The UIL executive committee had a chance to come down hard on the powerhouse North Shore football program when it met Wednesday morning to discuss penalties and sanctions for recruiting.
However, the national powerhouse high school program and its reputation were left unbothered.
Instead of penalizing the students and the program, the committee went straight for the offending source which was former offensive coordinator Andrew Cameron. The committee unanimously voted to suspend Cameron from participating in any UIL-sanctioned sports activities for the next three years.
“The North Shore football program was built the right way. We built this thing from the mud.”
Kae walker, galena park asst. athletic director
North Shore first-year head coach Willie Gaston, who was not proven to know of Cameron’s actions, will have to sit out the first district games the Mustangs play this upcoming season. No other sanctions were leveled against the football program.
Cameron, who resigned his position at North Shore earlier this month when the allegations first came to light, owned his role in attempting to get kids from other schools to come to play for the Mustangs. But that didn’t stop the UIL committee from sticking with precedent and suspending him for three years.
“Coach, I appreciate your candor today,” executive committee chair Mike Motheral said during the Zoom meeting. “I trust that you will … you’ve got a lot of opportunity to learn from this. I hope to one day see that you have rebounded and come back and come back strong.”
Cameron, who was in his second season with North Shore, had been in contact with a player from Dekaney High School and another from Cy Falls High School about enrolling at the school and playing for the football program that is the pride of that blue-collar industrial community.
All indications are that is as far as it went. But it was enough. The Dekaney coach took his disdain to Twitter earlier this month, and the Cy-Fair School District contacted the Galena Park School District about the allegation of tampering with the Cy-Falls student-athlete.
Cameron violated Section 51(a)(8), which pertains to district personnel, who by act or omission, causes a school to break UIL rules. In this case, Cameron was recruiting, a Category A violation that requires a more severe penalty.
Cameron owned his mistakes in front of the executive committee and readily accepted any penalties handed down.
“I understand the gravity of my errors and how it looks and I understand the embarrassment that it is to you guys and to Galena Park North Shore and to myself and to the community and organization alike,” Cameron said. “I accept full responsibility that my mistake has made and I sincerely apologize to Galena Park North Shore. All they did was trust me to be a leader in their program and I failed them.
“Neither the staff nor the kids at North Shore should be penalized for my own actions.”
Cameron indicated the pressure to cut corners came from within after the Mustangs fell short the last two years in their quest for another 6A state championship. The program has won five state titles in school history and under former coach Joe Kay, had an unprecedented run for the school with championships in 2018, 2019, and 2021.
“That’s the reason I resigned from Galena Park North Shore because, ultimately it was my doing,” Cameron said. “It was nothing from what they did. It was very terrible mistakes and weak moments that I had. And ultimately, I’m paying for it. There isn’t a worse feeling in the world than not knowing how you are going to provide for your family.”
While there was an agreement that the players should not be penalized, there was a feeling that Gaston bore some responsibility because the violations happened on his watch this offseason. The decision was made to start his suspension at the beginning of the all-important district part of the schedule instead of the beginning of the season to send a message to all coaches in the state not to recruit.
“This happened on your watch, and the buck stops with you,” Motheral said to the head coach.
“I totally agree with you,” Gaston responded. “I’m the head football coach here, and it absolutely stops with me. It’s my responsibility.”
What was most interesting about the entire proceeding was the length the Galena Park Independent School District went to to make sure that recruiting wasn’t a widespread practice in the program.
After first getting wind of the possible violation on Feb. 2 and finding that there was cause for concern, by Feb. 5 the district’s athletic office immediately started an exhaustive investigation.
Once Cameron decided to resign instead of go on administrative leave, the district then went to great lengths to ensure this was an isolated incident. Galena Park ISD looked into the comings and goings of all its student-athletes in the football program.
When examining the 80 players on the varsity this past season, it was found that 60 of the players had gone to one of the two middle schools in the district, 15 had been enrolled as freshmen and sophomores and had played either freshman or junior varsity football, two more had attended middle school in the district and moved, then moved back to the same address in the community.
That left three players. One had moved from Louisiana and the other two had transferred in from Cy-Ridge and Clear Springs. All three started out on junior varsity and were not considered stars.
“We have never been in a situation like this,” said the district’s assistant athletic director Kae Walker, who spoke on behalf of Galena Park ISD. “This is thoroughly embarrassing for us. We take this to heart.
“The North Shore football program was built the right way. We built this thing from the mud. We built this from the foundation all the way up. We have some talented kids from the community that have worked their tails off.”
