Ruling by Judge Rice is major victory for former Ursuline student athletes, BetrasKopp vows to continue fighting for any player wrongfully denied the right to compete in football and other interscholastic sports
Trumbull County Common Pleas Court Judge Ronald Rice has issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) that bars the Ohio High School Athletic Association (OHSAA) from enforcing a September 15 ruling that prohibits former Ursuline High School student athletes who were not involved in the alleged sexual abuse and hazing incidents that led to the cancellation of the school’s 2025 football season from transferring to and playing for other Ohio high schools.
Judge Rice granted the TRO in response to a lawsuit filed by Attorneys Brian Kopp and Frank Cassese of BetrasKopp Attorneys at Law on behalf of two former Ursuline players who transferred to Girard High School and sought to join that school’s football team immediately after Ursuline cancelled its season on September 12. The OHSAA’s September 15 ruling would prevent them from doing so.
In their motion for the TRO and during oral arguments, Attorneys Kopp and Cassese asserted that their clients would suffer irreparable harm if they are prohibited from playing football during the 2025 season. Judge Rice agreed:
Upon review of the Plaintiffs’ Verified Complaint and after hearing the oral arguments from Counsel, the Court finds that the process set forth by Defendant bylaws does not account for or contemplate Plaintiffs’ situation. To rigidly require Plaintiffs to attempt to seek relief through the currently stated bylaws, which do not account for the situation at hand, would be futile and would deprive Plaintiffs of any relief given the very short timeframe at issue. Plaintiffs most certainly will be irreparably harmed if they, as innocent parties, are prohibited from playing during the 2025 season as that is time that cannot be replaced or compensated. Any injury to third parties would be minimal compared to the irreparable injury that would be suffered by Plaintiffs. This is not typical situation of a student transferring schools midseason as contemplated by the OHSAA bylaws. This is an extremely unfortunate situation that was outside of Plaintiffs’ control. Lastly, the Court finds that public interest will be served in allowing these Plaintiffs to enjoy playing in the remainder of the 2025 football season at Girard High Scho I. These students should not have this time and opportunity taken away from them because of misconduct caused by third parties.
The TRO enjoins the OHSAA and its Executive Director David Ute from prohibiting the plaintiffs “…from participation in the remainder of the 2025 interscholastic athletic season and postseason tournaments at Girard High School or until further order of this Court.”
“Judge Rice understands that the OHSAA Bylaws completely failed to address the situation confronting innocent Ursuline High School football players,” Attorney Kopp said after the TRO was issued. “The court also recognized that the Ursuline players were subject to a flawed and futile process which unjustly denied them of their eligibility. We are extremely pleased with the ruling, but we are not done. We will continue to fight for any player who has been wrongfully denied his right to compete in football, a game which is part of the basic fabric of our town.” (May want to add region and state of Ohio here.)
In addition to the TRO, the plaintiffs are also seeking a preliminary injunction. A hearing on that matter will be held on October 15, 2025.
Click here to view/download BK’s verified complaint. Click here to view/download Judge Rice’s ruling.
What can we say?
Because we love our friends who are Buckeye fans, we’ve waited a few days to congratulate Oregon Offensive Coordinator and Quarterback Coach Joe Moorhead for engineering the Duck’s impressive 35-28 victory over Ohio State.
