No high school shot clock proposal, yet

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent sports

Despite other published media reports, a formal shot clock proposal has not been submitted to the Ohio High School Athletic Association. However, it certainly appears as though it’s in the works.

Joe Balogh, a longtime boys basketball coach at Ontario High School who amassed 598 wins at the school near Mansfield, is the executive director of the OHSBCA. He said this week that the group discussed a proposal with OHSAA basketball administrators but confirmed no formal proposal was submitted. He did indicate that a test run of sorts took place at three events during the 2025-2026 season, as well as at an event the previous season.

“Two years ago, our association held a shot clock event in December over three days at the Canton Fieldhouse where we had both girls and boys teams compete,” Balogh explained. “This past year we again held our event at the Canton Fieldhouse in December and then also expanded it to any events held over Martin Luther King weekend that got approval from our association and the OHSAA. We had three events apply and all three were approved (The Classic in the Country at Berlin Hiland, The Battle in the 614 at Ohio Dominican, and the MLK Classic at Fort Loramie).”

Balogh added the OHSBCA is expanding the shot clock to any multi-team event that applies and is approved by the OHSBCA and the OHSAA during the 2026-2027 then after that, if all goes as planned, a 35-second shot clock will become statewide the following season.

“As we evaluated this process our hope is that in 2027-2028 the shot clock would be an option for schools to use during the regular season and then in 2028-2029 it would be implemented for regular season play and tournament play.”

While the proposal has yet to be submitted, Balogh said the shot clock would be used at the girls and boys varsity level, but schools would be allowed to use it at the junior varsity and freshmen level.

It’s not clear if the OHSAA’s Board of Directors would vote on the proposal, or if it would be put to a vote by member schools. 

If eventually implemented, Ohio would join a growing number of states that use a shot clock. 32 states had shot clocks this past season and three others, Illinois, Kentucky and Pennsylvania will implement it by the 2028-2029 season or before.