HONESTLY MERGE IOWA HIGH SCHOOL BOYS & GIRLS ATHLETIC ORGANIZATIONS!
5-8-09
The courageous editorial below wisely stated the need to merge the two Iowa High School Athletic organizations. The editorial was carried in the Sergeant Bluff Advocate, a highly integrous, efficient, weekly newspaper in Northwest Iowa.
Here is an Iowalive table that places numbers on what the Advocate Is talking about. Anyone claiming to have better numbers is asked to provide them for evaluation and comparison.
IOWA NEEDS ONE INTEGROUS HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETICS ORGANIZATION!!
TWO UNNEEDED (NON-PROFIT?) IOWA HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETICS ORGANIZATIONS
*INTEGRITY INDEX LEVEL ON SCALE OF 0 TO 1,000 TOPS, WHERE SIGNIFICANT INTEGRITY STARTS AT 300
*AVG. YEAR-TO DATE 5-1-09 OPERATING EFFICIENCY
PROJECTED % REDUCTION IN TOURNAMENT TICKET PRICES IF HONESTLY MERGED
ESTIMATED NUMBER OF MULTI-MILLIONAIRES WORKING THERE
Iowa (BOYS) High School Athletic Association (IHSAA)
180
49%
30%
3
Iowa GIRLS High School Athletic Union (IGHSAU)
230
45%
1
* PROJECTED INTEGRITY & OPERATING EFFICIENCY IF HONESTLY MERGED
400
55%
COURAGEOUS SERGEANT BLUFF ADVOCATE EDITORIAL
The IHSAA and IGHSAU
Is it ALWAYS the money?
By Wayne Dominowski
SSA Editor
(SSA) – I think you and I have gone through this before; you know, the issue over the fact the Iowa (BOYS) High School Athletic Association (IHSAA), and the Iowa GIRLS High School Athletic Union (IGHSAU) exist as two separate entities in our stat e.
In the past, as now, I’ve asked why, and for the life of me or anyone I know, no one has even attempted to give me any kind of response whatsoever. (Indeed, I don’t believe anyone in Iowa has the answer save for the IHSAA and IGHSAU people.) No one appears to give a rip that we are the ONLY State in the United States to have this sort of arrangement. That’s right; we’re the only State in the Big 50 to have an athletic organization that serves boys, and an athletic organization that serves girls.
What gives? Why? How did this happen?
For one, it defies reason, not only because separating boys from girls goes against everything we’ve been told over the past 30 years where gender equity is concerned; but also, the cost of running two separate athletic organizations has got to be a money drain in this State. (Every one of the top tier executives at both the IHSAA and IGHSAU makes $6-figure salaries.) Why? What do they do to pick up that kind of money? What are the executives’ qualifications? If there are qualifications and an Iowa citizen has them, can he/she apply for one of these positions? The situation is beyond comprehension.
Now comes the national economic downturn. While every facet of our lives is being affected, the good ol’ boys at the two palaces at Boone and Des Moines hold to silence, hoping no one will notice they exist and that it costs money to keep two going for the price of… two.
Look, I don’t doubt that the gentlemen operating IHSAA and IGHSAU are wonderful people who believe totally in the mission of service to Iowa’s high school athletics. I’m sure they love their work and they work hard at what they love. But that’s not the point.
Why do we have two separate organizations when every State in the Union has ONE?
Folks, something is very amiss here.
Last football season, we saw the playoffs expanded with the caveat toting, ‘Let’s give everyone a chance to experience the playoffs,’ and ‘This isn’t about the money; it’s about the kids.’ OK, if it’s about the kids, then why in the hell did you guys (IHSAA) keep the gate money at those playoffs? Why didn’t you give it to the schools that are already backed up against a financial wall? What was the response? None. Zero. Nada. Nyet.
Did you know that the IHSAA and IGHSAU are both private entities? Yes, they sure are. What does that mean to us? Who knows? No one is talking.
For three years, the IHSAA hired an out-of-state photography group to take playoff photos. Only God knows why they didn’t look to Iowa and perhaps put the arrangement up for bid? Did the IHSAA get a kick-back on the photos! sold to parents of their sons playing in the State basketball tournament? Who knows? No one is talking.
At this year’s basketball tournament, local newspaper photographers were restricted to one congested area on either end of the court. Stay there, they were told. In the meantime, the IHSAA had their own photographer who was free to dance around the entire court and arena, unabated. Money again for the IHSAA? No one is talking.
Who oversees those guys at the IHSAA and IGHSAU? I don’t know; do you? Does anyone? (Oh, yea, they have a group of Iowa superintendents that sit on a board; but once again, no one knows what the latter are told or what they are supposed to be doing? What is their function?)
My former Army commander once told me: “Wayne, stop trying to make sense out of the senseless. When things look out of whack, strange, or inconsistent, remember, ‘It’s ALWAYS the money. ALWAYS.’ I never forgot those words. Ever since, anytime something appears not to make sense, I tell myself, ‘It’s ALWAYS the money.’ Then every thing makes sense. Is that what we’re talking about here? You tell me.
Iowa is a great State and it is very capable of having one, unified, athletic organization that oversees high school sports. Maybe it’s time to start a new organization that is answerable to the people.
Sergeant Bluff Advocate 405-4th Street, P.O. Box 712 Sergeant Bluff, IA (51054) 712-943-2583