Former North Medford High head track and assistant football coach Mark Hodges has come under scrutiny for using two ineligible players while serving as the head football coach at Fernley High in Nevada last fall.

Fernley was forced to forfeit all five of its 2005 football victories after then-seniors Jori Kaeser and James Oppelt were declared ineligible. Kaeser, Oppelt and Colin Hodges, the son of the coach, moved to Fernley last summer from Medford after Hodges got the Fernley job.

All three players returned to Oregon shortly after the football season ended. Colin Hodges and Kaeser graduated from North Medford last month while Oppelt, another former Black Tornado football player, graduated early and joined the Army Rangers.

Hodges also violated Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association rules by conducting practices on Sundays throughout last season, NIAA executive director Jerry Hughes told NevadaPrep.com, a high school sports Web site.

Hodges, reached earlier this week, said the violations were a misunderstanding caused in large part by Fernley High administrators failing to inform the NIAA of his actions.

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Kaeser had been living with the Hodges family for six months in Oregon and made the move to Nevada. Hodges considered it a hardship arrangement but since the case was never forwarded to the NIAA, Kaeser wasn't granted a hardship eligibility waiver, Hughes said.

Oppelt, meanwhile, lived with Fernley assistant coach Kris Kribs — who went to Fernley with Mark Hodges — under a temporary living arrangement that made him ineligible with no possibility of appeal, Hughes said.

"This turned into a real ugly deal, but after you wade through the muck and the mire, we really didn't do anything wrong," Hodges said. "Jori (Kaeser) had been living with me for six months before I ever talked to anyone in Nevada about the job down there."

As for Oppelt, Hodges said, he didn't want to play football at North Medford. He dropped out of the school in January 2005 and was being home-schooled.

"He contacted us, and we gave him an opportunity," said Hodges.

Hodges said Kaeser and his son moved back to Oregon last spring to avoid college out-of-state tuitions costs.

Hodges said the Sunday practice sessions he held last season were actually voluntary film sessions.

"That thing was spun way out of control," Hodges said. "We had film sessions from 4 to 6 each Sunday and they weren't mandatory. I had a half-dozen starters who couldn't come because they had jobs. We didn't lift weights or touch the practice field on that day. We did the same thing at North Medford."

Hughes, after meeting with Hodges, Kribs and Lyon County School District administrators last week, said he wouldn't pursue recruiting violations against Hodges but warned all Nevada schools that violating eligibility rules in the future could lead to severe sanctions.

Hodges led Fernley to a 5-5 record in his first season at the school. The Vaqueros lost to Spring Creek, 31-6, in the first round of the state playoffs.

Reach reporter Don Hunt at 776-4469, or e-mail dhunt@mailtribune.com.