The NJSIAA kicked the extra point today. It will be awhile before we know whether or not they scored a touchdown.
On a long…long day in Robbinsville, the NJSIAA (the governing body of New Jersey HS sports) took the first step in a long process that will take months, and multiple votes, before crowing public school state champions in football starting as early as 2014.
The best way to explain everything that happened today might just be a question and answer style:
What does this mean for HS football in New Jersey?
What is the process from here on out?
What would/could the HS football season look like?
Will New Jersey really play football games before Labor Day?
Did they really consider a Tournament of Champions?
What about Thanksgiving? What about wrestling season? What about the money?
Let’s get started.
Ok, what do you mean by kick the extra point before scoring the touchdown?
The phrase used a lot today down in Robbinsville was “put the cart before the horse.†Why? This is not the first time in the last couple of years the idea of playing football champions in public schools has been discussed.
In fact, just 2 years ago, the NJSIAA put the measure up for vote by its full membership.
Listen, it’s not easy to explain, but the law that says New Jersey can’t have football state champions is something that is written in the NJSIAA “Constitution†and like the U.S. Constitution, it cant just be changed with a simple vote.
What happened today is the idea to change Article 9 in the constitution – which is the article that prohibits state champs in football – was approved 8-2 by the NJSIAA “Advisory Committee.†This is a group of 10.
The next step is for it to go before the “Executive Committee.†Those are the top dog, head honchos, a group of about 30. This will happen at the May meeting. They can vote to put it on the agenda for the full membership to vote in December.
Will it pass the Executive Committee?
The answer is almost certainly.
What happens then?
Then it goes to a vote of the full NJSIAA membership in December of 2013. It needs a 2/3 vote to change the constitution. If it passes, then the football committee and executive committee will create the “blueprint†on how the football season will be played.
Will it pass the full membership?
That’s tough to know for sure, but I think so. What is funny is that this is a matter that impacts just the public schools and the public schools playing football. It sounds silly, but Holy Angels’ vote counts just as much as Ramsey, even though, obviously, Holy Angels has no care at all.
Ok, but wait, you still didn’t explain the whole point before touchdown.
Yes, see when this all came up in 2011, what the NJSIAA decided to do was have the vote to change the constitution FIRST, and then create a plan.
What happened then, in a terrible win for bureaucracy was that the vote passed, but because people had left the meeting before it was over, the votes had to be counted differently and, well, it didn’t really pass. Trust me, I think even the NJSIAA powers that be regret that whole mess. I just looked it up, the vote was in December of 2011, and it had to wait 2 years for it to come up again.
There was a plan back then, the Bill Bruno plan that was floated around. I don’t remember it that well, other than I’m pretty sure it did away with Thanksgiving Day games, and well, that meant that that plan would not have passed anyway.
What has happened now is that the Big North Conference, yes, the conference of Bergen County and Passaic County and Bosco, Bergen, Joes (read: powerful) has proposed a plan of how to make the football season work starting in 2014. Eight regular season games in a row, starting the Friday/Saturday after Labor Day, a maximum of 14 games (not 13 as we had previously written, because teams that play on Thanksgiving and in the state finals would get 14). Teams that lose early in the playoffs will/can get a consolation games from the NJSIAA and are also free to schedule other games as they see fit.
But this is a change from two years ago in that now the NJSIAA is behind the Big North plan…NJSIAA Assistant Director Jack DuBois and River Dell AD Denis Nelson are the main authors. Today, the rest of New Jersey got its first real close look at the plan.
Ok, play it forward, if it passes the full membership, is the Big North plan what we will use?
Not necessarily. There is still time for other plans to be created, and before December there will be meetings all over the state where plans can be proposed, or the Big North plan can be amended, tweaked, changed. The Big North plan is what is out there right now. The NJSIAA seems to like it. I think it’s their first choice right now, but something better could come along.
So then what is the Big North plan?
Basically, you need 2 extra weeks to play down to state champs in football. The Big North plan starts the season a week earlier, and removes a regular season game. Boom, there is your two weeks. We got a good look at the proposed calendar today:
In 2014, practice would start Aug. 11. Labor Day is Sept. 1. First week Sept. 5/6
In 2015, practice would start Aug. 10. Labor Day is Sept. 7. First week Sept. 4/5
In 2016, practice would start Aug. 10. Labor Day is Sept. 5. First week Sept. 2/3
And yes, in 2015 and 2016, this means that teams would be playing football games before Labor Day and before school even starts. That’s a HUGE change for New Jersey.
