Page 54 - 2025-26 By-Laws

Rule 8 - Conduct, Character, Discipline

sport-specific rule or policy provides a different protocol or penalty for a second ejection.
If any coach, Contest Administrator, School Administrator or Fan who is ejected from a
Contest a second time, the principal or his/her designee must meet with the Commissioner
or his/her designee.
e. As an additional penalty, a coach who is ejected from a Contest the first time during a
sports season must complete the NFHS Teaching and Modeling Behavior course before
returning to coach at a competition, and a student-athlete who is ejected from a Contest
the first time during a sport season must successful complete the NFHS Sportsmanship
course before returning to competition.
f. This penalty shall be in addition to any other penalties assessed.

Q & A
Conduct - Generally
Q. 8-1 Can a member School file a protest regarding the ejection of a player for
unsportsmanlike conduct?
A. No. A decision of an Official during or related to a Contest is final and binding,
and an Official’s judgment call, an Official’s application or misapplication of a
game or playing rule and an Official’s ejection of a player may not be protested
or appealed. (rules 9-5, 16-2, 17-8.1)
Q. 8-2 During a Contest a coach becomes very disturbed with the officiating of the Contest
and refused to continue play after half-time. Is this a violation of an IHSAA rule?
A. Yes. This is a serious violation of the Contest Rule, rule 19, and should immediately
be reported to the Commissioner by the coach’s School principal. (rule 9-16)
Q. 8-3 What action should be taken by the Contest Officials when an unsporting act
occurs and a School’s player or coach is ejected? And what action should be
taken by the principal of the player’s or the coach’s School?
A. Under the Conduct Rule, rule 8, a Contest Official who ejects a player or coach
must immediately initiate an unsporting report with the IHSAA, and the principal
of the player’s or the coach’s School must promptly submit to the IHSAA an
acknowledgement to the unsporting report. The principal is also encouraged to
have the ejected player attend the Contest(s), in street clothes, and sit on the
team bench; an ejected coach on the other hand is barred from attending the
next Contest(s). (rule 8-3)
Q. 8-4 What action should a member School principal take when an unsporting act occurs
involving a Contest Administrator or a School Administrator who is ejected from
a Contest?
A. The Contest official who ejected the Contest Administrator or the School
Administrator shall immediately initiate an unsporting report with the IHSAA,
and the principal, hosting the Contest worked by the Contest Administrator, or
in the case of a School Administrator, the principal of that School Administrator,
shall thereafter promptly submit to the IHSAA a response to the unsporting
report. The reporting principal shall not permit the Contest Administrator or the
School Administrator attend the School’s next interschool Contest at that level
of competition, and all other interschool Contests at any level in the interim, and
shall enforce any other penalties assessed. (rule 8-4)
Q. 8-5 If a student in One (1) sport is ejected from a Contest for an unsporting act, is
the student suspended from the next interschool Contest(s) in just that sport or is
the student also suspended from the next interschool Contest(s) in other sports
in which the student may be participating?
A. If a student in One (1) sport is ejected from a Contest for an unsporting act, the
student would be suspended from the next interschool Contest(s) in just that sport.
So, for example, if a student, who plays soccer and kicks for the football team, is
ejected for an unsportsmanlike act in soccer, the student would be suspended
from the next Contest(s) in soccer but would not be suspended from any football
games. (rule 8-3)

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