Here are 8 proposals IHSAA board of directors will vote on, including a four-class change
The Indiana High School Athletic Association will vote on several proposals at its annual board of directors meeting May 1.
The most seismic proposal would classify the four-class sports of basketball, baseball, softball and volleyball by fixed enrollments instead of dividing the four classes equally. The four-class proposal submitted by the IHSAA and the Indiana Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association would go into effect for the 2024-25 school year and classify teams by the following enrollments:
Class 4A: 1,400 enrollment and up
Class 3A: 600-1,399 enrollment
Class 2A: 325-599 enrollment
Class A: 324 enrollment and down
IHSAA commissioner Paul Neidig said the cutoffs for soccer, a three-class sport, have not yet but set, but will be by next week.
The biggest pushback to the proposal, according to Neidig, are those who believe the gap between the largest and smallest 4A schools remains too wide. The largest 4A school is Carmel (5,327 students per numbers used for 2022 most-recent classification cycle) and smallest is South Bend Riley (1,030 students).
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But Neidig points out those complaints may be coming from those who only are viewing it through the prism of boys basketball. Since 2010 in Class 4A, eight of the 13 boys basketball champions have come from the largest four schools in the state.
Carmel (largest) has four state championships, Ben Davis (second-largest) two and Warren Central (third), North Central (fourth), Homestead (19th), Tech (28th), New Albany (49th), Bloomington South (50th) each have one. The smallest school to win 4A state is a private school, Cathedral (93rd), which would drop to 3A if the proposal passes.
New Albany and Bloomington South are the only 4A programs with less than a 2,000-student enrollment to win a 4A state title. A closer look at the other four-class sports during the same time frame:
In girls basketball, Bedford North Lawrence (69th) has three 4A titles and with an enrollment of 1,397 would actually be a 3A program if that number holds and the proposal passes. The other winners were Ben Davis (second), Warren Central (third), North Central (fourth), Hamilton Southeastern (sixth), Penn (eighth), Noblesville (11th), Crown Point (15th), Lawrence North (16th), Homestead (19th), Columbus North (26th) and Jeffersonville (29th), all schools with more than 2,000 students.
In softball, Center Grove (17th) and Roncalli (91st), the latter a private school, have two 4A titles since 2010. Other champions are Carmel (first), Hamilton Southeastern (sixth), Avon (10th), Crown Point (15th), Portage (23rd), Plainfield (45th), Decatur Central (46th), Bloomington South (50th). Plainfield, Decatur Central and Bloomington South are sub-2,000-student schools.
In baseball, Penn (eighth) and Carroll (Fort Wayne) (20th) are the only 4A programs with two state championships since 2010. Others to win titles are Fishers (fifth), Hamilton Southeastern (sixth), Penn (eighth), Noblesville (11th), Lake Central (13th), Roncalli (91st), Cathedral (93rd) and Jasper (99th). Elkhart Central, which has since consolidated, was 49th in enrollment when it won the championship in 2013.
In volleyball, Avon (10th) has three state championships since 2009-10. Penn (eighth) has two, along with Cathedral (93rd) and Yorktown (131st but bumped up by tournament success factor). Others are Carmel (first), Hamilton Southeastern (sixth), McCutcheon (47th), Muncie Central (66th) and New Castle (119th but bumped up by tournament success factor).
If the proposal does pass, Neidig said there are adjustments that could be made in the future. One potentially would be to designate each classification to a percentage of the IHSAA’s membership instead of a set number that could potentially be manipulated.
“People are going to assume that there are schools that control their enrollment based upon those numbers,” Neidig said. “If there’s a school that always shows up at 323 students and the cutoff is 324, people are going say, ‘Really?’ At least with percentages there would be a little bit of unknown with that cutoff number. There’s time to make adjustments as a concept (if it does pass).”
Neidig said his hope, if the proposal goes through, is for schools to play in the same class in all of the four-class sports.
“Part of what I really like is for schools to be in the same class in everything they do, (irrespective) of success factors,” he said. “If you are Class A in basketball you are in Class A in everything you do. You aren’t 2A in football and 1A in basketball. It’s always the same and you can get back to some more common opponents.”
