LAFAYETTE, Ind. | An association of athletic directors might decide next week whether to ask the Indiana High School Athletic Association to consolidate the state basketball tournament into three classes.
The Indiana Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association recently surveyed its members, and 58 percent of those who responded -- most of them from Class 3A and 4A schools -- supported the reduction from four to three classes. However, only 39 percent of the athletic directors from the smaller schools in Class A and 2A who responded supported the proposal.
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"If it's only 58 percent and an 8 percent swing changes the whole thing, that's only 8 percent," Whiting Athletic Director Paul Laub said.
LaPorte athletic director Ed Gilliland, chairman of the IIAAA's class sports committee, said he didn't know whether the results of the survey were strong enough to make a formal presentation to the IHSAA.
"I won't know until we sit down and have a meeting and determine if that's what the board of directors wants to do. It does indicate some concerns with our present system," Gilliland told the Journal & Courier for a story Thursday.
The athletic directors group's board is scheduled to meet on Wednesday.
"The biggest complaint about class sports is the inequity of the different classes," Munster Athletic Director Mike Smith said. "It's mainly the enrollment differentiation. If you look at the largest class, there's up to 2,000 students different from the largest to the smallest school in 4A. If you look at the classes below it, it's a range of 200 to 300 students."
The IHSAA has conducted four-class state tournaments in basketball, baseball, softball and volleyball since 1997-98. Football is played in five classes and would not be affected by the three-class proposal.
"It's time for it to be looked at, whether it changes or never changes at all, I think everyone felt let's at least look at it and see how we can improve it," Smith said.
The four-team sectionals would improve travel costs at the sectional and regional level, both Region athletic directors said.
"Our transportation won't be as much because we won't be travelling as far for regionals as we do now," said Laub, who is also Whiting's softball coach. "For regional in softball, we have to go to Caston. With three classes, there would be a lot less travel at that level."
Gilliland said he was disappointed only 88 percent of the association's members responded to the survey.
"We got to a certain point where we were sending out e-mails and making calls. It was frustrating we couldn't get a 100 percent response back," he said.
The three-class system in basketball would eliminate byes, create four-team sectionals in almost all tourney brackets and curtail rising travel expenses, Gilliland said.
"We're open to tweaking it but nobody has stepped up with another idea," he said. "They keep bringing up other issues; they don't really help us with this issue."
