Come OHSAA vote in May, the 12-percenters will still rule

  • Questel hedshot on column
  • January 19, 2011
  • 274
                        
012411 OHSAA column Questel hedshot Come OHSAA vote in May, the 12-percenters will still rule Just call it the public school in me, but can you say about time? It goes beyond saying it is time that the Ohio High School Athletic Association, after decades of refusal and denial, will take a first step in dealing with the upfront cheating that passes as legitimacy in the Buckeye State. Of course, in polite society they probably don’t call it cheating, but I’m not sure what else one would call the private vs. public school athletic trials that the OHSAA regulates. Finally, though, the private schools may be finally called to the carpet and a tiny little set of handcuffs reining in their cheatin’ ways. A vote will be coming up in May to address the issue, but let me throw the oil on the roiled waters right now. Even though it is time this situation be addressed, whatever is done will amount to a band-aid at best while in other areas nothing will be done. Ultimately, as much as this is painted as a private vs. public issue, it’s also the Big Dogs against the not-so-big. Nothing, for example, will be addressed at the Div. I level. Findlay and Strongsville will have to deal with Cleveland St. Ignatius and St. Edward. Size matters, and neither the OHSAA – and nor do I -- have an answer to be able to control that beast. However, schools like Akron Hoban and St. Vincent-St. Mary are another issue. The OHSAA has been complicit in a one-rule-fits-all scenario, allowing smaller private schools to not only cull their students from the best of the best, but limit the number of students into a school to allow them as to maintain whatever division they wish to play in. After decades, it’s surprising the OHSAA has moved now, but this fall’s athletic championship picture may have helped push that decision for change. Although the pressure had been building prior to the fall campaign, the tipping point may have been private schools winning five of the six football titles and 70 percent (19 of 27) of all team titles. That’s 70 percent, even though private schools make up only 12 percent of the 800 schools under the OHSAA umbrella. The OHSAA has voted twice to reject proposals to address the situation in the past 30 years, but that splintered along public/private postseason tournaments. That is not being done this time as the OHSAA is looking at three separate factors to help determine where smaller schools may fall:  Enrollment minus a socioeconomic factor, where the number of free or reduced lunches is calculated;  A boundary factor. Ohio changed its rules allowing open enrollment a decade ago, with some public schools allowing students to cross adjoining borders (Wooster to Orrville; Smithville to Wooster, etc., with parents making up the cost differential) while other public schools have total open enrollment. Some private schools have no border restrictions, while other private schools will claim enrollment from districts on their borders;  And a “tradition factor,” where a school’s success over a four-year period would be examined for its ability to make deep runs into the OHSAA tournament and a team’s division adjusted accordingly. Should this pass, eight sports would be impacted by the 2013-14 school year. Not surprisingly, there is a backlash on the part of private schools. Hamilton Badin’s highly successful baseball coach Rick Kunkel, in an interview with the Hamilton Journal-News, blamed it on “liberals” and can’t see anything wrong with the results of last fall’s championships. “It’s just jealousy,” Kunkel told the Journal-News. “Tell them to work hard and they can get there. It should come down to how many kids you have in your school.” Of course, that’s easy for Kunkel to say. Either he or one of his minions is out beating the bushes for seventh- and eighth-grade baseball players to bring into Badin, which is EXACTLY what Ohio State’s Jim Tressel does or The College of Wooster’s Tim Pettorini does to build his baseball program with 18- and 19-year-olds – not junior high kids. The reality is the better the recruiter one is, the better one’s program – and Kunkel recruits. If Kunkel is given that right – and again, he is – then Wooster High’s Craig Martin should be able to do the same for his boy’s basketball program with the same reprisal that’s given to Kunkel. Nothing. Ditto, then, for WHS football coach Mike McCreary and swim coaches Chris Matthew and Jeff DeHaan, along with gymnastics coach Debbie Knapic and every other coach in the Wooster system. Maybe it isn’t cheating, but what is it if Wooster, Orrville and every other district between aren’t given the same opportunity as Kunkel and Badin? The perfect system would to put the public schools in their own tournament and let the private schools have their own, but that logical step won’t be taken. Inexplicably, the OHSAA and public schools throughout the state are willing to allow the 12-percenters to dictate their every move, every day and in every way. Based on that, Kunkel should rest easy for the tail will still wag the dog, no matter what the vote is come May.


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