News & Media

The board accepted the resignation of OHSAA Executive Director Dr. Dan Ross, effective Sept. 15. Dr. Ross has served as the Commissioner since 2004 and has spent 48 years in education. Please see the full release at: http://bit.ly/2mO11wn

The board reviewed and approved the divisional breakdowns and tournament representations for the 2018 fall sports that are affected by competitive balance, which include football, volleyball, girls soccer and boys soccer. The lists of schools in each division will be posted at OHSAA.org on Monday, Jan. 22, with a press release. In addition, the board also approved a modification to the business rules for competitive balance, which removes the previous regulation that allowed a school to move up only one division due to competitive balance.

The board was presented with a list of eight high schools that now have their OHSAA membership placed on probation for the remainder of the 2017-18 school year and the entire 2018-19 school year due to failure to comply with OHSAA Constitution Article 3-3-4, which requires each school to sponsor at least two varsity sports each season, which includes participation in the OHSAA tournament. While on suspension, the schools will have their Arbiter accounts suspended (for contracting officials and other administrative functions), will not receive rule books, will not be covered by the OHSAA’s catastrophic insurance policy and may not participate in any OHSAA tournament for the remainder of the 2017-18 school year or the entire 2018-19 school year. The eight schools can continue to compete in regular-season contests and may return to membership in the fall of 2019 if they can sponsor two varsity sports per season and meet other membership requirements. The eight schools include Cleveland Collinwood, Mount Gilead Christian, Cleveland Horizon Science Academy, Cleveland Jane Adams, Cleveland Martin Luther King Jr., Cleveland Northeast Ohio College Prep, Cincinnati Riverview East Academy and Bellaire St. John Central.

The board was informed that Harvey Alston, who coordinates the annual OHSAA Foundation Student Leadership Conference, has been selected as the Ohio recipient of the NFHS Award for Outstanding Service Award. He will be recognized at the OHSAA boys basketball state tournament.

Since the board’s last meeting, 28 member schools were penalized for committing infractions of OHSAA bylaws or sports regulations. The list of infractions and penalties is always included in the complete meeting minutes, but media members may request the list in advance from Tim Stried, OHSAA Director of Communications, at [email protected].

The board was presented with the list of Ohio coaches who received national and sectional coach of the year honors for the 2016-17 school year from the National Federation of State High School Coaches Association. Two Ohio coaches were named national coaches of the year, including Upper Arlington’s Wendy Pinta (girls lacrosse) and East Canton’s Tom Loy (boys track and field). In addition, five coaches were named Section 2 (eight-state area) coaches of the year, including Windham’s Marty Hill (boys basketball), Berlin Hiland’s Dave Schlabach (girls basketball), Peninsula Woodridge’s Jeff Howard (boys cross country), Olentangy Liberty’s Jack Hoogeveen (boys ice hockey) and Cincinnati St. Xavier’s Tim Beerman (boys swimming and diving). The 2016-17 NFHS Coaches Association state coaches of the year were announced in October.

The board reviewed the attendance and financial reports from the fall state tournaments of golf, girls tennis, field hockey, soccer and volleyball. The total attendance at district and state field hockey tournament was 5,110. Attendance at state golf was 3,997, while state girls tennis was 1,249. The six soccer state championship games at MAPFRE Stadium drew 9,017 fans and the volleyball state tournament at Wright State University drew 13,734 fans.

The board reviewed the list of upcoming open positions on the six District Athletic Boards that will become available this spring. Details will be posted on the OHSAA’s DAB page at: http://www.ohsaa.org/about/districtboards

The board approved the spring sports preseason manuals and tournament regulations, which will be posted soon on the respective sport pages at OHSAA.org.

The board approved a change in the start date for golf matches in 2018 to Saturday, August 4, instead of Monday, August 6.