NIAA’s realignment debate continues

By Steve Silver

Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2009 | 5 p.m.

Forget health care reform; try settling a high school sports realignment debate.

Nearly 100 parents, coaches and administrators packed the Del Sol High School library Wednesday morning to voice their opinions on the sensitive issue at the Nevada Interscholastic Athletics Association Board of Control meeting.

Since the NIAA floated a hypothetical three-division realignment in May, many parents and coaches have voiced outrage about an apparent drop from a 4A to 3A classification for schools such as Basic and Chaparral.

Some media outlets initially reported the proposal would include football, which only created further dissent.

"This plan never included football and it never will," said Eddie Bonine, the NIAA executive director. "I was asked by the state's 17 superintendents to explore options to reduce the financial strain caused by sports in an effort to avoid having to completely cut some athletics programs. A football realignment will be completed separate from the other sports."

The NIAA explained Wednesday that there is no tangible plan in place for realignment to support or oppose.

The organization will, however, create a realignment committee to explore options and create a proposal by March. Realignment would then go into effect for the 2010-2011 school year.

Southern Nevada's realignment committee, which is comprised of five principals, two athletic directors and various other school personnel, will hold its first meeting at 10 a.m. on Oct. 21 at Legacy High School.

Even that announcement met some criticism on Wednesday as many parents expressed their desire to maintain the status quo.

"Let's keep things the way they are," said Theresa Cooper of the Chaparral area. "Moving our school down is unfair and it would negatively impact our kids."

The notion of dropping down or moving up in classification struck some administrators as a jarring sentiment.

"If you are an athlete, it does not matter what level you are playing, colleges are going to come recruit you. Period," said Virgin Valley principal David Wilson. "It doesn't matter if you are 4A, 3A, 2A or 1A. If you are an athlete they will come after you."

But what troubled many was the lack of transparency in the realignment selection criteria with competitiveness, enrollment numbers and athletic participation all potential factors.

Travel costs and the number of games could also play a role in determining how city schools stack up to rural schools.

"Everyone wants to face the best competition," said Basic High principal David Bechtel said. "The bottom line is schools are different in the city. The problems we face are different in the city than the rural schools. You can't take a Laughlin model and use it in Clark County. Basic is different from other schools. We are a small, tight-knit community that does not want (a classification drop)."

While schools such as Basic, Chaparral and Del Sol are fighting to remain in the top division, perennial powers like Las Vegas High want steady competition rather than regular blowouts.

"We are fighting to get teams to throw their best pitcher to our players so we can compete," said Las Vegas High principal Debbie Brockett. "So I understand realignment might not work best if it is based on a competitive level… I think it is important to look at realignment for financial reasons. We do not want to have to make choices about cutting entire programs."

Realigning schools unilaterally is certainly not an easy task with certain schools dominating in baseball while others struggle to field a tennis team.

But the main point of contention is still about football.

Bonine proposed one idea that would create a separate all Southern Nevada football league that would not have to incur travel costs for state tournaments — a 5A classification with no real state championship, but a way to preserve traditional rivalries.

Ultimately, a concrete realignment plan to debate is still many months away.

In addition to the formation of realignment committees, the NIAA also decided to push an emergency agenda to revise its athletic physical forms and approve what type of medical personnel can conduct these physicals.

Several nurse practitioners and chiropractors lobbied to remain eligible to perform the mandatory physicals.

The NIAA will meet again at 9 a.m. Thursday at Del Sol High School to discuss other non-realignment issues.

Steve Silver can be reached at 948-7822 or [email protected].