Here's the headline from rivals.com: "Jenks (Okla.) coach Allan Trimble suspends himself."
Here's what the headline should have been: Jenks coach Allen Trimble, cheater, falls on spike hoping to avert yet greater penalties from the Oklahoma Secondary Schools Activity Association.
You know, it's not often you get to write a column like this one. Because you can think you know something and want to believe it to be true all day long and never be able to write about it because as right as your gut might tend to be, it can't be a source.
Only here's my source on how Allen Trimble, Jenks football coach, cheated:
Allen Trimble.
How great is that?
It all began when the OSSAA decided it needed to look into the residency of Jarrett Lake, an out-of-state move-in to the Jenks program ... who, it turned out, didn't move into the district with a parent or a legal guardian, but took up residence with a volunteer to the Jenks football program, in an arrangement "facilitated by the head coach who obtained the lease form and prepared the lease provisions," according to the investigation carried out by J. Douglass Mann, an attorney with Rosenstein, Fist -- Ringold, the Tulsa law firm retained by the OSSAA to investigate Lake's residency.
Here's what Trimble said about his self-imposed suspension at jenkstrojanfootball.com: "It is my responsibility to ensure our football program abides by all the rules of the OSSAA and our school system and I need to be accountable for my actions completely just like I ask my players to be."
Trimble closed his note to the fans with this sign off: "Yours in Trojan Pride," and how perfect is that?
You know what cometh before the fall.
Pride aside, it would be easier to take Trimble at his electronically written word if the investigation into the Lake issue hasn't also uncovered rules violations concerning several other Jenks players, past and present.
See, it wasn't enough that the fantastic success of Jenks football had people legitimately taking residence in the district only to play for the Trojans (which is kind of abhorrent, yet completely legal), nor that the high school's mammoth size gave Jenks an advantage only known by two other high schools in the state, Broken Arrow and Union, simply by virtue of having a greater pool of students from which to find football players.
It wasn't enough for Trimble and, it would appear, the rest of the district -- Jenks athletic director Tony Dillingham has accepted a 15-day suspension and assistant coach David Alexander a two-game suspension -- to accept their stacked deck.
They had to cheat, too.
It is the height of arrogance
All these penalties have been self-inflicted in the hope they will be enough to satisfy the OSSAA, which is taking up the issue at its regular board meeting Wednesday in Oklahoma City.
Already, in July, the OSSAA ruled Jenks had to forfeit nine football victories from last season, but who knew then there were more shoes to drop?
There's even talk of a postseason ban.
That might be the least the OSSAA should do. Because it turns out the most celebrated coach, runner of the most celebrated program in the state, was thumbing his nose at the rules, like they were for somebody else, like he's Leona Helmsley or something and only the little people should pay taxes.
Throw the book at Trimble, his program and his school. Don't and all that cheating will be nothing but its own reward.
Clay Horning 366-3526 cfhorning@normantranscript.com
Local Sports
October 6, 2009
Horning: Turns out Jenks was cheating
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