43
OHSAA proposal figures to alter sports
Here’s the challenge facing the Ohio High School Athletic Association: make 825 schools, with at least a half dozen coaches at each, a couple hundred more athletes participating at each, and thousands of parents, fans and community members all happy with a single set of rules.
Good luck.
For the fourth time in as many years, the OHSAA has put a competitive balance proposal in front of its member schools in an attempt to level the playing field for sports across the state. The principals have from the first of the month until May 15 to vote on the latest referendum.
Once again, how students come to attend public and non-public schools is at the heart of the issue. So what this year’s proposal has included — in addition to the size of the school’s enrollment — is new modifying factors that may be applied to students on each roster based on where the student’s parents reside and/or the education system history of the student.
In simpler terms: If a student has not been continuously enrolled in the district — or a designated “feeder” school(s) for non-public schools — since seventh grade, that student will count more toward the school’s enrollment figures and could cause that school to move up a division.
The new modifying factors will be applied on a sport-by-sport basis.
“Our opinion at Howland is it’s better than the situation we have right now,” athletic director Ron McCleary said. “We think it’s a step in the right direction to trying to level the playing field, but I still think there’s progress that they can make in the future to continue to evaluate.”
OHSAA commissioner Dan Ross admitted he felt last year’s proposal was rushed, and as a result it fell 10 votes shy of passing.
“This is about high school sports, and high school sports are not about AAU teams coming together and playing together,” Ross said last Tuesday at a Town Hall Meeting. “It’s not about grabbing kids from everywhere and putting them on your roster. It’s about taking your kids and if your kids and your roster doesn’t end up that way, then there’d be a modification on how they’d be put in their division.”
Fair or unfair?
The mention of AAU teams probably sends shivers down the spine of Poland boys basketball coach Ken Grisdale.
In March, after losing to Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary in the Division II regional championship, Grisdale spoke emphatically about what he perceived to be an unfair system.
“They are a better team. [But] that’s not what high school athletics is supposed to be about,” Grisdale told reporters after the Bulldogs’ loss to the Irish in Canton.
“Until people start waking up. I mean, I don’t know how taxpayers in the state of Ohio or [a] public school system, how they deal with this.
“It’s wrong.”
To answer his question, it hasn’t been dealt with quietly.
Struthers football coach Curt Kuntz addressed the topic prior to his team’s Division IV regional semifinal match up with Cardinal Mooney — a game the Wildcats lost, 42-14.
“Is it fair? No, it’s absolutely not fair,” Kuntz told The Vindicator last November. “They can get who they need and what they need. And it’s not Mooney’s fault, it’s the fault of the OHSAA, who doesn’t care that they’re doing it.”
When asked about it again last week, after looking over the new proposal, Kuntz’s stance hadn’t changed.
“It kind of is what it is,” Kuntz said. “I don’t think it’s going to affect the [fairness] aspect. [The OHSAA is] trying to get as politically correct as they can and it’s hard to argue that.
“When you look at Mooney, they’re playing by the rules and football’s important to them and that means they do everything in their power to win.”
Kuntz went on to echo what he said last November: “My feelings or comments aren’t toward Mooney. It’s the OHSAA and I don’t think it’s going to change unless they give someone the death penalty, which isn’t going to happen.”
Kuntz did commend Ross for attempting to do something about the issue and said it’s probably as good a proposal as he’s seen, but still conceded it’s difficult to make everyone happy in a situation like this.
Two-sided issue?
The two non-public schools in the area that are most-often under the microscope are Cardinal Mooney and Ursuline.
Irish boys basketball coach Keith Gunther has taken a different look at the latest OHSAA proposal and applied it to his own personal experiences.
“If you look at it, kids are transferring from public to public, private to public,” Gunther said. “[Public schools] want to make it a one-sided issue, [but] it’s not a one-sided issue anymore.
“As much as [public schools] want to make it out to be that the private schools are doing all this recruiting, the one thing I think people fail to realize is that we live in a free country and you should have the right — as long as it’s within the confines of where you live and [the] district — you have a right to choose where you want to go.”
Gunther used that reasoning when it came to his family, too. His oldest daughter, Megan, went to LaBrae High School, a public school, like her father. His other daughter, Macey, is a senior a Ursuline. While Megan liked the track program at LaBrae, Macey felt more comfortable with the softball program at Ursuline.
And in Gunther’s opinion, that’s what makes high school athletics great.
“In my honest opinion, there’s just as many good public schools out there,” he said. “We’ve just got to get over the fact that people have choices.”
Gunther also said he doesn’t agree with the notion that because a student is good in a certain sport and chooses a school, public or non-public, that school would be subject to playing up a division.
Will it help?
The biggest question everyone has is: will this formula truly make an impact on the competitive balance?
While there’s no way of knowing without applying the formula to the system, which wouldn’t go into effect until the 2016-17 school year if it receives the majority of votes to pass, the presumptive changes would certainly shake things up.
As for the OHSAA’s challenge of making everyone happy with a single set of rules: that may just be unattainable.