Leadership is hard. This is a truth most of us realize but don’t truly think about often. When you are in a leadership position, you must try to make choices that you think are best, all the while knowing that they will be second guessed by others without the same knowledge you have in the decision-making process.
I think about the decisions many leaders have had to make over the last several months and I am not envious of the scrutiny they have been under.
It is with this in mind that I am cautiously critical of one of the North Carolina High School Athletic Association’s latest decisions. Just this past week, the NCHSAA decided to remove a game from the football regular season starting in the fall of 2021.
This would move the season from 11 to 10 games. At this point, I’m on board because an 11-game regular season is the most in the country. Most states play 10 games. However, the NCHSAA added a stipulation.
One of our home games every other year must be an “endowment game” for the Association. This means the majority of gate proceeds is given to the NCHSAA to add to their endowment fund. I have been struggling to find the logic in this decision.
Previously, the 11th game was the game designated for endowment, so member schools still were able to have five home games for gate revenue, or 10 games in two years. Now we will be cut to nine in two years. That may seem like a small amount, but it makes it very hard to plan budgets year to year with the inequity in years.
In addition, the NCHSAA has stated they will add an additional round to the playoffs. When you pair these two decisions together, it becomes even more puzzling. If we cut our regular season by a week because we think the season is too long, but we add another week to the playoffs, it sends a contradictory message.
The state also gets a large portion of the playoff gates. Currently that is 15 percent for rounds one through three, 25 percent for round four and 60 percent for the state championship. If (the NCHSAA) adds another round at 15 percent, then they have now added an additional way for them to make money without actually decreasing the number of potential games for playoff teams.
When both of these decisions seem to favor the NCHSAA budget before other considerations for its membership, it is not a good look for the Association and leads to distrust and conflict with member schools.
As I said, leadership is hard. One of the hardest things is realizing and admitting that what you thought was a good idea actually isn’t. I’ll be the first to say that I’ve had my share of these situations through the years as a head coach.
However, you owe it to the people you lead to acknowledge the situation and do your best to make it right. This is one coach who hopes that the NCHSAA recognizes how this negatively affects their membership and has the courage to change.
Bryan Till is in his fourth season as the head football coach at Richmond Senior High School.
