Snodgrass chats about various topics

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent sports editor

COLUMBUS — Ohio High School Athletic Association Commissioner Jerry Snodgrass addressed a number of topics with nearly 20 members of the organization’s Media Advisory Committee on Thursday.

Expansion of the mercy rule in basketball

Two seasons ago, the OHSAA implemented a running clock rule for girls and boys basketball postseason games. If the difference between two teams reaches 35 points in the second half, the clock doesn’t stop except for timeouts or an injury.

There has been talk around the state about using the so-called mercy rule during the regular season, but Snodgrass said he doesn’t see that happening anytime soon.

“My big concern is the mercy rule during the regular season might create 30 to 35 minute games and people aren’t going to go,” Snodgrass said.

Girls basketball state tournament location

OHSAA officials recently announced the girls basketball state tournament will not be held at the Schottenstein Center in Columbus in 2020, and Snodgrass said on Thursday that a new location has not yet been found.

“We don’t have facilities available to us like people think,” Snodgrass said. “We can’t go out and be like the NCAA Final Four or the Super Bowl, but I wish we could.”

Snodgrass did admit he has a site or two in mind, but did not elaborate.

State football finals

All seven football state championship games will again be held at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton this year, but a location has not been selected for 2020 and beyond.

Snodgrass said ideally, he’d like to see any site locked in for three years at a time.

Eight man football

Schools are allowed to play eight man football in Ohio, and a handful of smaller schools field such teams, but Snodgrass said a state tournament for those teams isn’t in the works.

“A little bit of concern is if we were to openly create our own tournament or playoff system is potentially having teams drop 11 man football for the eight man game,” Snodgrass explained.

Some other states, including Michigan, Kansas and Oklahoma have 11 man and 6 or 8 man football tournaments.

Boys volleyball

It appears a boys volleyball state tournament could be on the horizon.

Roughly 70 schools currently field boys volleyball teams in the spring, and a tournament is held by an organization called Ohio High School Boys Volleyball. However, there is a push to have OHSAA take over the tournament.

Snodgrass said a decision could come next month, but an OHSAA sanctioned tournament wouldn’t start until at least 2021.

Potential rule change involving foreign exchange students

Foreign exchange students with a J-1 visa are allowed to compete in OHSAA sanctioned sports for one academic year, but a component tucked into the state’s proposed budget bill would allow students with an F-1 visa to compete at the junior high level for two years and the high school level for four years, but only at non-public high schools.

“You can see the danger of what it could cause to our Competitive Balance rule,” Snodgrass said.

He added called it dangerous and disheartening to know something like that is attached to a budget bill, and he said such a rule could eventually lead to a separation of public and private schools.

Competitive Balance

Snodgrass, a one time basketball coach, admitted that he sometimes struggles with the idea of OHSAA’s Competitive Balance rule.

“My competitive balance philosophy was ‘get better’, but I also know that’s not the age we live in now,” Snodgrass said.

Miscellaneous

Snodgrass noted OHSAA member schools voted online on a number of referendum items. It was the first time it was done online, and he said the process went smoothly.

He also said two softball teams and one baseball team were removed from their respective tournaments for violating out of state travel rules. Ashland’s softball team and baseball and softball teams from Akron St. Vincent St. Mary’s were deemed ineligible for postseason competition, and a fourth school is under investigation.

Snodgrass said starting in 2024, OHSAA teams will no longer be allowed to wear jerseys that have numbers that are the same color as the jersey.