By David Rogers. CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — A busy couple of days for the North Carolina High School Athletic Association board of directors will come to a head on Thursday, Dec. 1, on the third day of deliberations.
Several major issues have been or are being discussed during the winter meetings. Among the most pressing is how the NCHSAA will address the recruitment and retention of game officials, for which there is a shortage. Watauga men’s soccer, for instance, was affected directly during its fall season when matches had to be cancelled or rescheduled because referees and sideline officials were unavailable. In some instances, matches with a high impact on conference standings were played with only two officials, the referee and one side judge. Presumably, the referee also had responsibility for calling “offsides” for one end of the field, which often took him out of position to call the game from the middle of the field and his primary responsibilities.
At the board meeting on Nov. 30, the trustees heard a special presentation from Steve Schwartz about the growing crisis in officiating, including a rumored threat by some 800 basketball officials to go on strike beginning Jan. 1 if there is no increase for their pay.
Representing the North Carolina officials and having chaired a board appointed subcommittee to study the officiating issue, Schwartz laid out three primary concerns that a survey of the more than 7,400 officials in North Carolina want addressed. He stated that the survey had a 42% response rate. He reported that the population of officials is aging out and not being replaced. He said that 77 percent of officials are over the age of 45 and 51 percent are over the age of 55. He added another alarming statistic from the survey: 53 percent of current officials are thinking about or have thought about leaving.
“More than 4,000 of North Carolina officials are thinking about quitting…What is your vibrant plan for replacing them,” he asked, rhetorically.
First among the concerns is pay. The second is some form of representation in the organization they serve (NCHSAA). And the third is what to do about sportsmanship, not just among players and coaches, but also addressing spectator abuse which has reached critical levels in many areas.
He offered a comparison with other states and North Carolina’s $105 compensation for state championship football games is far below neighboring states: Tennessee pays $130; Georgia and South Carolina, $138; Virginia and Maryland, $150; Florida is $170; and Alabama is $175, he said.
To get a local perspective, High Country Sports contacted Watauga County Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Scott Elliott.
“This is an issue that has needed attention for quite some time. There is no doubt we have a shortage of officials and more needs to be done to recruit and support existing officials,” said Elliott. “It is not only pay but it is also a matter of respect and sportsmanship. I cannot tell you the number of times that I have had to step between a parent or spectator and an official in order to prevent a conflict. We all need to do more to improve the game environment for both our athletes and for the officials, so perhaps this (threat of a strike) is the start of an important conversation and some much-needed changes.”
Schwartz also intimated that the game officials, collectively, would like to become more equal partners in working with the NCHSAA and the individual schools, suggesting that because they are closer to the issues and concerns they might have some good ideas on how to address them.
Expansion of Classifications?
Also on the board’s agenda is a proposal apparently authored jointly by basketball and football coaches but endorsed by the requisite seven school principals to qualify for board consideration. If adopted, the proposal would expand the number of classifications from four (1A, 2A, 3A and 4A) to seven, with each classification having no more than 64 member schools. There are 432 member schools in the NCHSAA, and dividing that number by seven is just short of 62. Each classification would be divided into East and West divisions.
During the conversation on Nov. 30, various board members postulated that while such a plan would likely eliminate much of the current disparity among individual conference members in terms of enrollment size (what they refer to as ADM, average daily members), there is a strong possibility that travel requirements (and costs) will also increase. A suggestion was also made that the east-west division line might be different for each classification.
The board members seemed to agree that acting quickly on such a decision, if it is to become implemented, is important in order to give NCHSAA staff sufficient time to research and offer suggestions for the board to fine tune and adopt.
The next step is to get the proposal in written form and sent to each of the school principals of the member schools for a vote. A change to the by-laws requires a two-thirds majority, it was pointed out in the Nov. 30 discussion. To change the by-laws, the board cannot make such a decision on their own.
Another proposal that apparently did not make it out of committee was for the NCHSAA to adopt a 35-second shot clock for basketball.
The board will conclude its winter meetings on Dec. 1, with potential votes on issues coming out of the various committees.
High Country Sports will have another report on any actions taken by the board on Dec. 1, and prospectively any follow-on interviews with NCHSAA officials.
