West Virginia Secondary Schools Activities Commission Votes To Go to Four Basketball Classes
Proposal still must be approved by Board of Education
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WHEELING -- Four classes in basketball is one step away from reality.
Tuesday, the West Virginia Secondary Schools Activities Commission Board of Control overwhelmingly passed a proposal for a fourth classification in West Virginia high school basketball.
The vote was 111-26 in favor. The measure will now go the state's Board of Education for a final vote.
"I thought there was a lot of support, but I was surprised at the margin of support," WSSAC Executive Director Bernie Dolan said. "I think it goes back to last year, even when we said it was illegal to put private schools in their own class, the vote was 100-24. There has been a lot of unrest within the membership dealing with classification, and not just in the case of private and public schools."
If passed, the proposal will be on a two-year test run for basketball only and would begin in two years.
The Board of Education will put the proposal out for public comment for 30 days before voting on the matter. That will likely happen in May or June.
If the proposal passes, it will sit in the Secretary of State's office for 60 days before becoming official.
"I believe there are nine members on the Board of Education," Dolan said. "We will submit it to them, but we know they are pretty busy at this point of the year.
"I'm not sure how they will vote. It is a different board. I would say they will listen to what the people have to say, seek comment and take all factors into play. Our job is just to give it to them, present the facts and they do what they think is right."
The debate has long revolved around the dominance in recent seasons by the private schools, mainly Wheeling Central and St. Joseph Central in Huntington.
Wheeling Central athletics director Donnie Murray was named a member of the 18-person committee that helped create the proposal.
"From a private school perspective, we accomplished a goal and that goal was to find a way to achieve competitive balance," Murray said. "My only concern is what will make this successful and how do you figure that out in just two years? How do you determine success? I still don't know what that is. Success is so many different things.
"Is success winning a state championship? Is success going 0-10 in football and making the playoffs the next year? At one point, our girls were 8-8 and we made it to the semis. That is success. Our boys had three guys that had never played together and we won 21 games. That is success.
"You don't have to win a state championship to be successful. My goal as an athletics director is to make students turn into the best men and women they can be. That is success. And if we add a state championship to the trophy case along the way, that is fantastic."
This season, St. Joseph Central won its ninth girls' basketball championship in 11 years. In the title game, it defeated another private school in Parkersburg Catholic.
Ironically, on the boys' side, Webster County, a public school, completed the first 28-0 season in state history, beating Parkersburg Catholic to claim the boys' crown. It was the first title by a public school since Magnolia in 2015.
The Competitive Balance Committee, made up of principals or athletic directors of five schools from each of the three current classes, and three members of the SSAC Board of Directors, put out a formula from 1-100 that weighed several factors: enrollment (70 percent), location to a city or county seat (20 percent) and a combination of economics and other factors (10 percent).
"It was ironic that Webster County won this year, but it is not a private vs. public school issue," Dolan said. "It is about competitive balance. What schools have access to students, access to facilities, access to trainers. Those are things urban schools have that rural schools don't.
"Look at schools like Preston and Hampshire that struggle. They have large numbers, but kids have to drive an hour to participate in those activities."
If the proposal passes, it would have to wait a year to coincide with the four-year reclassification cycle.
"You can take a school like Oak Glen that has 544 kids and when we get the new enrollment numbers, they could have 400 so we used the numbers that we had four years ago as just a blueprint of how things would look," Dolan said. "We won't know totally how things will work until we take enrollment again."
If the plan was in place now, local schools would be:
∫ Class 4A: Wheeling Park, John Marshall, Brooke
∫ Class 3A: Weir
∫ Class 2A: Oak Glen, Wheeling Central, Magnolia
∫ Class 1A: Madonna, Cameron, Tyler Consolidated, Paden City, Hundred, Valley
Murray is worried that number could rise for Wheeling Central.
"We have a lot of incoming freshmen next year, is that going to put us in 3A?" he said. "We could possibly go from Class 1A to Class 3A."
Murray is confident the state will push it through, based on it being on a trial basis.
"There are a lot of people eager for a change and this proposal was less polarizing than the last one," he said. "The SSAC did a great job encouraging a lot of people to be present. I couldn't even get a room.
"Who knows what the board will decide, but I think because it is a preliminary two-year run, it will pass. But with high school athletics, things are so up and down. One team could build up, have a nice season, then have to rebuild. You never know what you will look like in four or five years. Wheeling Central in 2019 is going to look different than Wheeling Central in 2023.
"I feel that if they go to four classes with the other sports, it is really going to water things down. What if more schools consolidate? There are just not enough schools in the state."
Last season, Wheeling Central won both state titles in boys' and girls' basketball. Despite coming up short last month, Murray tips his hat to the winners.
If the Maroon Knights were to go up another class or two, his mission will still be the same.
"At the end of the day, it doesn't matter whether you are a private school or public school, the best team will win a state championship. We didn't win this year, but I didn't say anything. We didn't play our best the days we lost and the other teams were better.
"I am optimistic that if our student-athletes use their God-given abilities, that is success. If it works, it works. If it doesn't, it doesn't. At Wheeling Central we are going to do our best. I am not going to worry about who we should be, I am going to worry about who we are.
"I just want to know what their idea of success is? Is private schools not winning a state championship, is that a success? If you think there needs to be change, fine. But is it fair to Wheeling Central? Bluefield? Brooke? Wheeling Park? Magnolia? There needs to be equality across the board and not just trying to stop private schools from winning a state championship."
The current blueprint handed out to voters looked like this based on numbers from 2015. These are not the official classifications that would happen if the Board of Education passes the proposal.
Class 4A
Morgantown, Cabell Midland, Parkersburg, Parkersburg South, Huntington, Jefferson, Musselman, Wheeling Park, Martinsburg, Woodrow Wilson, Spring Mills, Capital, University, Hedgesville, Washington, George Washington, Hurricane, Riverside, Preston, John Marshall, Greenbrier East, Princeton, St. Albans, South Charleston, Winfield, Spring Valley, Brooke, Buckhannon-Upshur
Class 3A
Ripley, Hampshire, Fairmont Senior, Shady Spring, Bridgeport, Robert C. Byrd, Nitro, Oak Hill, Lincoln County, East Fairmont, Herbert Hoover, Elkins, Berkeley Springs, Logan, Lewis County, North Marion, Wayne, Point Pleasant, Pikeview, Sissonville, Grafton, Scott, Bluefield, Nicholas County, Weir, Independence, Liberty Harrison, Philip Barbour
Class 2A
Keyser, Wheeling Central, Chapmanville, Charleston Catholic, Frankfort, Lincoln, Roane County, Liberty Raleigh, Poca, Oak Glen, Williamstown, Braxton County, Notre Dame, Mingo Central, Magnolia, South Harrison, Wyoming East, Clay County, Westside, Huntington St. Joseph, James Monroe, Petersburg, St. Marys, Moorefield, Ravenswood, Trinity, Buffalo
Class 1A
Parkersburg Catholic, Madonna, Wirt County, Ritchie County, Tyler Consolidated, Summers County, Greater Beckley Christian, Midland Trail, Doddridge County, Sherman, Man, Tolsia, Greenbrier West, Mount View, River View, Clay-Battelle, Richwood, Montcalm, Gilmer County, Cameron, Wahama, Tucker County, W.Va. School for the Deaf, W.Va. School for the Blind, Webster County, Calhoun County, Meadow Bridge, Hannan, Pendleton County, Valley, Tygarts Valley, Paden City, Pocahontas County, Van, Union Educational Complex, Harman, Paw Paw, Hundred, Pickens