Down with the NCHSAA
I really don't like the North Carolina High School Athletic Association. Sure Rick Strunk is a nice guy, and Que Tucker seems OK, but the organization as a whole just stinks.
Why, you ask, have I taken aim at this body? Read on...
The football playoff system - Do we really need 256 teams in the playoffs? Do we really need EIGHT state champions? Is there any other reason behind this than pure greed? The answers are no, heck no and of course not.
The selection process - In a year when the SWFH 3A should be getting three or four baseball bids, it's getting two. Burns, Crest or Kings Mountain - or maybe more than one of them - will miss the postseason. Why? Because they built a few new schools in the East. Which leads me to...
The Eastern bias - The NCHSAA palace compound, uh, offices are located in Chapel Hill. I understand the need to have the football championships in the Triangle area, but Western basketball regionals in Winston-Salem? Title games in Raleigh? What's wrong with Charlotte, Boone, Boiling Springs (GWU) or Western Carolina? High Point Central was moved out of the East and into the West in the MIDDLE of the basketball playoffs. And there's a lot more...
I just think it's time that athletic directors stood up for the Western part of the state.
Somebody needs to.
Why, you ask, have I taken aim at this body? Read on...
The football playoff system - Do we really need 256 teams in the playoffs? Do we really need EIGHT state champions? Is there any other reason behind this than pure greed? The answers are no, heck no and of course not.
The selection process - In a year when the SWFH 3A should be getting three or four baseball bids, it's getting two. Burns, Crest or Kings Mountain - or maybe more than one of them - will miss the postseason. Why? Because they built a few new schools in the East. Which leads me to...
The Eastern bias - The NCHSAA palace compound, uh, offices are located in Chapel Hill. I understand the need to have the football championships in the Triangle area, but Western basketball regionals in Winston-Salem? Title games in Raleigh? What's wrong with Charlotte, Boone, Boiling Springs (GWU) or Western Carolina? High Point Central was moved out of the East and into the West in the MIDDLE of the basketball playoffs. And there's a lot more...
I just think it's time that athletic directors stood up for the Western part of the state.
Somebody needs to.
posted by Randy Capps at 10:59 PM
5 Comments:
Aman Capps. The NCHSAA seems to be chasing the $$$$$$. Seems that I read somewhere to that the endowment will have enough money soon so that it will support itself with the interest that it will collect. Does this mean that the state will do away with the endowment game in football? Yeah, right.
Don't forget Cleveland County's own sports talk show on WGWG 88.3 FM on Saturday Mornings from 9-11 am. Heck, you even get a chance to hear Capps speak from time to time.
Come on. This is just silly. The NCHSAA does about as fine a job as they can.
The playoffs are bloated but that was done by the COACHES. The plan was HATCHED and VOTED on by them.
And you know WHO started it? Some western rural coaches. A prominant former western coach crafted this plan!
Hello!?!?! Raleigh is the center of the state. If you play championships in WCU or Boone, the east coastal teams will be driving 8plus hours.
The west is not getting the short end of the stick. Hell, the nchsaa annual meeting is in Charlotte this year!
All the championships are being moved to Triad/Triangle b/c that is fair - CC and wrestling moved to W-S in that vein.
This is just another weak attempt to complain about the NCHSAA with no substance or ideas about how to improvement. Can if be improved - of course but nothing here even has an idea how to do it.
The coaches approached the NCHSAA with a proposal of going to 5 classifications. The state would then have 1A-5A ranks and address the concerns of the smallest schools. Instead the NCHSAA splits all classes leaving 8. Now this is only good enough for football, which by the way, brings in the largest crowds. Why not splits for all sports? The NCHSAA said that they did it because good teams were staying home during the football playoffs. It was all about the kids. Well this year 2 good teams from the SWFH 3A will stay home during the baseball playoffs. Are these kids any diffrent than the ones playing football? If it's all about the kids then split all sports so you avoid this. This upcoming school year we will see more split conferences than ever before. Wouldn't this be the perfect time to split classes for all sports?
Ask Whiteville about the treks that they made across state during the football playoffs, but it's all about the kids, right.
Also ask some of the schools about loosing money by making the playoffs. Look into how much money the NCHSAA gets from playoff tickets. Let's see if it's truely about the kids or making money.
Wow, I guess I should be thankful they let us have a meeting within two hours of here...
From Bryan C. Hanks, Kinston Free Press sports editor and former Shelby Star sports writer...
With interest, I read Shelby Star sports writer Randy Capps' blog entry on the North Carolina High School Athletic Association on April 26. While I have heard coaches and some media complain -- OFF THE RECORD -- I've never seen such strong statements about the NCHSAA in print (or, in this case, in a blog).
Most coaches I've met since covering prep sports in 1992 seem to be afraid of the NCHSAA. While they'll complain about the organization off the record, I've only had one, former Cherryville football coach Steve Wilson, who would state for the record what he felt about the NCHSAA. That was in response to the doubling of the football playoffs, when it was announced that 1A schools would send 64 teams to the playoffs instead of the 32 they were sending before.
People who know me, know that I've waffled on this subject a bit. In the beginning, I thought it was a good idea. That was until the aforementioned Cherryville (a Western NC school in Gaston County) football team finished 0-11 and had to go to an undefeated school for a first-round playoff game. The players didn't want to play the game, the coaches certainly didn't want to coach it and there wasn't one fan who wanted to witness what was going to happen.
And the game was ugly. Since then, my opinion has changed about 256 teams playing in the playoffs for eight state championships. Sure, more teams are in -- producing more champions -- but I can't help but feel the product has been watered down.
Outside of that decision by the NCHSAA -- and the mystery of the endowment (exactly why does the NCHSAA need $10 million?) -- I think the organization, as a whole, does a fine job. Sure the NCHSAA is motivated by money, but tell me this: who (or what organization) isn't? Newspapers sell ads to make revenue, TV stations sell ad time to make money and the NCHSAA is in the business of making money to help its member institutions, i.e., the high schools.
Randy mentioned a couple of names (Rick Strunk, Que Tucker) at the NCHSAA. Rick and Que are examples of two folks who simply love prep sports and are shining examples of the NCHSAA. Rick is the greatest example of customer service -- when you call him, if he's not there, he calls you back as soon as possible. And that's for the Sports Editor of The Free Press, one of the smallest dailies in N.C. From what I've heard from my brothers and sisters in my journalistic field, he's the same way with them -- regardless of whether they're with the Charlotte Observer, the Gaston Gazette or the tiniest weekly in the state. THAT'S a strength that not many other state prep organizations can brag about.
Another positive is the smoothness in which championships take place. Having covered sports in South Carolina and Virginia as a free-lancer, I can tell you those states and their prep coaches wish they had as well-run an organization as the NCHSAA.
My final thought on the NCHSAA: people will complain about anything. Give 'em $1 million and they'll be upset with the amount of tax they have to pay. I'm not saying that's what Randy was doing. I've heard the OFF THE RECORD comments coaches have said for 13 years about the NCHSAA and I think Randy was simply trying to get some things off his chest about that.
But I know this: I'd rather have the NCHSAA and the fluid way they handle prep sports than to NOT have the organization.
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