HIGH SCHOOL CHAT
A few highlights from Mike White’s Tuesday high school sports chat, which you can join weekly at post-gazette.com. Questions and answers have been edited for clarity:
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George: When will section realignments be announced? I know two years ago they were announced in February.
Mike White: We’ve talked about this before. Basketball section alignments for WPIAL are not out yet. The WPIAL wanted to wait until after the state tournament. The reason is because of the new PIAA competition formula, which could move a few teams up in class that have a transfer the past two years and also go far in the state tournament. If state playoffs aren’t started, who knows what will happen in that rule. That is the reason sectional alignments haven’t been released. A few teams in WPIAL might change classifications.
Jeff: High School sports are over for this year.
Mike White: Well Jeff, with each passing day there seems to be less and less chance of them starting again this spring. But like I’ve said before, you still don’t have to decide yet. Or at least make the announcement. Let the kids have a little hope. And I still say, even if you can’t have spring sports, finish the basketball playoffs in July if you have to.
Howard Stern: When is the all-time Fab 5 coming out? Any list that doesn’t have Tom Pipkins on it wouldn’t be complete! He is WPIAL basketball!
Mike White: The “alltime” teams will be in our newspaper Friday and also on the web. Most likely three pages of this stuff. Hope you like it. I can’t give away who the top five picks are. We also picked a top 20 of players, as voted by committee. I will tell you that Tom Pipkins is definitely in the upper half. Why, who else would you take in the top 5?
Sam M: What happens to eligibility for next year? Is it per sport or per “year”? That is, say a high school student who struggles academically has to repeat a year over this. I can see him not being allowed to play a fifth year of football. But what about a spring sport that didn’t get played, like baseball? Actually, what about basketball? The PIAA season never finished.
Mike White: This isn’t college. I don’t know of any talk from PIAA about granting another year of eligibility. And if you graduate, you can’t come back for another year just because you want to. You have to move on. No way would they consider another year of basketball eligibility, even if you failed. Would they consider another year of eligibility for a spring sport for a student who failed as a senior? That would be an interesting debate.
Skiter Jones: Should AAU and/or cup coaches be allowed to coach in high school? I feel there is a huge conflict of interest ($$$).
Mike White: They already do. Yes, you might say a high school coach who coaches AAU might try to get players. Heck, it has happened before.
HIGHLIGHTS