It’s been a couple of weeks since former Butler girls basketball coach Jonna Burke was suspended for a year by the WPIAL for an alleged recruiting violation.

Now the girls hoop coach at Shady Side Academy, Burke was suspended for reaching out to the parents of a player from a public school district who had been following the coach’s Twitter account.

Burke was under the impression the family was interested in Shady Side Academy. She offered to give the family some information, if the family wanted it.

No nudging, no encouragement, no “recruiting” move of any kind.

This was a social media response. Period.

Perhaps the WPIAL and PIAA should come up with concrete rules as to what a coach may or may not do in a situation like this. It seems like a gray area.

I worked with Burke during her head coaching career at Butler. At the time, she was a young, somewhat inexperienced coach who was solely interested in teaching kids the game of basketball and working with them on and off the court.

She was concerned about her players as people.

She hasn’t changed in that regard.

Burke has blossomed into one of the top basketball coaches in the WPIAL, boys or girls. She reached the 500-win plateau last season. After building Butler’s program into a consistent winner, she moved on to her alma mater, Bethel Park, and consistently won there.

She coached at two high-profile public high schools. Like any public school coach, she disliked and does not believe in the concept of recruiting.

Just because she’s at a private school now doesn’t mean that thinking has changed.

Burke is winning at Shady Side Academy — no surprise — and she has plenty of talent coming back from last year’s team. To think she won’t be allowed to coach those girls because of a simple response on Twitter is sickening.

Thankfully, Shady Side Academy is standing behind Burke’s character and is appealing the WPIAL’s decision to the PIAA.

Hopefully, common sense will prevail here.

Whoever accused Burke of a shady maneuver clearly does not know her. The powers that be in the WPIAL who suspended her clearly don’t understand that this decision is punishing a bunch of high school athletes every bit as much as punishing Burke.

The whole thing seems ridiculous.

I’ve seen high school coaches who — I have to admit — may be capable of bending the rules a bit to get a particular player into a program. Jonna Burke isn’t one of them.

If this woman actually winds up sitting out the 2023-24 season for something this insignificant, the WPIAL should take a long look at what it’s doing to member schools.

It should feel a bit red-faced as well.

John Enrietto is sports editor of the Butler Eagle