N.B. high school, basketball coach sanctioned over player recruitment

N.B. high school, basketball coach sanctioned over player recruitment

Documents reveal how coach Michael King got benched for hosting newly transferred student at his home

It was all fun and games in New Brunswick's high school basketball community, until a longtime coach found himself getting benched over allegations he violated a rule aimed at maintaining fairness in varsity sports.

Those who followed the games know Fredericton High School's senior basketball team had a strong 2025-2026 season, dominating Leo Hayes High School, its divisional opponent, and making it all the way to the provincial finals, where they fell to Harrison Trimble.

But off the court, the school and the team's coach were on the losing end of a different sort of fight with the organization in charge of regulating school sports.

School Sport New Brunswick, which regulates high school varsity sports in the province, sanctioned the school and coach Michael King last fall after an investigation into whether one of the players on the roster was recruited from an outside school, according to documents obtained through a right to information request.

The documents shed light on how an apparent favour for a longtime friend resulted in King being suspended from coaching, and Fredericton High School being financially penalized after it was discovered a student who made the basketball team had just transferred to the school that year and was living in King's home.

"This sounds like a slam dunk ... recruitment violation to me," Rodney Buggie, president of School Sport New Brunswick's executive committee, said in an email when a complaint about the situation was first raised with him.

An SSNB review panel suspended King from coaching for two full seasons, suspended the student from playing in the provincial playoffs, and fined Fredericton High School $1,000, according to the documents obtained by CBC News.

An appeal later resulted in King's suspension being reduced to 15 games for the 2025-2026 season and the suspension against the student being lifted.

School Sport New Brunswick has refused to disclose its decisions, or grant interviews with CBC News.

In an email, Buggie said it is standard for SSNB to not publicly share information regarding its disciplinary process.

"But as president, I can assure you that it is the intention of SS-NB Regulations to provide fair and equitable opportunities for all athletes and schools that are set by our member schools," he said.

Basketball coach gets benched following investigation into player recruitment

Details of SSNB's rulings, however, are contained in emails and affidavits obtained through a right to information request filed with Anglophone School District West, which oversees staff and operations at Fredericton High School.

CBC News asked the school district for interviews with King, who’s also a teacher, and other district staff involved in the investigation, but they declined.

Appeal results in reduced suspension

In an email to CBC News, Paul MacIntosh, spokesperson for the Anglophone West School District, said it was a district official who raised concerns with SSNB, prompting the investigation.

“That investigation concluded that SSNB rules and procedures had not been followed, and SSNB imposed consequences accordingly,” MacIntosh said.

“At the same time, it was the position of both the District and the principal that certain sanctions were excessive.”

MacIntosh said an appeal launched by Fredericton High School principal Peter Batt resulted in all sanctions against the student being dropped.

While the coach’s suspension was reduced, the school still had to pay the $1,000 fine, MacIntosh said.

He said probationary measures remain in effect for the coaching staff, managers and administration for the 2025-2026 and 2026-2027 seasons.

“While we were disappointed by the circumstances that led to this situation, we maintain full confidence in the leadership of Peter Batt as principal at FHS,” MacIntosh said.

“We are also confident and hold the expectation that all staff and volunteers involved with sports at FHS and across our District clearly understand School Sport New Brunswick rules and regulations and will ensure full compliance moving forward.”

Trouble stems from apparent favour

The trouble King found himself in began last summer, when a longtime friend and former teammate on the University of New Brunswick's varsity basketball team contacted him asking for an apparent favour, according to affidavits sworn by both of them.

The friend, who CBC News is not identifying to protect his son's identity, said he planned to move his family to Fredericton from another province, in part, to improve his son's prospects as an athlete.

He said his son, who was 15 at the time, wanted to play basketball at a high school that might give him a better chance of playing at the university level, according to the affidavit, which was filed as part of the appeal of SSNB's initial ruling.

The decision was made for his son to move to Fredericton to start the 2025-26 academic year, and for the rest of the family to make the move in time for the following academic year, said the father.

The father said his family chose Fredericton in part because of Fredericton High School's "strong academic and athletic reputation" and because of his "personal relationships" with King and assistant basketball coach Bramwell Russell.

He said the three played together on UNB's basketball team in the 1990s, and King was a member of his wedding party when he got married.

