Usually, the April meeting of the Colorado High School Activities Association's Legislative Council is reserved for a few housecleaning items for the next school year. In other words, typically not much of consequence happens at the spring get-together.
That could change April 19 when the state's governing body considers a handful of substantive proposals, most notably changes to the Class 4A basketball postseason and the possible establishment of admission boundaries for private schools.
When the Legislative Council convenes at 8:30 am at the Red Lion Denver Southeast (Interstate 225 & Parker Road), topping the agenda is a major change to
Class 4A state basketball. If a proposal by the South Central, Southwestern and Western Slope Leagues is approved, the classification will return to district qualifying tournaments, much like Class 3A, 2A and 1A.
Currently, the 48 teams that qualify for state are picked by the CHSAA Tournament Selection Committee, without any requirement as to league representation. Under the proposal, each of 4A's nine districts will get a predetermined amount of qualifiers.
Teams would play off through district tournaments, and after each district determines its qualifiers, only then would the seeding committee slot the teams in the state bracket.
The rationale is to return to the revenue-generating district tournaments, while also lowering school expenses through decreased travel as the districts are geographically aligned. Also, all schools essentially would now qualify for the postseason.
However, in order to accommodate district tournament play, the regular season for 4A teams would be trimmed from the current 23 games to 19 games. That could mean a team losing in the first round of districts would now get only 20 instead of 23 games.
"It became apparent that not many people liked the selection committee process," said CHSAA Assistant Commissioner Bert Borgmann, who oversees the sport. "They didn't think the committee was fulfilling its obligation to see all the teams several times, to make sure the right teams were in the tournament. Plus, the financial component also is an important part of this."
Also being considered for Class 5A and 4A basketball is
moving all four championship games to one day – Saturday – at a single site, replacing the current setup that has the 5A and 4A girls playing on Friday, with the 5A and 4A boys following the next day.
The intent is to save on venue rental costs, as well as to increase attendance and interest for the title games, particularly the girls contests. Under the possible new championship format, one less day would be needed to complete the semifinals and finals. Instead of playing the Final Four on Wednesday and Thursday, the semifinals would be pushed back to Thursday and Friday.
"This is something we hope will garner more interest in the tournament," Borgmann said. "I have been getting concerned about the attendance overall, especially for the girls games, so I thought it might help us regain some traction for the event."
Also expected to generate some debate is a proposal that would define attendance boundaries for private schools, much like their public school counterparts. The boundaries would be defined "by the public school district in which the private school is physically located." The proposal, which is being offered by CHSAA's Board of Directors, is designed to establish equality between public and private schools with regard to athletic transfers.
"It really only impacts the transfer rule," Borgmann said. "It creates some balance between public and private schools on this issue."
Other items of interest that will be proposed:
Also in basketball, Class 2A regionals would change from a predetermined bracket to a seeded-tournament format, to help save with travel costs. In addition, Class 3A adjusted the number of state qualifiers per league to account for schools that are changing leagues and the addition of the new Confluence League.
Girls soccer is proposing to add a fourth classification – Class 2A – for next season. Also,
new guidelines will be established for determining state soccer qualifiers.
Cherry Creek (Greenwood Village) will be the
30th school to compete in ice hockey. The Bruins will be placed in the Foothills League. That would give the Foothills and Peak Leagues each 15 teams.
Boys lacrosse will be divided into two classifications from the current one. Class 4A would have four leagues and 40 schools, while 5A would have four leagues and 35 schools.
Swimming will establish new state-qualifying times, to help create 4-5 heats of each event at state.
In track and field, at the state meet all field event jumps and throws now will be measured, to help break potential ties.
In other statewide news, BoCoPreps.com reported Monday that Longmont girls basketball coach Jay Darien will not return.Darien had posted a 152-80 record in nine seasons, which included Class 4A state championship game appearances in 2010 and 2011. The Trojans went 5-19 this past season. Longmont school officials would not provide any reasons for the dismissal, other than to say the "program needed to go in a different direction."
According to the
Aurora Sentinel,
Overland (Aurora) announced three coaching hires. Danny Fisher will take over the Overland boys basketball program, while Chance Dunston is the new volleyball coach and Wilmer Barrera will guide the boys soccer team. In addition,
Joe McKain is the new head football coach at
Hinkley (Aurora).
