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It was the weekend’s can’t-miss team party that the visiting Saint Mary’s University football recruits were expected to attend, but the 17-year-old wanted to call his mom first for permission.

She didn’t like the sounds of it. The Saturday night get-together was being held at a player’s apartment in Halifax and billed as a welcoming event, a chance for current players to get acquainted with future teammates.

Fearing her son would be exposed to a booze-fuelled evening, she first instructed him to stay away. That is until one of the team coaches got on the phone and changed her mind on the promise he’d see to it that her son wouldn’t be pressured into drinking.

The woman, who agreed to speak to The Chronicle Herald anonymously to protect her son’s identity, now regrets her decision. A few hours later she said she met up with her heavily intoxicated son.

She’s calling on the university to discipline the coach who was responsible for her son’s well-being but she also wants head coach James Colzie held accountable. She says Colzie knew about the party but failed to ensure the teenage recruits were adequately supervised. She also wants the university to conduct a full review of the party.

“He’s a high school student, all the recruits were high school students under the legal drinking age,” she said. “I was told that my son would be supervised.

“The coach I spoke to reassured me that they would just be spending time together, getting to know one another and he wouldn’t be drinking.”

She says what she encountered that night told a different story and as a result her son will not be playing for the school next year.

From the beginning, she said, she was uneasy with allowing her boy to attend the three-day event in Halifax that drew recruits from as far as Ontario. The Halifax-area woman had looked at the weekend’s schedule of events that included a campus tour and team meals but there was no mention of a late-night party. A Dartmouth hotel was the home base for the teenagers.

She knew something was wrong at about 11 p.m. Saturday night. She said the defensive line coach had promised her he would pick her son up at the party and deliver him to the hotel. He called just after 11 to ask if she still wanted him to pick up her son at the party.

“I said the plan was for you to get him and if you’re not there I’m going to get him.”

She said she was so bothered by the call that she decided to drive to the hotel to meet her son there. He arrived just after midnight with two other recruits. The coach left after the boys got out of the car.

“I was not happy. The coach didn’t even escort the boys into the hotel. I had never seen my son drunk before and I know he does not touch alcohol. Here he was in front of me staggering, his speech was slurred.”

She said shortly after that she picked up another recruit stranded at the party. He was also intoxicated, she said.

She said she repeatedly called both the defensive line coach and head coach Colzie. She said she was finally able to connect with Colzie and the pair met at about 1a.m. She said he was apologetic for the incident and said he had given the recruits $80 for cab fare back to the Dartmouth hotel.

“How does a head coach who invites these kids to spend the weekend with them not know their whereabouts? If you think adolescent boys are going to take your money and choose to use it on a taxi drive back over the bridge you’re pretty naïve.”

She said she pulled her son out of the recruitment event that night with another day of events still scheduled.

On Monday, she said she met with Saint Mary’s University president Robert Summerby-Murray who the woman said sympathized with her, but stopped short of saying the coaches or anyone else would be disciplined. But she said the president pledged to make changes to the school’s alcohol policy that would include supervision for teenagers attending sport recruitment events.

Summerby-Murray couldn’t be reached for comment. But Margaret Murphy, the university’s associate vice-president of external affairs, issued an emailed statement saying: “We are aware of an issue that arose this weekend. The matter has been looked into; we reviewed our practices for recruiting events. Action has been taken to address this issue going forward.”

Murphy would not say whether sport coaches at the university are subject to a code of conduct, only that: “all employees are expected to abide by the university's policies including the alcohol policy.”

The Herald reached Colzie by phone Wednesday. He would only say that he spoke to the woman.

The university‘s alcohol policy does prohibit underage drinking on campus or during university affiliated events. But it puts the onus on students to follow the policy and none on the university to administer it.

“It is important to note that the policy recognizes that the appropriate use of alcohol is ultimately the responsibility of the individual,” states part of the policy. But the student code of conduct does reinforce the policy and says that misconduct includes “alcoholic beverages.”

Phil Currie, executive director of Atlantic University Sport (AUS), the governing body that oversees the Saint Mary’s football team, said on Thursday that he had no knowledge of the incident.

He said in an emailed statement that recruiting matters do not fall under the AUS’s mandate. Recruitment issues fall under U Sports, the national university sport governing body, as well as the individual teams, he said.

The boy’s mother says she will be awaiting the results of the university’s review and intends to keep pushing to ensure the coaches are held accountable.

She also says she decided to go public with the incident to warn parents and coaches considering sending young men to play football for the university.

“Look who you’re entrusting your children with,” she said. “This was our first official recruiting trip. We were looking forward to future prospects of him playing. I feel blindsided and totally disappointed.”