Panel weighs testimony over international student recruiting allegations at Juan Diego

MIDVALE — In its 98-year history, the Utah High School Activities Association has held thousands of hearings.

But last week, the organization that oversees high school sports in Utah held a two-day rule-violation hearing for Juan Diego Catholic High School that is unlike any other in the association's history.

Several things made the hearing unique for the group. First, the type of allegations facing the private school.

The association has accused the school's head boys basketball coach, Drew Trost, who is also an assistant principal, of recruiting basketball players from other countries using the school's international program. While many coaches have been accused of both recruiting and undue influence, Trost is the first accused of using the school's international program, specifically F1 visas, to improve his roster.

Second, the extent of the allegations is unprecedented. The allegations date back at least 10 years; include soccer, football and basketball athletes; and allege the involvement of a variety of sources, including club coaches from other countries.

And third, the allegation that it is a pattern that the school's principal, Galey Colosimo, either approved of or participated in.

The hearing could break a record for length, too. In fact, after two days of testimony and arguments, it's not even over.

The hearing, which began Wednesday morning, started with a request for a third day of testimony because the association shared several new witness statements with Juan Diego and the hearing panel. Trost's attorney asked for additional time to refute the new evidence.

"This morning, we received some new documents with some new information that we weren't previously aware of, and so we're not quite prepared to go forward on those issues that I think they're going to raise today," said Nathan Crane, the attorney for Trost. The panel agreed to reconvene the hearing on Sept. 22.

The association began its case with Kirk Bengtzen, who went from being one of the school's top donors to an outspoken critic after hosting an international basketball player, because of the way the boy was treated by the coach and the school.

He said Trost reached out to him in June of 2022 and asked him if he'd be interested in hosting an international student.

"Drew Trost said he was recruiting three players and it would be one of these three," he said. About a month before school started in August, Bengtzen said Trost organized a phone call between him, the 16-year-old boy and his mother, and the boy's club coach.

Bengtzen said he was told the player would attend school on a scholarship that covered all of his expenses, including lunches, uniforms and health insurance. He never questioned whether it was against association rules.

"I thought this was normal," he said of recruiting international athletes. "I thought recruiting was normal for private schools."

Trost testified both Tuesday and Wednesday and adamantly denied offering this player — or any other athlete — financial help based on athletics.

"Zero consideration," Trost said of athletics being part of the "many" things they consider when admitting students. He said they have a mission to give all students "a seat at the table."

"We … pretty much accept anybody that wants to come to our school," he said. "We want to give them a chance. We have very excellent students that go to Ivy League schools, and we have some students that really struggle. We have all kinds of support programs for them and help them."

In addition to being the school's head basketball coach, Trost is the vice principal over admissions, and he is also part of the school's financial aid committee. He was asked to describe how he handled international admissions decisions.

"The process works (like this:) Ken (Hoshino, director of international studies) brings — just like all of our students — in a file, and I read through the file, decide whether or not they're accepted, sign … accepted or whatnot, and then hand it back. And then if we accept them, then Ken runs with it and go from there."

Association attorney Craig Parry spent several hours going over lists of international student-athletes and what they paid in tuition. The school told the association that in-state tuition is $14,571, while international student tuition is about $29,000. But they also said many students have some kind of tuition assistance or financial aid.

Parry went through a list of international student athletes and noted that most of the basketball players were paying the same tuition — $5,000.

The player who lived with Bengtzen had an I-20 — a financial document issued by the school so students can get visas to attend school in the U.S. — that listed his tuition as $5,000. But the same day the I-20 was issued, Juan Diego Principal Galey Colosimo sent a letter to the player's mother reducing his tuition to $500. That letter was shared and verified as authentic at the hearing.

However, that reduction was never listed on the I-20, and the student never paid any tuition.

Juan Diego's registrar testified that it wasn't until about six months ago that he was directed to record financial aid on I-20s.

Parry asked Trost about an investigation into recruiting allegations when he was the head coach and vice principal at Bishop Noll in Indiana. Trost said he wasn't fired from his administration job, and in fact, he was exonerated by the investigation.

"So once they were exonerating us," Trost said, "we had a meeting with the superintendent and the principal … and we kind of decided, even though there was nothing to do with basketball, for a lot of other reasons, we weren't getting along. … And (the principal) was like, I think it's just we basically mutually agreed that I would go back to teaching math."

Crane shared a letter with the panel from Michael Whelan, president of Bishop Noll High School's board of limited jurisdiction, that said, "During Drew's tenure, there was an allegation concerning a transfer student. In response to this allegation, a full investigation was conducted. The findings determined that the claims were unfounded and false. No action was taken by the (Indiana High School Activities Association) and all allegations were dismissed."

But an article on the Bishop Noll website, dated December 2012, said there was a violation found involving the transfer of a basketball player, and Trost was asked to step down from his administrative role.

"Being in a position where the IHSAA has specifically found violations and made a ruling that points to errors on our end, we agreed that his stepping down would be part of a good solution to protect the integrity of the school," said Bishop Noll Principal Colleen McCoy-Cejka, according to the website.

The Indiana association determined the student athlete was ineligible for a year because the "transfer (was) for primarily athletic reasons or the result of undue influence."

Correction: An earlier version incorrectly reported Bishop Noll was in Illinois instead of Indiana.

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