The state finals in all three years remains the first weekend in December, just like it is now.
And yes, Thanksgiving weekend remains untouched by the playoffs.
What about teams not in the playoffs etc?
One of the things coaches don’t like about the plan – and you can read about this in my newspaper column today – is the idea that schools that lose in the first round of the playoffs will get as many as two consolation games from the NJSIAA. There is also worry about playing 8 straight games in 8 weeks, without a bye.
Teams that finish, say, 2-6, and don’t make the playoffs will get 2 consolation games from the NJSIAA….if desired. We asked that question specifically, because playing 1 consolation game is hard, two is crazy. It’s hard to get your kids motivated to play what are essentially exhibition games at the end of the season. But it would be optional, if a school wants to play 2 consolation games, they can.
Can teams schedule other games?
Even teams that make the playoffs can schedule games after they lose. Say, Wayne Hills loses in the second round of the playoffs in 2014 (right now that’s the weekend of Nov. 6/7). They could schedule Ramapo for Nov. 20th, or even on Thanksgiving. Other teams could do that too.
No one would want to do that. Once you lose, why would you want to still play?
I disagree. I have talked to several athletic directors the last couple of days and it is conceivable. You realize that some of the “traditional rivalries†have been lost over the last couple of years with the advent of the Big North and NJIC. I asked NJSIAA President/Rutherford AD David Frazier this question point blank about playing (let’s say Becton) and he said it would take a lot of doing and he’d want to talk to a lot of people in his athletic program, but it’s possible. And hey, Ramapo could play Indian Hills. Could DePaul play Wayne Hills? Why not? I love this part of the plan to give the ADs some power. They know their schools and tradition better than anyone. And, maybe this even revitalizes Thanksgiving.
So, Thanksgiving games aren’t going anywhere?
No. I had one AD tell me in the last few days, as long as Easton plays Phillipsburg in front of 10,000 people, New Jersey will always have Thanksgiving Day high school football games. I don’t particularly like them….but I’m not from around here. I do get how important they are to a lot of people though. So they deserve to stay.
Why can’t they just wait a year or so, why does it have to start in 2014?
This is one of the questions brought up in the Advisory Committee meeting. The issue with that is the entire state of New Jersey is on what is called a “two-year scheduling cycle.†Basically your schedule for 2012 is the same as it is for 2013. The next time that schedule can be revised/changed is 2014. By the way, the Big North plan isn’t stupid. It set a schedule for 2016 too, so it went forward three years, meaning really four.
What does this mean for the non-public schools?
Really, not that much. They will love it, because the season starting earlier makes it easier for Bosco, Bergen, Joes and, yes, Paramus Catholic to schedule out of state games. Also, if things stay the same, Non-Public schools will play their state finals after three rounds of playoffs. In 2014, that’s Nov. 14/15th.
After that, they are free to schedule games the next weekend or even on Thanksgiving.
So, they could win a state title and then keep playing?
I have to double check this one for sure, but I believe the answer to that is yes, because the public schools are still playing. Let’s say Bergen Catholic wins the Non Pub Group 4 state title on Nov. 14, 2014, it could then play a state champion from another state on Thanksgiving or on the 21st. Don’t laugh. It could happen. Thanksgiving Day….Yankee Stadium, high school football? Trust me when I tell you that some of the ADs have already thought about this.
What about a Tournament of Champions?
Another option that the non-public schools could look it – repeat could – is having the four group champions play one another in the weeks after crowning group champs. This question actually came up today from a member of the Advisory Committee. It seemed to catch Jack DuBois off guard, but he said, yes, it is possible, which is why I am pretty sure the answer to the previous question is yes.
Because, remember, if the non-public stay grouped the way they are now, they play 8 regular season games, then 3 playoff games and then….there are still 2 weeks (plus Thanksgiving) to play. This year, your four non-public state champs were St. Joe’s of Hammonton (Group 1), Holy Spirit (Group 2) St. Joes (Group 3) and Paramus Catholic (Group 4). Now, do the smaller schools want to play the bigger schools? Probably not. But would you have liked to see Joes vs. Paramus Catholic again? Um, yes.
