney-Vento designations for incoming recruits. District administrators failed to manage, supervise and effectively respond to inquiries from students, staff, parents and other coaches regarding violations of federal law, district policies and state athletic regulations.

In addition to penalties levied against Roosevelt, which resulted in the removal of the building principal and the previous football coaching staff, the state athletic board found Seattle Public Schools athletics office, SPS Athletic Director Pat McCarthy and the Metro League in Level 3 violations of state eligibility and recruiting regulations. SPS Athletics, McCarthy and the Metro League were placed on three years of probation, with the fact-finder writing in her report that further violations occurring during probation could include restriction or suspension of athletics district or league wide. Further, should evidence of a pattern of attempts to circumvent the rules emerge, members may face expulsion from the state athletics association.

While the Tyran Stokes Transfer May Seem Like Business as Usual, the System is Set to Buckle

Since the beginning of 2025 alone, a series of abuse, cheating, fraud and recruiting scandals have rocked at least three different SPS high schools. District wide, at least seven head coaches have resigned or been fired this calendar year. Investigations of recruiting and eligibility violations occurred or are ongoing at three SPS high schools. In every case, district personnel failed to self-report as required by WIAA membership and then denied wrongdoing when confronted with an opportunity to take corrective action. The level of systemic abuse is staggering. Setting aside the Roosevelt matter, consider the following athletic tire fires burning out of control at the time Tyran Stokes appeared at Rainier Beach

At Alan Sugiyama High School, a prominent Nike EBYL-linked basketball trainer was caught charging parents of SPS students illegal tuition fees of up to $22,000 a year as part of a scheme to operate a private basketball prep school inside the district’s alternative high. The building principal negotiated a payout from the district amounting to nearly $200,000 and resigned without comment, in exchange for SPS agreeing not to censure the administrator. The basketball training, Dominick Brooks of Nike EBYL, melted away without consequence, the district did not attempt to recover or pursue the illicit tuition funds collected by Brooks, and evidence of alleged criminal fraud, wire fraud and theft was actively shielded from police investigation, a KUOW report determined.

Meanwhile, as news broke of pending league investigations of recruiting violations at Garfield High School, SPS summarily cut ties with head boys and girls basketball coaches Brandon Roy and Roy Smiley in late September, this despite the Bulldogs programs winning seven combined state titles since 2021. By late October, the public learned that Seattle Public Schools agreed to pay $16 million to settle a lawsuit by a former student who alleged that two Garfield High School coaches sexually abused her for years, the largest-ever tort claim settlement in district history. The woman, now 24, said Walter Junior Jones, a volunteer weight training coach; and Marvin Wayne Hall, the Garfield head girls basketball coach, both serially sexually abused her for nearly a decade. The suit alleged that Jones first forcibly raped her in 2013 when she was a 13-year-old basketball star practicing with the Garfield girls’ team. The suit alleged negligence by Seattle Public Schools for allowing Jones to coach after a 2008 incident resulted in his firing from Ballard High School, with a “do not rehire” flag placed on his file. Garfield athletic director Ed Haskins told police he “wasn’t certain, but thought he recalled an issue coming up regarding Jones’ background check which prevented him from being vetted as a volunteer,” in a police report included with the filing. Still, Haskins didn’t intercede, telling police that Jones was brought in to work with students independently. Garfield basketball coach Marvin Hall, then 43, began an abusive sexual relationship with the girl when she was 17, she alleged that he had sex with her at the school and in hotel rooms when the team traveled. Hall, 50, was fired from his job as head coach of the Garfield girls’ basketball team in 2022, and resigned from his security staff position, after a different student reported that Hall had told her he had a “crush” on her.

Hall pled guilty to felony sexual misconduct charges this summer, a felony rape case against Jones ended in mistrial earlier this month. The civil filing surfaced evidence revealing that both of the predators were aware of each others predations against the girl.

“Mr. Hall was aware that another high school coach had previously raped me, and would tell me that nobody would believe me if I ever reported him,” the woman testified in that case.

Further, the lawsuit included a police report claiming that SPS athletic director Pat McCarthy failed to report allegations of ongoing sexual abuse against the student, despite a legal obligation to do so. McCarthy said he told someone else to follow up. The Garfield sex abuse case is not related to the current investigation of Garfield basketball recruiting violations pending league review. McCarthy recently petitioned the WIAA to waive the monetary fines levied against him for the recruiting violations tied to the Roosevelt matter, but he remains on three year probation. If SPS reported McCarthy’s alleged failure to report to state regulators, evidence of such isn’t listed on the OSPI discipline site.