Skip to main content

In terms of getting a WIAA amendment passed that increased the amount of games in Washington high school boys and girls basketball, coaches thought the pendulum of odds-on support was swinging from halfcourt shot to uncontested layup.

And yet, the result was the same Monday - a clanking miss.

A year after an amendment-ratification missed narrowly by one vote, the margin of loss was wider in 2022.

(RELATED: Efforts to expand Washington high school baseball season failed. 'We heard every reason under the sun')

Last spring, the amendment proposal that would have allowed teams to utilize one of their 20 games to play in a multiple-game tournament garnered more approval votes (20) than rejection votes (14) by the WIAA representative assembly, made up of athletic and district administrators.

That result was met with a 58.8 percent approval rate; 60 percent was needed to ratify the amendment.

But in 2022, that same amendment proposal lost traction - 15 approval votes, as opposed to 20 rejection votes (42.9 percent approval rate), leaving many proponents flummoxed.

"I thought this year, things would be different," longtime Mark Morris boys basketball coach Bill Bakamus said. "Obviously not."

The voting results left even the amendment author searching for answers.

"I just don't understand," said Onalaska High School athletic director and former boys basketball coach Dennis Bower. "It (missed) by one vote last year. Now it's five. How did things change so much?"

Bower wondered out loud some possible factors, ranging from change in athletic administration leadership to post-COVID wear and tear on athletic budgets and game management staffing.

"Last year, did we get a little grace (from voters) because of COVID when kids did not get to play?" Bower said.

So, what's the next step?

Bakamus said that basketball coaches need to stay persistent.

"The amendment was well-written ... and Dennis did a good of presenting it," Bakamus said. "I am optimistic at some point in time, people will se the benefit of it - and that it is good for kids, and good for the fan base."

Joe Marsh, the longtime girls coach at Arlington High School, agrees.

"I thought it was a no-brainer that it would pass," Marsh said. "I hope we get over the hump."

Which amendments passed?

  • AMENDMENT NO. 1 (passed, 40-13): The WIAA state map will shrink from nine to six districts by consolidating the three eastern Washington districts — Districts 6, 7 and 8. The east region will maintain its same number of WIAA Executive Board seats. The amendment goes into effect in the 2024-25 school year.
  • AMENDMENT NO. 2 (passed, 50-2): WIAA Representative Assembly members no longer have the option of voting "no position," citing a desire from member schools to know definitive results on proposed changes and concerns around the optics that a "no position" vote can be perceived as a "no."
  • AMENDMENT NO. 4 (passed, 52-1): Students can retain the full number of practices previously completed after returning from an extended absence, allowing athletes a quicker return to play. When the rule requiring athletes to log a certain number of practices before becoming eligible to return was waived during the COVID-19-condensed 2021 seasons with support from the Medical Aspects of Sports Committee, there were no reports of increased injuries.
  • AMENDMENT NO. 5 (passed, 34-19): Students' academic standing at the end of one school year can effect their eligibility in the next — but the punishment has been lightened in hopes to increase participation. A student that fails to meet grade requirements during the second or third trimesters of a school year will be placed on academic probation at the start of the fall sports season. Authors of the amendment argued the change makes academic punishments equitable across the sport seasons and that many fall athletes would rather quit than serve a five-week suspension. 

(Featured file photo by Vince Miller)