Blog: From the Director

Because our standing committees have often failed us ... the MHSAA has often resorted to special task forces or work groups to help get necessary things done.

The clock is ticking on the life of school-based basketball, and only a change in emphasis – a cultural shift – may save what arguably has been the most historically important sport in our schools. 

In school sports done right, the regular season always means something, even for a team which loses every game.

I remember as clearly as if it were yesterday the first time I had to determine a student was not eligible under rules of the Michigan High School Athletic Association.

Here’s the rationale provided by the National Federation for the transfer/residency rule.

Here are the kinds of statements that should send chills down the spines of thoughtful leaders of school-based basketball:

When major college sports sneezes, high school sports usually catches a cold.

There is no single solution that can quickly reverse these negative trends in school-based basketball and other school sports.

This MIAAA might be the most powerful organization of its kind in the USA.

While we keep working on the language of the Transfer Rule, we harbor no illusions that it will become simpler to understand and enforce. 

This is educational athletics. It’s about learning far, far more than about winning ...

In a typical year, the Executive Committee will receive approximately 290 requests to waive the transfer regulation, approving approximately 60 percent of those requests.

Changes in students, schools, sports and society have not been kind to school-based basketball. 

The transfer/residency rule is a legally and historically tested but still imperfect tool to control athletic-motivated transfers and other abuses. 

Playing time shouldn’t be earned at younger ages. It should be paid forward to develop a future athlete.

When I leave this job that I have now held and mostly loved for nearly 32 years so far, I intend to follow Vern’s lead. 

Facilitating three major changes over four weeks will make this tournament season especially “interesting.” 

Transfer rules are designed in part to protect those who are not unhappy, who are not dissatisfied with a coach or playing time ...

There may be no better example of the state of play than the growth of the “tournacation,” a term merging “tournament” and “vacation.”

Without rules, and opponents playing by the same rules, there is no validity in moving the ball to the goal.