Neidig said it is a relatively light year for proposals. Some of the others up for vote this year include:
Success factor
The minimum number to stay up in a class after moving up due to the tournament success factor was lowered from three points to two for a two-year classification period several years ago. There are two proposals, one from Yorktown and one from Barr-Reeve, asking for that point total to move back to a higher number.
One potential hang-up with changing the success factor is the potential change to the four-class system, which would likely set the tournament success factor back to zero in those sports if it goes into effect for the 2024-25 school year.
“It would be two more years (after that) that we would apply success factor numbers again,” Neidig said. “These bylaws may be something that the board will want to look at tabling at that particular time because of significant change if they pass the four-class system as proposed.”
Looking ahead, if the four-class system proposal goes through and starts in 2024-25, Neidig said the tournament success factor could be applied every year based on two years of data. As it is now, the success factor resets with each two-year classification cycle and starts over.
“That will probably be met with mixed emotions on both sides,” Neidig said. “But I think from a functionality standpoint, we could apply that rule here. But I’m not going to propose that this year because it doesn’t matter this year. If we do the new classification system it would go into effect for the 2024-25 school year so we have another year. There’s no reason to propose it at this particular time.”
Emerging sports
A bylaw change two years ago allowed the board of directors to designate a sport as an emerging sport if 20 schools are sponsoring the sport and 10 letters of commitment are submitted from member schools that currently sponsor or intend to sponsor a program. A sport could then be designated as a recognized sport (with a state tournament) once 150 or more member schools were participating with a minimum of 40 from each of the three districts of the state sponsoring a program and participating for a minimum of two years.
Boys volleyball and girls wrestling were voted through as emerging sports last year and both have been growing, even before last year’s vote as club sports.
“But it’s not conceivable for us in this day and age that we we’re going to have 40 boys volleyball playing schools in the southern half of the state,” Neidig said. “It’s just not going to happen that quick. So I didn’t think it was fair for us to hold up Central Indiana or Northern Indiana in the area of boys volleyball. And girls wrestling would fall in that category, as well as future sports.”
A proposal up for vote would reduce the number of schools for an emerging sport to 100 and eliminate the geographical minimum. A team sport, like boys volleyball, would have one class with 100 teams. If the number grows to 200, a second class would be added.
“It wouldn’t affect anything for next year because emerging status has to be for two years,” Neidig said. “A year from now, we’ll be considering boys volleyball and girls wrestling for the first time as recognized sports.”
Number of practice attendances to participate
Neidig said the IHSAA has been working with the sports medicine advisory committee on a proposal that would reduce the number of practices prior to participating in an event or contest from 10 to eight.
“Because of summer activity and the way sport is done now, we may be able to reduce that number,” Neidig said. “Our sports medicine advisory committee is comfortable with that so we may bring something to the table there.”
Out-of-state contest limitations
The out-of-state contest limitation proposal was passed last year to eliminate the restriction keeping schools from hosting schools beyond 300 miles from the state line in any direction, while still not allowing IHSAA teams to play games outside the 300-mile limit.
“Because it was done in an emergency bylaw, it has to come back at the annual meeting to be re-ratified,” Neidig said. “That’s no change (from last year).”
Transfers during season
Neidig said this proposal has not been finalized yet, but said there may be discussion on transfers that happen during the season. As of now, an athlete may move during the season and gain immediate eligibility if both schools agree or there is a bona fide change of residence or hardship situation.
Neidig said there would be no change to the situations regarding a change of residence or hardship for immediate eligibility, but is looking at a set timeframe for transfers during the season to be eligible.
Reduction of baseball/softball games
There is a proposal to reduce the number of baseball and softball games from 28 to 26.
“It is a lot of games and one of the thoughts there is that it might help with the umpire situation potentially a little bit,” Neidig said.
Unified athletes
Neidig said there is a proposal to more clearly define the student athletes in unified participation.
“It’s never to eliminate anybody, but we need to focus a little more on the intellectual disability of a student athlete,” Neidig said. “Even a kid that does not have an intellectual disability, maybe a physical impairment, can still participate — they would just be listed as a partner athlete rather than an athlete. Nothing major, it’s just something we’re trying to clean up.”
Call Star reporter Kyle Neddenriep at (317) 444-6649.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: IHSAA proposals vote fixed enrollment, emerging sports, success factor
