JOHNSTOWN — What started out as a hearing into the transfer of one student wrestler from Forest Hills High School to Bishop McCort High School turned into a much larger investigation last October when the District 6 Committee of the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association realized other student transfers participated in workouts and knew the wrestling coach at McCort.

Forest Hills had requested that the PIAA committee look into the transfer of the one student — referred to in the record not by name but by his initials — according to Bill Marshall, the District 6 chair who testified Friday before a federal court judge.

Judge Stephanie Haines has been asked to issue a preliminary injunction against PIAA sanctions imposed, not just against the one student but the entire McCort wrestling team.

Marshall testified the committee viewed a video of the boy and other aspiring wrestlers working out in the basement of McCort coach William Bassett’s home.

Committee members also viewed pictures of the teen working out at a training facility known as the Compound that Bassett operates.

These incidents occurred prior to Bassett’s hiring as a teacher and coach at McCort.

During the committee hearing last October, the father of the boy under investigation denied athletics had any part in his son’s transfer to McCort.

He stated to the committee that during the COVID-19 pandemic, his son and a brother had to work from home, and he concluded it just wasn’t “a good learning environment.”

“My kids need to have face-to-face,” he said to the committee.

When asked why he decided to put his boys in Bishop McCort, he answered, “They (McCort) stayed open throughout COVID. They were prepared for it. … They were all set up for that type of learning environment.”

When asked what part athletics played in the transfer of his sons, the father said, “It didn’t.”

The student in question enrolled in McCort last Aug. 23 and it was at that point Forest Hills asked the District 6 Committee to look into the transfer.

After the hearing, the District 6 Committee determined the transfer violated a section of its bylaws and constitution prohibiting student transfers to be with a particular coach, or because of the coach’s reputation.

The student’s disqualification was put on hold, however, so the committee could expand its inquiry into other transfers into McCort’s wrestling program.

The expanded investigation concluded McCort had been less than forthcoming in its review of student transfers and after two additional hearings, the PIAA barred McCort’s wrestling program and students from competing in the PIAA’s postseason tournament for two years.

Bassett was barred from coaching any PIAA wrestling team for two years, and McCort’s athletic program was placed on probation through June 30, 2024.

The coach and parents of the students prohibited from competing in the postseason have filed a federal lawsuit contending the action deprived them of due process, violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution and the First Amendment right of the students to freely associate with others.

On Friday, Haines held a second day of hearings that was to include testimony of Marshall, Robert F. Hartman Jr., vice president of the PIAA Board of Directors and Dr. Robert Lombardi, the PIAA executive director.

As of 4 p.m. Friday, the hearing was still underway.

Attorney Joshua Mazin of Nazareth, representing Bassett, the parents and the students, cross-examined Marshall, pointing out that 10 of the 15 students in question decided to transfer to McCort prior to Bassett’s hiring as a teacher in May 2021 or his appointment as wrestling coach in May of 2021.

Mazin also noted that four of the students who were part of one family did so because of a racial incident that occurred at Forest Hills.

That involved a wrestler using a racial slur toward one of his teammates.

Marshall stated waiver requests for that family did not mention a racial incident as a reason for transferring schools.

In issuing its sanctions, the PIAA pointed out the McCort wrestling program included three transfers from other states — allegedly another indication that McCort and its coach were engaged in recruiting.

Attorney Mazin called coach Kyle Swyczek of Waynesburg Central High School to the witness stand Friday.

Swyczek noted his school has three out-of-state transfers, including two state champions for the other states.

The transfers occurred due to their families moving into Pennsylvania, he said.

Mazin, by calling Swyczek, was trying to show the PIAA has a double standard in selectively enforcing its bylaws and regulations.