Civic Skinny: Rants will get GOP nomination in 2010

IHSAA and IGHSAU…
The time to merge is NOW

By Wayne Dominowski
SSA Editor

(SSA) – I know… I’m a malcontent. I just don’t see how nice everything is; after all, last January, the United States was enraptured with our new president. Like a Mother Goose rhyme, everything was going to be fine. That’s politics, and I’m still waiting.
The same with the Iowa (BOYS) High School Athletic Association (IHSAA) and the Iowa (GIRLS) High School Athletic Union (IGHSAU). They still haven’t responded to what I wrote May 2009 in the SSA’s Viewpoint… you know, the whole issue of Iowa being the ONLY State in the U.S. with two separate entities – one to serve boys, and one to serve girls. I continue to believe the only ones being served are the executives at both entities. Then, again, I’m just a peon with an old school mentality that keeps nagging me about some ancient thing called accountability.
Let me reiterate for those out there that keep telling me everything is OK and everything is fine and everything is for the better: We (Iowa), us (you and me), are paying for two separate entities: the IHSAA and the IGHSAU.
That’s just one matter, here’s another:
A school superintendent told me recently how “hard it is to find coaches.” I noted he didn’t say ‘find good coaches,’ he just wanted ‘coaches.’ I wanted to tell him – even though he didn’t ask -- that the majority of good coaches have all but departed this planet, and those that remain are holding on for dear life. Pretty sticky stuff dealing with a waterfall of administrators who don’t back you up when the going gets tough, dwindling numbers of kids who are or aren’t willing to “give it 100 percent,” parents who turn on a coach at the drop of a referee’s flag on a football field or a technical foul on the basketball court.
No sirree. It’s not easy taking care of kids, seeing to their physical and mental well-being, while at the same time checking on athletes’ grades, who they’re paling around with, checking on who’s going to parties they shouldn’t be at, absenteeism, problems at home, and, well… the usual assortment of daily adventures.
Coaching today means walking a tightrope wire, with the latter probably simple compared to what any one coach faces before, during and after his/her respective season.
Like one coach I knew. Suspended for a couple games. The athletic director informed the coach he had broken a rule. What rule? Some rule.
“Wait a minute,” the coach said. “I don’t understand. How did this happen?”
Seems as if some irate individual called the IHSAA and complained about some situation that had allegedly arisen. The latter simply informed the school’s administrator that the coach was suspended. Tried in absentia, judged in absentia, penalized in absentia. “I wanted to talk with someone at the IHSAA,” the coach told me, “and they wouldn’t discuss the matter.” Judge, jury, execution.
That’s the way things work in a dictatorship.
Years ago when I covered a game – any sport, any game – I did my job and the refs did theirs. I minded my work on the field or on the court, while the ref kept careful eyes on the athletes and action. In the last two years alone, I cannot tell you how many times I’ve had a referee tell me to move back from behind a line – is it two feet, five feet in football or five yards? Soccer – what is it – ten feet?
Folks, give me a break. With all the bad press sports get in today’s society, and all the lack of coverage of good kids trying to remain good (and motivated), young people in high schools need all the positive coverage they can get. The local media supplies that – not the refs, IHSAA and IGHSAU. Refs and the IHSAA should stop regulating cameramen and reporters on sidelines and pay more attention to what’s happening on the field – not off the field. In other words, you do your job and we’ll do ours.
This isn’t the ref’s fault, it’s the fault of the IHSAA. If they don’t come out with a new rule every year – or reverse an old one – they fear their presence won’t be felt. It’s the ultimate control freak mentality.
An Iowa high school was contacted by a major (national) sports network that wanted to cover a school that was doing very well. Nope, the IHSAA said. Not allowed. Several years ago, a major organization wanted to present awards to top athlete performers and teams. Nope. Not allowed, the IHSAA said. On the other hand, if the IHSAA wants something, they need simply snap their fingers, and by golly, you better damn well listen. They can do anything they want, and don’t you forget it.
Coaches don’t stand a chance of justice where the IHSAA or IGHSAU is concerned. One word from either group and boom… the law has been pronounced. Referees, on the other hand – for their protection – are protected. They speak, you obey. Coaches have no such cloak. In fact, they are at the mercy of administrators, A-Ds, parents, dogs, cats, mice and rats. Coaches won’t talk because they are afraid to.
It’s like that in a dictatorship.
Asking the public to ask questions of the above two organizations – or any group, outfit or gang – is like pulling wisdom teeth with a pair of pliers (no, I haven’t tried it, but you get the point). Everybody just lets things like the IHSAA and IGHSAU skip along their merry way. But when something happens, when someone gets really hurt or worse, or if a scandal is uncovered, we all shake our collective heads and say, “How could this happen?”
It’s YOUR kids… they don’t belong to the IHSAA and IGHSAU. It’s your schools, your teachers, your administrators, your coaches… none of the latter belong to the IHSAA or IGHSAU and never have. It’s time for the two entities to merge with a public forum on hand to oversee the switch and the appointment of qualified executives. It’s time for Iowa to take back their kids.