The future is bleak.
Forget about 100 years from now; by then, we all might be reduced to cosmic dust. How about 25 years?
"It's too depressing to think about," said Lawrence North coach Jack Keefer. "A very sad subject, in my book."
http://www.indystar.com/article/2010...rney-is-ailing
IndyStar
March2, 2010
(unsigned)
There are going to be a lot of celebrations, a lot of retrospectives as the Indiana high school basketball tournament celebrates its 100th birthday this week.
So why aren't Indiana high school basketball coaches putting on party hats, blowing up balloons and offering toasts to this grand institution's glorious future?
Simple.
The future is bleak.
Forget about 100 years from now; by then, we all might be reduced to cosmic dust. How about 25 years?
"It's too depressing to think about," said Lawrence North coach Jack Keefer. "A very sad subject, in my book."
North Central's Doug Mitchell sees an ugly future dominated by the corporate-run Amateur Athletic Union or semipro teams, with high school basketball either gone or reduced to an afterthought.
"Twenty-five years from now, I just hope we're not the Jiffy Lube Panthers," Mitchell said during last week's Downtown Showdown at Conseco Fieldhouse. "It'll be semipro, basically."
There are three big problems that not only have helped dampen enthusiasm but also have curtailed attendance as boys sectionals begin tonight:
» Multiclass basketball. Old argument, but the issue never dies. Indiana high school basketball hasn't been the same since the change was instituted after the 1997 season.
"I'll go to my grave saying class basketball was not a positive thing," Mitchell said. "That's what the Indiana tradition was. You don't think Fort Wayne Luers wouldn't mind one class? You don't think Danville wouldn't like to play one class? When (class basketball) happened, the air got let out of the balloon."
» The economy. With the country in the throes of a recession, school funding is down, meaning funding for extracurricular activities such as high school basketball is down. So who's going to pay? Not the schools, to be sure. Probably businesses, corporations.
The Taco Bell Wildcats.
"Really, I think finances are what will end (high school basketball)," Keefer said. "We just voted not to have mandatory P.E. (physical education); well, we're a fat little community already, aren't we? And we're cutting P.E.? It's all dollars and cents. We've got to change the way we fund things, or it's going to change high school athletics as we know it."
» AAU basketball. While high school basketball shrinks, the summer leagues grow like weeds. The NCAA has tried to limit the influence of AAU hoops, but it hasn't been enough. For some of the top players, the ones who know they'll be playing in front of a who's-who of college coaches during the summer, AAU is a bigger deal than the high school season."If nothing is done, it's going to become a monster," Pike coach Phil Spoljaric said. "Shoot, it's already a monster."
The summer leagues feature lots of games, usually in front of college coaches, and very little coaching. It's basketball's Wild West. "You get to go to Vegas for a tournament. The coaches are downstairs gambling, and they're hoping the kids are behaving in their rooms," Keefer said.
AAU serves a purpose -- and Mitchell is quick to note there are some well-intentioned coaches who do a decent job -- but kids don't learn the kinds of life lessons during the summer they get during the high school season.
AAU coaches won't work the phones to help players earn scholarships; Mitchell estimates that in his 17 years, his staff has helped players secure roughly $3.5 million in scholarships.
"If there's an AAU coach out there who is working as hard as Jack (Keefer) and myself and (Warren Central's) Greg Graham and people around Marion County, I want to meet him," Mitchell said. "This is what we do. We're educators. We're at the schools. We know what their grades are. If you take that away, you lose something that's very important."
Times change; we know that. Indiana high school basketball is no longer a rural phenomenon, no longer the central focus of so many small farming towns. The game is more urban now, and it's less of a community centerpiece. And there are more entertainment options now, even if high school hoops remains one of the best bargains around.
Whatever was left of one of Indiana's great institutions was plundered when the IHSAA foolishly punted the one-class system and went to multiclass basketball.
Now, it's not only diminished, playing before smaller crowds, it's downright endangered.
Indiana high school basketball will never be restored to its former glory, but it is a cherished keepsake that must somehow be preserved.
At the age of 100, Indiana high school basketball can look back on a lifetime's worth of fond memories. But the mind and body are becoming frail, and the future is frightfully uncertain.
"I feel sorry for the kids and the young coaches; they have no clue what it used to be like, how important it was to the communities, how important it was to the kids and the coaches," Keefer said. "Those days are gone."
Happy birthday. And good luck.
