Legendary George Washington baseball coach Steve Mandl won’t ever get back the 2011 season, the spring he was forced to sit out when the PSAL suspended him for alleged illegal recruiting.
But he got the next best thing recently – he won his appeal when the Department of Education dropped the charges the day before a binding arbitration hearing was set to be held, according to a press release crafted by friend and attorney Ken Ross.
“It’s bittersweet,” the 57-year-old longtime coach with over 900 wins, 27 division titles and two city crowns told The Post. “I’m glad it finally happened, but I never doubted it because I didn’t do anything wrong. I was jerked around.”
The suspension was rescinded, the Department of Education agreed to expunge it from Mandl’s record, compensate him financially for the time lost and cleared him of any wrongdoing, Ross detailed in the statement and DOE spokesperson Margie Feinberg confirmed.
Mandl was suspended for one year on Feb. 15 by the league after Lehman coach Adam Droz complained Mandl recruited outfielder Fernelys Sanchez and an investigation backed up the claims, the PSAL said at the time. Mandl appealed the suspension through the United Federation of Teachers (UFT). He filed a lawsuit seeking an injunction to get back on the field while he waited for the appeal based on never being given his due process rights, as he was suspended without a formal hearing at the time.
New York State Supreme Justice Shlomo Hagler dismissed Mandl’s lawsuit against the city and other parties because he “failed to exhaust his administrative remedies” before suing the city.
Sanchez transferred from Lehman to George Washington in the spring of his freshman year. At the time, Droz accused Mandl of illegally recruiting Sanchez, which Mandl and Sanchez denied. Sanchez sought to transfer after he moved from The Bronx to the Inwood section of Manhattan the summer before his freshman year.
He first sought a geographic transfer after moving in with his father in Manhattan, then later a safety transfer after filing a police report for an incident involving five other students outside of school grounds. He was granted a medical transfer after a doctor determined his grades were suffering due to mental and emotional distress from repeated incidents around school and the long commute.
“I knew they had no case whatsoever,” he said. “It didn’t surprise me one bit. I want to say I was a little shocked, but if you read transcripts from beginning to end, it’s so apropos. … I wish I knew quote-unquote why me. If I was an SOB, it might make a little more sense. Why I never had due process, I’ll never understand.”
“When the PSAL wants something, I’m the first person who jumps. I never say no,” Mandl went on. “It was bizarre they did this to me.”
During his absence, GW won the PSAL Class A crown. He returned this spring and guided the Trojans to a share of the Manhattan A East division crown and to the PSAL Class A finals, where they lost to Grand Street Campus, 2-1.
“It was all a misunderstanding, they were blaming him for stuff that wasn’t true,” said Sanchez, a senior who was taken in the 16th round of MLB’s First-Year Player Draft by the Atlanta Braves and plans to sign with the club June 28th, the day he graduates. “I’m happy they cleared it up and [I hope] next year he comes back to win another championship.”