COONEY: PIAA looking at transfer rules, but that's not good enough
HERSHEY — The top three brackets had become a private school party – five private or charter schools in the PIAA’s largest classifications, all meeting at Hersheypark Stadium for the ultimate football weekend in Pennsylvania.
And yet, Robert Lombardi was in a pleasant mood on Friday night — wrapped in his PIAA parka and explaining that the new six classification format had worked perfectly for his organization. And he had the numbers to back up why this new reality wasn’t really all that bad or out of the norm.
“There are 49 teams that played in post-season play,” said Lombardi, the PIAA's Executive Director. “Only 11 of them were private schools. That’s 23 and a half percent and that’s close to our number of our actual membership. Now, did they win? Yes. That’s why they play the games. In another year, it could be zero or three or four. This year, it’s five out of 12 (finalist).”
In addition to those five private school finalists — which included four eventual state champions in St. Joseph’s Prep (Class 6A), Archbishop Wood (Class 5A), Eric Cathedral Prep (4A) and Bishop Guilfoyle (A) — there was charter school Class 4A finalist, Imhotep Charter.
But simple numbers don’t tell the story. Because the structure that is in place is doing one thing — creating resentment and hostility because of perceived inaction by Mechanicsburg about fixing things.
In essence, teams like Archbishop Wood and St. Joseph’s Prep are almost wearing the title of the “heel” from professional wrestling. Every year when they win, there are snickers and eye rolls from public school coaches, the media and a lot of outsiders who feel the system is slanted in their favor.
It isn’t fair to kids who have nothing to do with what's going on. It isn’t necessarily fair to coaches, either, who are trying to win football games. But these programs have been villainized — rightly or wrongly — because of their success and because they are in a system that right now doesn’t seem to address any complaints that may be valid.
“The only thing that I feel bad is if anyone tries to taint anything that these kids do,” Wood head coach Steve Devlin said after his team’s 37-10 win over Harrisburg on Friday. “They are great kids. They come, work hard and practice. At the end of the day, I love every one of them. They come back to this school and this program. These coaches have made an impact on these kids lives and that’s what I worry about. I don’t worry about the outside world — (but) I don’t want anyone to taint anything that these kids have done. I love them and they are great kids.”
Again, the kids are getting punished by this format. Not coaches and not administrators — it is kids who somehow have their accomplishments looked down upon because the rules structure and the lack of a public/private split.
Lombardi didn’t seem to think that the public/private issue is the biggest one facing the PIAA — instead pointing to the fact that the Executive Board has created a subcommittee to research a change in the transfer rules. Those rules could be something that is as simple as a 30- to 45-day waiting period for those who transfer in-season to deeper investigations for other potential transfers.
“They’ve been looking at tweaking that a little bit,” Lombardi said. “They have established a subcommittee that is looking at every transfer for this school year to see if there is a trend. Those are some uncharted waters that we’ve never been in and this is in response to the membership (asking us to make it) as equitable as possible.”
Lombardi was asked whether the transfer rule is a bigger problem to the PIAA than the public/private issue.
“It’s part of it,” Lombardi said. “There are more things that the board is telling us is being reported to them than there are inequities. We want to review all the transfers and we’re looking at bylaw changes that we’re going to discuss, starting in January. The other piece of that is public/private. Since ’72, the (state) legislature changed that. If the legislature is going to change it back, then so be it. But I don’t see the legislature getting involved in that kind of action.”
If change is going to happen, it isn’t coming from within the walls of Mechanicsburg. It will have to involve politicians — likely from the rural midstate regions — that will press legislatures to make a move. And that doesn’t appear likely at any point soon.
Which is a shame, because somewhere along the line programs became demonized, and the kids ended up suffering because of it.
http://www.buckscountycouriertimes....cle_b39a7172-e812-5074-aa69-7206e790e522.html
HERSHEY — The top three brackets had become a private school party – five private or charter schools in the PIAA’s largest classifications, all meeting at Hersheypark Stadium for the ultimate football weekend in Pennsylvania.
And yet, Robert Lombardi was in a pleasant mood on Friday night — wrapped in his PIAA parka and explaining that the new six classification format had worked perfectly for his organization. And he had the numbers to back up why this new reality wasn’t really all that bad or out of the norm.
“There are 49 teams that played in post-season play,” said Lombardi, the PIAA's Executive Director. “Only 11 of them were private schools. That’s 23 and a half percent and that’s close to our number of our actual membership. Now, did they win? Yes. That’s why they play the games. In another year, it could be zero or three or four. This year, it’s five out of 12 (finalist).”
In addition to those five private school finalists — which included four eventual state champions in St. Joseph’s Prep (Class 6A), Archbishop Wood (Class 5A), Eric Cathedral Prep (4A) and Bishop Guilfoyle (A) — there was charter school Class 4A finalist, Imhotep Charter.
But simple numbers don’t tell the story. Because the structure that is in place is doing one thing — creating resentment and hostility because of perceived inaction by Mechanicsburg about fixing things.
In essence, teams like Archbishop Wood and St. Joseph’s Prep are almost wearing the title of the “heel” from professional wrestling. Every year when they win, there are snickers and eye rolls from public school coaches, the media and a lot of outsiders who feel the system is slanted in their favor.
It isn’t fair to kids who have nothing to do with what's going on. It isn’t necessarily fair to coaches, either, who are trying to win football games. But these programs have been villainized — rightly or wrongly — because of their success and because they are in a system that right now doesn’t seem to address any complaints that may be valid.
“The only thing that I feel bad is if anyone tries to taint anything that these kids do,” Wood head coach Steve Devlin said after his team’s 37-10 win over Harrisburg on Friday. “They are great kids. They come, work hard and practice. At the end of the day, I love every one of them. They come back to this school and this program. These coaches have made an impact on these kids lives and that’s what I worry about. I don’t worry about the outside world — (but) I don’t want anyone to taint anything that these kids have done. I love them and they are great kids.”
Again, the kids are getting punished by this format. Not coaches and not administrators — it is kids who somehow have their accomplishments looked down upon because the rules structure and the lack of a public/private split.
Lombardi didn’t seem to think that the public/private issue is the biggest one facing the PIAA — instead pointing to the fact that the Executive Board has created a subcommittee to research a change in the transfer rules. Those rules could be something that is as simple as a 30- to 45-day waiting period for those who transfer in-season to deeper investigations for other potential transfers.
“They’ve been looking at tweaking that a little bit,” Lombardi said. “They have established a subcommittee that is looking at every transfer for this school year to see if there is a trend. Those are some uncharted waters that we’ve never been in and this is in response to the membership (asking us to make it) as equitable as possible.”
Lombardi was asked whether the transfer rule is a bigger problem to the PIAA than the public/private issue.
“It’s part of it,” Lombardi said. “There are more things that the board is telling us is being reported to them than there are inequities. We want to review all the transfers and we’re looking at bylaw changes that we’re going to discuss, starting in January. The other piece of that is public/private. Since ’72, the (state) legislature changed that. If the legislature is going to change it back, then so be it. But I don’t see the legislature getting involved in that kind of action.”
If change is going to happen, it isn’t coming from within the walls of Mechanicsburg. It will have to involve politicians — likely from the rural midstate regions — that will press legislatures to make a move. And that doesn’t appear likely at any point soon.
Which is a shame, because somewhere along the line programs became demonized, and the kids ended up suffering because of it.
http://www.buckscountycouriertimes....cle_b39a7172-e812-5074-aa69-7206e790e522.html
