Pinal County Judge Temporarily Blocks AIA Probation Against Coolidge After Chinle Harassment

A Pinal County judge on Feb. 27 issued a temporary restraining order that halted enforcement of a 365-day probation the Arizona Interscholastic Association had placed on Coolidge High School’s athletics program, a move that allowed Coolidge’s boys basketball team to be reinstated into the AIA 3A postseason and play a rescheduled semifinal against Snowflake at Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum on Feb. 28.

The AIA imposed the yearlong probation earlier in the week after receiving video footage and social media posts that allegedly showed Coolidge players and supporters taunting, threatening, spitting on, and making racist remarks toward Chinle High School players and fans during a playoff game the prior weekend. The association barred all Coolidge teams from postseason competition as part of the penalty and said the school would be expected to participate in a corrective action plan while the AIA monitored compliance until the board’s April reconsideration.

Coolidge appealed the AIA decision the day after the penalty was announced; the AIA executive board reaffirmed the probation following the appeal and agreed to revisit the matter in April. The footage sent to the AIA included social media video and, according to reporting, a screenshot from a Coolidge High School Athletics YouTube livestream of the playoff game. The playoff game score reported in coverage was a 64-53 victory for Coolidge over Chinle, leaving Coolidge with a 23-7 season record and a No. 62 ranking in the Arizona 2025 High School Boys Basketball Massey Rankings.

Media accounts and court filings differ on the TRO’s precise scope. Some accounts describe the order as putting the probation on hold for Coolidge’s athletics department broadly, while other accounts say the judge’s order specifically reinstated only the boys basketball team into the 3A bracket. The AIA said it will consult its legal team and review next steps as the injunction proceeds; AIA Executive Director Jim Dean said, “There was no other time to play that semifinal game.”

Chinle leaders had earlier thanked the AIA for issuing the probation but could not be immediately reached for comment after the judicial order. State representative Myron Tsosie, who publicized the incident, issued a statement that “the probation is necessary.” State senator TJ Shope, who represents Coolidge in the Legislature, criticized Tsosie and said outsiders “are using ‘half-truths’ to villainize his community in the media and online.”

Key procedural items remain unresolved: the name of the Pinal County judge who issued the Feb. 27 TRO has not been published in the Coolidge coverage, and the court docket or TRO text has not been released to clarify whether the injunction applies to all Coolidge teams or only the boys basketball program. The AIA’s April board review and its planned corrective action plan for Coolidge will determine how midseason discipline and postseason logistics are handled going forward.