STEVE HANLON: IHSAA fails Title IX geography test

When IHSAA commissioner Blake Ress retired, I was sure that Bobby Cox replaced him to lead Indiana's high school sports association.

But judging by the memo sent out on June 23, Cox's position has been overtaken by Christopher Columbus. Blindly bumbling through the Bermuda Triangle, he sees land and points.

"There it is -- India."

The memo proudly stated that the 2012 girls basketball state championships will be held in Terre Haute. That's after a two-year run in Fort Wayne.

While female Hoosiers play an unequal game of geographic Ping-Pong come title time, the boys continue to perform on the big stage, under the bright lights of Conseco Fieldhouse.

Boys get the state capital that is centrally located. The girls get the town in western Indiana where Timothy McVeigh was executed.

Do you feel the thrill, ladies?

The good news is that it is only a one-year contract. The better news, at least for region teams, is that the IHSAA didn't pick Evansville, which also put in a bid.

Indianapolis, due to the Big Ten women's basketball tournament next March, will not be available for Indiana's girls for the fourth year in a row.

"(U.S.) 41 isn't a good drive for people in Northwest Indiana," Cox said. "But last year, the teams from southwestern Indiana had a long drive to Fort Wayne."

Last March, Vincennes Rivet (530 miles), Evansville Memorial (700) and Jeffersonville (480) made the hellish round-trip drive to Fort Wayne on a night when boys basketball sectionals were being held everywhere. The overlap of the girls and boys hoops tournaments has hurt the ladies very much.

Playing state championship games under a tent in Upper Mongolia continues the downward trek.

There is an easy fix: start the girls basketball state tournament one week earlier. And to address the overlap issue with volleyball, start that sport's regular season one week earlier.

That way, the Indiana girls basketball state final can be held in Indianapolis, at Conseco, one week before the Big Ten women's tourney and a couple of days before the boys basketball sectional games begin.

"I wasn't real excited when I heard it was in Terre Haute," said Merrillville coach Amy Govert, who led her Pirates to the 2010 Class 4A state championship game in Fort Wayne.

"Growing up in Indiana, not playing in Indianapolis didn't feel right. When you think of the state finals you think of Indy."

Not any more, Coach.

Govert and Raveen Murray drove down U.S. 41 to the Junior All-Star game at Washington in early June. While there is nothing more she would like next March than to drive it again, Govert speaks for everyone in this part of the state when she says: "It was horrible, miserable."

"Raveen and I were looking around and got scared," Govert said. "(We were) thinking, 'What do we do if our car breaks down?' It was the worst drive ever, just brutal."

Govert said she would have no problems starting Hoosier Her-steria one week earlier. She said she would front-load her schedule, putting more games in November and December.

"That would open up Indianapolis," Govert said. "It would also be beneficial for the kids."

Cox deserves a chance to fix the mess that he took over. Even under the current dates and format, Conseco will be available for the girls tournament in 2013 and 2015.

But he has to be strong enough to push against bad ideas that the concrete has hardened around. I'm not sure if he is, though.

"It gets difficult changing calendar dates that have been established for years," Cox said. "At some point, you set your schedule and work around it."

Here's hoping the IHSAA straightens out its wrinkled road map. If not, I have one idea that would get the state finals back to Conseco in about five seconds.

Release a memo that puts the girls basketball state finals of 2013 in Gary.

This column solely represents the writer's opinion. Reach him at steve.hanlon@nwi.com.