Forget about 100 years from now; by then, we all might be reduced to cosmic dust. How about 25 years?
"It's too depressing to think about," said Lawrence North coach Jack Keefer. "A very sad subject, in my book."
http://www.indystar.com/article/2010...rney-is-ailing
IndyStar
March2, 2010
(unsigned)
There are going to be a lot of celebrations, a lot of retrospectives as the Indiana high school basketball tournament celebrates its 100th birthday this week.
So why aren't Indiana high school basketball coaches putting on party hats, blowing up balloons and offering toasts to this grand institution's glorious future?
Simple.
The future is bleak.
Forget about 100 years from now; by then, we all might be reduced to cosmic dust. How about 25 years?
"It's too depressing to think about," said Lawrence North coach Jack Keefer. "A very sad subject, in my book."
North Central's Doug Mitchell sees an ugly future dominated by the corporate-run Amateur Athletic Union or semipro teams, with high school basketball either gone or reduced to an afterthought.
"Twenty-five years from now, I just hope we're not the Jiffy Lube Panthers," Mitchell said during last week's Downtown Showdown at Conseco Fieldhouse. "It'll be semipro, basically."
There are three big problems that not only have helped dampen enthusiasm but also have curtailed attendance as boys sectionals begin tonight:
» Multiclass basketball. Old argument, but the issue never dies. Indiana high school basketball hasn't been the same since the change was instituted after the 1997 season.
"I'll go to my grave saying class basketball was not a positive thing," Mitchell said. "That's what the Indiana tradition was. You don't think Fort Wayne Luers wouldn't mind one class? You don't think Danville wouldn't like to play one class? When (class basketball) happened, the air got let out of the balloon."
» The economy. With the country in the throes of a recession, school funding is down, meaning funding for extracurricular activities such as high school basketball is down. So who's going to pay? Not the schools, to be sure. Probably businesses, corporations.
The Taco Bell Wildcats.
"Really, I think finances are what will end (high school basketball)," Keefer said. "We just voted not to have mandatory P.E. (physical education); well, we're a fat little community already, aren't we? And we're cutting P.E.? It's all dollars and cents. We've got to change the way we fund things, or it's going to change high school athletics as we know it."
» AAU basketball. While high school basketball shrinks, the summer leagues grow like weeds. The NCAA has tried to limit the influence of AAU hoops, but it hasn't been enough. For some of the top players, the ones who know they'll be playing in front of a who's-who of college coaches during the summer, AAU is a bigger deal than the high school season."If nothing is done, it's going to become a monster," Pike coach Phil Spoljaric said. "Shoot, it's already a monster."
The summer leagues feature lots of games, usually in front of college coaches, and very little coaching. It's basketball's Wild West. "You get to go to Vegas for a tournament. The coaches are downstairs gambling, and they're hoping the kids are behaving in their rooms," Keefer said.
AAU serves a purpose -- and Mitchell is quick to note there are some well-intentioned coaches who do a decent job -- but kids don't learn the kinds of life lessons during the summer they get during the high school season.
AAU coaches won't work the phones to help players earn scholarships; Mitchell estimates that in his 17 years, his staff has helped players secure roughly $3.5 million in scholarships.
"If there's an AAU coach out there who is working as hard as Jack (Keefer) and myself and (Warren Central's) Greg Graham and people around Marion County, I want to meet him," Mitchell said. "This is what we do. We're educators. We're at the schools. We know what their grades are. If you take that away, you lose something that's very important."
Times change; we know that. Indiana high school basketball is no longer a rural phenomenon, no longer the central focus of so many small farming towns. The game is more urban now, and it's less of a community centerpiece. And there are more entertainment options now, even if high school hoops remains one of the best bargains around.
Whatever was left of one of Indiana's great institutions was plundered when the IHSAA foolishly punted the one-class system and went to multiclass basketball.
Now, it's not only diminished, playing before smaller crowds, it's downright endangered.
Indiana high school basketball will never be restored to its former glory, but it is a cherished keepsake that must somehow be preserved.
At the age of 100, Indiana high school basketball can look back on a lifetime's worth of fond memories. But the mind and body are becoming frail, and the future is frightfully uncertain.
"I feel sorry for the kids and the young coaches; they have no clue what it used to be like, how important it was to the communities, how important it was to the kids and the coaches," Keefer said. "Those days are gone."
Happy birthday. And good luck.
Comment