FIELDER’S VOICE: Forget committees, let me realign the NIAA
As you should know by now, I’m all about finding good reasons not to go to class.
So I can’t let this one go by — especially when I can pass it off as work experience.
The Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association’s Board of Control will meet Wednesday and Thursday at Del Sol, and realignment is on the agenda again.
After the NIAA sent out a trial balloon in May of what realigning four classes into three might look like (and got a bunch of people at Basic, Del Sol, Legacy and Arbor View really ticked off), the board talked about realignment in June, but put it off for a year.
The NIAA is trying to cut costs by limiting travel (which isn’t really an issue in Las Vegas, but this is a state-wide thing. We can’t just think about one area, no matter if almost half of the schools are in it.), which is brutal in the three smaller classes.
The association is also trying to help the current Class 3A, which has only 10 schools, including just three from Southern Nevada.
From what the inner circle tells me (see, I’m connected), the board will form a committee to come up with a new proposed alignment and possibly vote on it on December or March.
That’s too much work. And I don’t like committees and meetings. Ick.
Fielder to the rescue.
I came up with a slightly different version of realignment that might keep a few more people happy.
Just for a refresher, the NIAA took 106 Nevada schools (OK, 101 Nevada schools and five California schools) and, instead of dividing them into four classes, put them into three divisions.
I’m not touching the small schools in Division III. The NIAA got most of that right. I might think about moving Needles up to Division II, but that’s it.
Division I had 30 teams, 20 from the South.
From Southern Nevada, Coronado, Desert Pines, Eldorado, Foothill, Green Valley, Las Vegas, Liberty, Rancho, Silverado and Valley were in the Sunrise Region of Division I. Bishop Gorman, Bonanza, Centennial, Cheyenne, Cimarron-Memorial, Durango, Palo Verde, Shadow Ridge, Sierra Vista and Spring Valley were in the Sunset Region.
Division II had 30 teams, 17 from the South.
Basic, Boulder City, Canyon Springs, Chaparral, Del Sol, Moapa Valley, Tech, Sunrise Mountain and Virgin Valley were in the Sunrise Region. Arbor View, Clark, Desert Oasis, Faith Lutheran, Legacy, Mojave, Pahrump Valley and Western made up the Sunset Region.
Some things really stick out here.
For starters, if there are eight, nine or 10 teams in a region, it’s really tough to have two leagues in that region. And that means in Division I, teams would have to play nine league games in football and 18 in basketball, which leaves little or no room for nonleague games, given the recently reduced game limits.
So not only have we split up league rivalries, we’ve also taken away many of the chances to play those games at all.
Basic not playing Green Valley in football? Can’t happen.
Foothill and Basic, which are separated by a good softball throw would almost never meet. That’s not right.
Look, high school sports in Nevada don’t get huge attendance numbers like in Texas and Florida and Indiana. There are some exceptions, like every time Moapa or Virgin Valley hosts something, the entire town comes out.
Splitting up the games people have cared about for years makes no sense if you’re trying to save money. Give us the games we want to see.
Arbor View, starting to hit its stride, doesn’t get to measure itself against the best? Not right either.
And yes, I know, there’s no perfect solution. But this is a slightly better one.
(And I also know this is the longest paper I’ve ever written — and I plan on turning it in for any class I can.)
We’ll stick with three divisions and keep Division III the way it is. Sorry, Sandy Valley and Lund, you’re stuck competing with schools that have a graduating class of more than 10.
In Division I, I’m bumping up four schools. Come on down, Arbor View, Legacy, Basic ... and Canyon Springs.
Yep, the Pioneers get in. Why? Because I like them. And because they’re usually more competitive in more sports than the rest of the viable options.
Why four schools? Because I’m creating two 12-team regions with two six-team leagues in each region.
That means you can play everyone in your league once in football and have a few nonleague games to schedule, one against a team in each of the other leagues and one against another rival. It also means you can play everyone twice in most other sports and still schedule games you want to play, even if they’re against teams from Division II.
In the Northwest, it’s Centennial, Cheyenne, Palo Verde, Shadow Ridge, Arbor View and Legacy.
In the Southwest (or the Gorman League as it might be known), it’s Gorman, Bonanza, Sierra Vista, Durango, Spring Valley and Cimarron. Sorry, Spartans, I had to move someone.
In the Northeast, Canyon Springs joins Desert Pines, Eldorado, Las Vegas, Rancho and Valley.
In the Southeast, Basic rejoins Liberty, Foothill, Silverado, Coronado and Green Valley.
Twenty-four teams, four six-team leagues. It’s as close as I can get to perfect.
Region playoffs can be done the way they are now. Too much change at once is never good (and it’s hard to carry it all in your pocket).
What does that leave for Division II?
Seven teams in the Sunrise Region and six in the Sunset, again good numbers for an actual league schedule.
In the Sunrise, Boulder City, Moapa Valley and Virgin Valley all stay together and are joined by Chaparral, Del Sol, Tech and Sunrise Mountain. By all rights, Del Sol should be awfully good in this setup.
In the Sunset, Faith Lutheran and Pahrump get back together and will face Clark, Desert Oasis, Mojave and Western. Every one of these schools has a legitimate shot to win the league in at least one sport. And that’s a good thing.
At some point, we have to account for how we might move teams up and down if they’re too good or fricking awful where they are now, but that’s another discussion, and I’m tired.
If you’re confused (and some of you probably are), don’t be. Write it all down on paper and see what it looks like and then yell at me when you don’t like it.
But one thing’s for certain. This plan seems to make some sense.
So there’s no chance it’ll ever be put into play.
If you happen to stumble past Del Sol on your way to the Home Depot on Wednesday, look for me. I’ll be the one with my nose pressed against the glass trying to get into the meeting.