The father said he called King on July 21, 2025 to tell him about his plan to transfer his son to Fredericton High School, and asked if his son could stay with him until the family found a home within the school's catchment area.

The father said King told him he was unable to discuss any transfer of students, but recommended he contact Fred Connors, vice-principal of athletics, to discuss the move.

In his own affidavit, King said he spoke to Connors the same day and that Connors "expressly approved" of the arrangement that his friend had proposed .

King also said Connors approved of the student enrolling for FHS using assistant coach Russell's address, since Russell lived in its catchment area, and King did not.

"My actions were at all times authorized by FHS administration as Fred Connors, vice principal of athletics, expressly authorized the living arrangement," King said, in a statement dated Jan. 7, which was included in the documents obtained by CBC News.

CBC News was unable to contact Russell for an interview about the use of his address for the student’s enrolment at Fredericton High School.

However, in a Dec. 7, 2025, email to SSNB executive director Eric Moffatt, Russell said King told him the arrangement had been approved by senior Fredericton High School staff.

“He said that Fred [Connors] said it was all above board and we are good to go,” Russell wrote. "So I said sure. I even asked him again a week later and Mike said Bram you are good."

Russell, in an affidavit, said he resigned from his role as assistant coach because he felt FHS "was not being transparent" with how the recruitment complaint was dealt with.

According to King's affidavit, his friend's son moved in with him on Sep. 1, 2025, and successfully tried out for the senior boys' basketball team in October.

A month later, King would find out the arrangement was raising eyebrows.

Complaint forwarded by school district staff

From the documents obtained by CBC News, the first red flag raised with SSNB came on Nov. 14, 2025 from Gina Dunnett, the district’s director of schools in Oromocto.

She emailed Buggie that day to get his thoughts on a "sport concern."

She told him she received a complaint from a parent at one of her schools that Fredericton High School's basketball team had a player from out of province on its team, and that he was living with one of the coaches.

"I did some digging and can confirm that this is the case, and he played on the Canada Games," Dunnett wrote.

Buggie replied saying it appeared to be a "slam dunk" case of recruitment, and told her to inform SSNB executive director Eric Moffatt so that he could investigate.

On Dec. 9, 2025, King sent a letter of his own to Moffatt in an apparent attempt to set the record straight.

He confirmed the student stayed at his home, but added it was just "on occasion." The student stayed at King's home for 37 days in a 77-day period, King said.

"This was never intended to be a permanent location of residence," he wrote. "We were helping friends out during their transition."

King also said he was unaware of SSNB's policy, and had he known, the family would have made different arrangements during their transition.

“I regret taking someone’s assurance that this was ‘above board’ and not verifying the policy myself, and for that oversight, I sincerely apologize.”

King also denied recruiting the student, saying the decision to move to Fredericton was made by the student and his family.

"The original accusation of recruitment — while hurtful — appears to be rooted more in emotion, jealousy, and personal dislike than in fact," he said, adding he's never recruited a player.

“To suggest otherwise is a defamatory insult not only to my integrity, but to the integrity of the FHS basketball program and the young men who work so hard to uphold it.”

School varsity sports in the province is governed by SSNB, and its operating guidelines set out rules for who gets to play on school sports teams.

The rules prohibit students from participating in athletics for a school they are not enrolled in.

SSNB also "strongly condemns" recruitment of players out of desire to prevent over-emphasis of athletics, give average student-athletes more opportunity to participate, discourage adults from jeopardizing a student's eligibility, and prevent the misuse of athletics programs.

Part of that regulation states a coach “shall not entice” a student not currently enrolled at the coach’s school into transferring to the coach’s school. The handbook goes on to say that an example of that includes the coach inviting or allowing a transfer student to reside with them if they are not their parent or legal guardian.

“When you have students amalgamating at one school for one particular [athletics] program, that does not provide a fair and equitable playing field,” said Shamus Bourdon, president of School Sport Canada, who also serves as executive director of the Ontario Federation of School Athletics Associations.

“School sport as a philosophy is more about participation, and it's about the values of life lessons from participating in school sport,” he said.

“The idea is we want to encourage opportunities to participate, not necessarily develop elite level athletes.”

Bourdon said recruitment can have the effect of bumping less talented athletes off the team roster, hurting that spirit of fair opportunity.

Aidan Cox is a journalist for the CBC based in Fredericton. He can be contacted at aidan.cox@cbc.ca.