AIA looks to toughen prior-contact rule
During Monday's monthly Executive Board meeting, the Arizona Interscholastic Association looked at toughening the prior-contact rule and using the success model to reclassify just for football.
There could even be another conference added.
But it's all in the talking stages, and AIA Assistant Executive Director Joe Paddock said the football changes won't happen until the next two-year block, which begins in the summer of 2020.
"If possible, we'll have football aligned by itself," Paddock said. "I think we're getting it narrowed down. The committee will meet again in the first Friday of December. We're planning on meeting and making recommendations to take out to the conferences. That would go through the Legislative Council. We want to make sure we're vetting it out and getting good input."
The last time the AIA tried this it appeared rushed, and ended up being tabled halfway through the 2015 season with the organization going back to placing football teams in conferences based on school population numbers.
Since moving back to enrollment numbers, football has created a bigger gap between the elite and good teams with Chandler (6A), Centennial (5A) and Saguaro (4A) dominating. Saguaro is looking for a sixth state title in a row in 4A on Friday against Tucson Salpointe Catholic. Chandler is looking for its third straight state title and fourth in five years on Dec. 1 against Gilbert Perry. Centennial is looking to go back-to-back in 5A.
"What we're looking at is identifying schools that have been extremely strong in their conference with the possibility of moving up one conference," Paddock said. "And, at the same time, looking at those that are struggling and moving them down."
Making prior-contact rule tougher
With Chandler senior cornerback David Eppinger and Saguaro senior receiver Marqui Johnson obtaining court orders the second half of the season in order to play, the AIA is looking at making the prior-contact rule tougher.
Right now, a player is ruled ineligible for the season if he or she transfers to a school where the athlete had prior direct instruction from a coach at the new school. Both Eppinger and Johnson were able to get back on the field by showing a Superior Court judge that they never received direct instruction from the coach at the school they transferred to. Eppinger came to Chandler after leaving Perry, and Johnson came to Saguaro after leaving Scottsdale Chaparral in the summer.
The AIA has been looking at other states to toughen its prior-contact rule, with potential stipulations such as being in an open gym or a weight room at a school the athlete transferred to or being a teammate on a club team and transferring to the school where that teammate plays.
Paddock said something will probably be submitted to the Executive Board in December for review.
If that gets to the AIA legislative council in the spring and is passed, a revised prior-contact rule would be enacted next school year, Paddock said.