Could St. Joe’s of Hammonton play Holy Spirit? Sounds like a heck of a doubleheader to me. Again, this is my speculation right now. The odds of this really happening are probably pretty slim, but we will see.
Hey, why didn’t New Jersey crown public school state champs anyway?
That is a great question and came up at the end of the meeting. The answer is….no one really knows. The 2 theories are no one wanted to play later because of the weather, and wanted to get the kids back to playing winter sports. The other theory is that the NJSIAA had kind of a backdoor deal with the newspapers in New Jersey that they would select the No. 1 team and state champs.
Isn’t this all about money?
I asked one NJSIAA official that today and he said that money is not the main motivation for doing this. He said it’s to bring New Jersey football in line with the rest of the country, but laughing, he said, of course these would be two extra weeks of games will provide a tremendous revenue stream for the NJSIAA because these would be attractive match-ups. Can you imagine in 2014 the draw of seeing the first real state championship game in New Jersey history? And it’s only going to get bigger.
Where would these games be played?
Well, that’s obvious, MetLife Stadium would be the first choice. You are talking about 5 games, so you could put one game on Friday night and play four on Saturday. You could also play them at Rutgers, which is a more central location obviously. One idea could be to have it rotate every year.
What about the winter season?
The winter season, meaning wrestling and basketball is still in the same boat. They will still be crunched at the beginning of the season for practice time, because yes, the football season will last longer. But….remember, under the current 5 group set-up, if the Big North plan is adopted, there will only be 10 teams in New Jersey still playing/practicing after Thanksgiving. What we have now in 2012, that number is significantly greater (In 2012, remember, New Jersey had 24 state champs, that’s 48 teams still playing after Thanksgiving, so if I am a basketball/wrestling coach, I think I kind of like this). Again, this goes back to giving the ADs the power to schedule games and decide when the football season should end. If you are a basketball/wrestling powerhouse, you can end in early November, give your kids a few weeks off before starting winter practice.
Are we going to keep 5 groups for public schools?
I believe the answer to that is yes, but everything is still open for discussion. I am on record as saying I would rather see 8 groups and just 2 non-public champs for 10 total state champs, but I think 5 groups is here to stay for a little while.
Do these NJSIAA guys really know what they are doing?
Listen, this is my third year of attending meetings down in Robbinsville pretty regularly and here is what I would tell you. Even I think they get confused and bogged down in their own red tape from time to time, but I do see the NJSIAA really trying to bring New Jersey into the 21st Century in all sports and listening to what its member schools want to do. I have to say I like more of the men (and women) down there than I dislike.
Do they make everyone happy? No. And that’s not their job. But I think to a large degree, the member schools have shown them they want to see true football state champs and this is the NJSIAA’s way of accommodating them.
Who is against this plan?
I spent a lot of time the last 2 days on the phone with coaches all over North Jersey. And yes, it’s a generational thing, older coaches seem to want to keep the current system and younger coaches want to change.
I had one coach, and I won’t reveal his ID, but I had one coach tell me when his team last won a sectional title, none of the kids really cared that they were really just “sectional†champs. That the rings said “state champs†and that’s what they remembered and that’s what they cared about. He said he thought the media made a bigger deal out of it than anyone else.
I agreed with him, to a point. I think what has happened is that, yes, when they are in HS, the football teams that win just like being called “State Champs†even though its really only sectional champions. But when they get out of HS, and into college or beyond, they are kinda like, ‘hmm, I wonder how far we really could have gotten?’ See, those are the guys who are the coaches and leaders now and they are the ones setting up this future.
I do also get the idea that practice is going to start much, much earlier than New Jersey is used to. I don’t particularly like it either, but I don’t know a different solution. It will be up to each program and each head coach to set those expectations.
Ok, predict the future. What will happen?
I am pretty sure this will pass the Executive Committee in May and be put on the December agenda. The vote by the full membership will be close, but I bet it passes. New Jersey probably will use the Big North plan….at least to start. There are certainly issues with it and problems that we don’t see yet and don’t know. Those will be tweaked and changed along the way. Some kind of way I wonder if the state tries to squeeze the schedule some kind of way, and try to start practice a little bit later. I don’t know how, but maybe. But I bet in December of 2014 New Jersey will have true football state champions for the first time.