High school sports in North Carolina are nearing a dramatic change.
Or maybe they aren’t.
At this point, it’s a toss-up. But either way, you should be paying attention.
Republicans in the General Assembly have long been at odds with the N.C. High School Athletic Association, but a recent bill may lead to the association’s demise.
On July 20, Senate Republicans introduced a revised version of House Bill 91, which would see the NCHSAA’s 108-year oversight of high school athletics in the state come to an end, replacing it with a 17-member commission called the North Carolina Interscholastic Athletic Commission (NCIAC), consisting of public school employees (athletic directors, superintendents, principals, etc.) that would be appointed by various N.C. politicians.
But why?
Essentially, some members of the state legislature are upset that the NCHSAA hasn’t seemed willing to cooperate with them in regards to concerns over the organization’s finances.
In April, a months-long investigation into the organization by the legislature revealed that the NCHSAA’s total assets, valued at over $41 million, put it ahead of all other state athletic associations in the country.
Senate Republicans have expressed concern about an imbalance in the dispersal of the organization’s funds, calling into question what its money — including its endowment fund of $26.5 million, according to NCHSAA Commissioner Que Tucker — is going toward.
However, as determined as some legislators — including Sen. Todd Johnson (R-Union), Sen. Tom McInnis (R-Richmond), Sen. Vickie Sawyer (R-Iredell) and Rep. John Bell (R-Wayne) — appeared to be to dissolve the NCHSAA at first, recent events may have turned the tide in the association’s favor.
On July 28, state lawmakers and members of the association, including Tucker and NCHSAA Board of Directors President Bobby Wilkins, had a closed-door meeting in Raleigh to take what Johnson called “a positive first step” in ironing out potential legislation and mending the relationship between the two parties.
Now, it’s unclear as to whether or not members of the legislature will continue to pursue the dissolution of the NCHSAA, but based on comments made after the meeting, there’s a chance the revised HB 91 was nothing more than a scare tactic for the legislature to get what it wanted from the NCHSAA: attention and obedience.
“I think that’s what you heard from both sides of the aisle, that we need to fix the organization, but there needs to be some framework and legislation around what that looks like,” Sawyer told the media after the meeting’s conclusion. “Do I wake up in the morning and say, ‘I want the North Carolina High School Athletic Association to die?’ No. I never at any point did that, but unfortunately it took House Bill 91 to get them finally to the table.”
While we wait patiently to see if legislators choose to once again revise HB 91 and strike any mention of the NCHSAA’s destruction from the legislation, let’s take a look at the response to the bill from those within high school sports circles.
In a recent survey of 427 athletic directors sent out by HighSchoolOT.com, 86.1% — or 198 of the 230 ADs that responded — said they were in opposition to HB 91 and the dissolution of the NCHSAA.
One of the survey’s respondents was Northwood Athetic Director Cameron Vernon, who told the News + Record last week that he opposed HB 91 and the legislature’s handling of the situation.
“I think there’s a disconnect with the legislature that they don’t really know what the NCHSAA does,” Vernon said. “They’re unhappy with some of the things (the NCHSAA) has done in the past … but I think they need to communicate that and allow the association to make some changes. That’s what we do every day as teachers and coaches and athletic directors. We coach, we mentor, we give suggestions and we allow people to improve themselves.”
Vernon expressed concern in the ability of the NCIAC to run high school athletics if the NCHSAA was to be dissolved, pointing out that the 17 appointees may not be ready to take on the responsibility of what is “a full-time job.”
According to Vernon, he’s never heard an athletic director speak very negatively about the NCHSAA, citing the work the association does in setting rules and regulations, handling transfers, providing officials, laying out health and safety guidelines, hosting concussion trainings, rule interpretations and leadership clinics for why he’d be upset to see the NCHSAA go.
“They’re always there, they’re always a phone call away,” Vernon said. “We may not always like what they say or their rulings or maybe even how they do things, but for most athletic directors, we do respect them.”
When asked about HB 91 in a text message, Jordan-Matthews Athletic Director Josh Harris responded simply with, “From what I have heard, nobody wants the NCHSAA dissolved.”
In addition to the AD survey, a group of 100 officials from the Triangle Basketball Officials Association released a signed statement last week that said the organization opposes HB 91, supporting the association’s continued oversight of high school sports and its officiating.
To summarize: the number of people within high school athletics around the state that support the dissolution of the NCHSAA is incredibly minute.
With such a large amount of opposition to HB 91 from athletic directors to officials to the general public across the state — along with fair criticism of the future NCIAC’s ability to run the show — the General Assembly is better off leaving the oversight of high school athletics to the association that’s been at it for over a century.
Provide an avenue for the NCHSAA to change some of its oversight tactics and be more transparent with its finances, but otherwise, leave it be. It’s what’s best.
Sports Editor Victor Hensley can be reached at vhensley@chathamnr.com or on Twitter at @Frezeal33.