The tone of the room today at the Pines Manor, you could just feel it.
Change was in the air.
After approximately a two-hour meeting, the NJSIAA, the governing body for HS athletics in New Jersey, had spoken. It had heard the arguments for and against five different proposals, four of them passed, one did not.
The four proposals all present significant, substantial change to New Jersey HS athletics, and oh, by the way, the 1 that didn’t pass? The one on transfers? That’s going to come up again. Trust me.
Let’s go down the list.
Proposal 1 – changing the individual wrestling tournament. Public schools would be separated into 28 District events and 7 region events. Non-Public schools would go into 4 District events and 1 Region event.
Any Region place winner — 1st, 2nd or 3rd — automatically qualifies for AC. The 4th place winner in the non-public region (Call it Region 8) also goes to AC
There will be three wild cards per weight class (giving each weight class in AC 28 wrestlers). The non-public 5th place finisher will be eligible for 1 wild. The 7 public school 4th & 5th place Region place winners are eligible for up to 3 wild cards.
What was said – That this was a way to maintain the competitive balance between public and non-public wrestlers and help public school wrestlers that are essentially blocked from advancing by non-public wrestlers in their Region and District, even if they don’t come from that geographic area. And that the wild card entries would be based on New Jersey’s statewide seeing criteria.
The vote – Passed 216-121
What it means – It goes into effect this winter, so we need to find out the new District and Regional alignments for public schools. And a site has to be found to host the Region 8 (non-public) championship. Paging Rutgers, paging Rutgers.
Proposal 2 – The Big North wanted to basically turn 0 week into a mandatory option for schools every fall. They outlined a calendar showing practice would start the second Wednesday of August and games could begin the Thursday before Labor Day.
In 2016 practice would start Aug. 10 – games Sept. 1
In 2017 practice would start Aug. 9 – games Aug. 31
In 2018 practice would start Aug. 8 – games Aug. 30
In 2019 practice would start Aug. 14 – games Sept. 6
In 2010 practice would start Aug. 12 – games Sept. 3
What was said – very little. Since this is optional for all New Jersey schools, it seems to make sense.
The vote – Passed 205-138
What it means – Essentially it brings New Jersey more in line with other high school programs in the US. This also gives New Jersey HS football teams an extra week to play with and schedule games. They can take their byes later in the season. However, if you wanted to really look at this down the road, you could see this as an impetus to give you the extra week to play New Jersey public school football down to state champions per group (8 groups, 16 teams in the playoffs…..just saying….I think 49 other states do this).
Proposal 3 – An earlier start date for winter practice, giving schools 3 days of “tryouts and evaluations” starting the Monday before Thanksgiving. The day after Thanksgiving had been the traditional start of winter practice.
What was said – One question was asked whether this impacted hockey, swimming and fencing, but like, those sports already start practice early.
The vote – Passed 279-66, widest margin of the day
What it means – Coaches can get an early look at who they have before Thanksgiving break and then make cuts (if necessary) before starting to practice in earnest.
Proposal 4 – Separating the non-public football schools in New Jersey into their own league.
What was said – Plenty, by both sides. Many ADs from the South and West part of the state expressed concern that this was changing around the layout for the entire state even though the problem seemed centered up North. River Dell AD Denis Nelson pointed out that 6 South Jersey non-public schools had played 45 games against public schools in 2015 and won 41 of them. He pointed out the margin of victory, but I admit I missed it, but it was wide. The Big 5 North Jersey non-public schools played 1 public school team in 2015. Bosco beat Passaic Tech 35-0. Passaic Tech was North 1, Group 5 state champs.
The vote – Passed 215-128 with 2 abstentions
What it means – The 37 football playing non-public schools now need to meet and create their own conference. St. Peter’s Prep AD Rich Hansen has already called the meeting for Thursday at Rutgers. He also has a tentative alignment for a league, which has no name (I still like Lombardi Conference).
There could be potential lawsuits by South Jersey non-public schools, and the Commissioner of Education will also possibly take a look at this.
The non-public schools that were in the North Jersey Super Football Conference are now basically out of that league. But the Super North (the North Jersey Super Football Conference) will have to tweak its schedule to accommodate the schools that were slated to play non-public schools in 2016. So this has wide ramifications.
And the officials need to come up with a non-public football league in a hurry. Schedules should be made soon for the 2016 season.
Proposal 5 – Changing the rules on transfers, making some transfers sit out 30 days and the State Tournament, depending on which school they were leaving and which school they were attending
What was said – If a school accepted any tuition students, that made it an “open” enrollment school. That was a big stopper, because then you’re including a lot of schools and facing broader punishments. No one spoke on behalf of the change.
The vote – 99 yes, 244 no and 1 abstention (who abstains from these, I swear?)
What it means – Well, its back to the drawing board. Look for the public/non-public committee to try to come up with a simpler set of rules for next time. But this will come up again.