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The Scandals of the WIAA

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wasports

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Jan 7, 2011
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The week has revealed publicaly what many coaches have been saying for several years. The WIAA continues to ignore the rules and ethics. The Rainer Beach scandal will play out this next week as will what's left of what used to be a state tournament involving the best teams in the state.
The WIAA must answer some serious ethics questions from the coaches, if not from the state attorney general.
The revelation involving the financial windfall associated with the RB decision demands more answers as well as a deeper look into the past dealings of the WIAA. The coaches and the athletic directors that have been passive in the past and "trusting" of the WIAA and their decisions need to pull there head out of the sand. It's a good ol' boys club in Renton that is determining the faight of your programs and more impotantly, your student athletes,

W ithout
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This post was edited on 3/2 9:08 AM by wasports
 
I wrote a goodbye email to the ScoreCzar who is canceling his great work on high school sports in Washington. Part of his frustration is the WIAA who just refuses to take input from Coaches on how to make the tournament better. A perfect example is Prairie winning the bi-district and their reward is facing Blanchet while the school that Prairie beat by 20 gets a matchup with Ferndale. I wrote a letter to Cindy Adsit asking if they had considered some of the suggestions by coaches around the state. I know that there stance is that they ignore polls even though the polls have been a pretty good indicator of who are the top teams that will do well at state. Okay, fine but could you at least look at the body of work for a school. Wouldn't it have made sense to just switch up the games and let Prairie play Ferndale and Wilson play Blanchet. Do you want a better tournament or not. They complain about dwindling attendance yet do nothing to insure a momentum build up to the finals. I am pretty much done with the tournament. I told her that and her response was "sorry to see you go". Drawing names out of a hat has kind of passed away in every state but Washington when it comes to setting up a state tournament.

Letting Rainier Beach play in this tournament is just another indicator of the power Mike Colbrese and the WIAA hold over high school sports. I used to be a real supporter and defender of the WIAA. I now know that that support was not warranted.

As far as last nights game went, Blanchet played a heck of a game. They were on fire from the 3 point line and matched that with great defense and great ball movement. Prairie dug a big hole of 18 points, cut it to 4, missed a couple opps, and Blanchet hit another three. The rest of the difference in the score was the usual closing foul shots. Prairie made a great game out of it but they just were outplayed by a very good Blanchet team. I wish them well.
 
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I wonder what would happen if a few 100 tshirts were worn at Tacoma Dome on Thursday with the above plastered on front and back. I am guessing they would come up with some reason to show you the door.

Betcha anything that Rainier Beach had to agree to share the wealth with the WIAA before that got approval on this tournament travel. The gentleman from Scoreczar mentioned that the WIAA's answer to dwindling attendance was, wait for it, raise ticket prices.
 
breaking news:

http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20140301/BLOG18/140309875/State-coaches-association-blasts-WIAA-for-regional-format
 
breaking news:

read the letter sent to the WIAA from the coaches association that was sent to the WIAA after the final regional game last night @ heraldnet
 
Maybe I missed something... what is so bad about letting Rainier Beach play in a national tournament? How does it affect anyone outside them? I think it's cool a team from Washington is getting the nod to play in such a tourney. Or is there something I'm missing?

Also, with the Prairie thing, it is frustrating but the world keeps spinning. The Prairie girls will be back next year. Regardless of the outcome, I am very proud of the Falcons team and how far they progressed this year. They seemed to struggle at the beginning, but really put on a show and stepped up their play in districts to beyond what I thought they would accomplish given their young team.

This was a statement season that says Prairie girls basketball is NOT done. It's just a new beginning. I look for Cherita Daugherty to step up and be the big gun for Prairie next year. She (along with the entire Prairie squad) has improved so much JUST this year.

Well done, Prairie. The WIAA screwed ya, what's new. But you should still be proud of this year.
 
Hats off to the young Falcons. Nothing to be ashamed of for sure. The drive is there and they will continue to move forward.

As for the RB decision, it's not about wether they play or not, it's about the WIAA claiming that the coaches associations are always involved in the creation of the criteria and decisions, and then it's disclosed that indeed they have not been i.e. the Rainer beach decision.

The WBICA has been repeatably disrespected by the WIAA (ie: the format mess) so they took this high profile situation to publicaly call them on it.

The time line of how this all unfolded is suspect as well.

The lack of Transparency (to the coaches) of the RB request speaks volumes and demands a thorough investigation.

And we just thought that they were just too stupid to fill out a 16 team bracket.

That's just the tip of the ice burg folks. If you think that the 10k was all that was going to be headed to Renton, you are naive. That was a token

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And the shirts are available on eBay....

This post was edited on 3/2 10:48 AM by wasports
 
Hock, I think it is great that Rainier Beach gets to go to that tournament and I was all in with Bellevue heading to Texas, but guess what, they do not allow other schools to add games to their schedule without eliminating another game. Giving RB the right to play after the season is over has never been done before.

Nothing should be in stone, this is high school kids state tournament, it does not belong to the WIAA. Mike Colbrese did a radio interview presented by The Herald Net and when asked about the 8 team version at the Tacoma Dome, he admitted that they were not losing money on the old format, they just weren't making enough.

It was suggested that the money for the Regional tournaments held at high schools and CC around the state be used to help schools with travel expenses. Nope, it all goes to the WIAA and that same WIAA was selling t-shirts, sweatshirts at those events and all that money went to the WIAA.

My understanding is that this association is a non profit organization and I would love to see the salaries of all running this organization. The coaches sent out this open letter to the WIAA right after the very last Regional game was played. They are not happy with the way things are being run with the WIAA. I would be in favor of them starting a new organization and leaving this one behind.

As the gentleman at Scoreczar told me yesterday, these are once in a lifetime events for many high school kids and their fans. Why not try and make it better. How about taking the advice of the coaches around the state who were apart of this open letter. Take your head out of the sand and quit thinking about the WIAA. Your focus is in the wrong place.
 
Questions to WIAA last week:
The NCAA always pairs high and low seeds together, why don't you?
Cindy: this is not the NCAA(they are much smarter than the NCAA)

Are your pairings fair and consistent?
Cindy: Yes and absolutely

Conclusion: clueless, errogant and corrupt
 
Interesting. I was aware of some of the troubles with the WIAA but knew very little of this situation and these problems. I've been outta the loop, I suppose! But then again, WIAA problems aren't exactly a new thing. You kind of wonder if it's time to clean house in WIAA and refresh some of the upper level staff?
 
There are many who think that the WIAA executive members have been more concerned with maintaining their salaries than they have on doing what is best for high school sports in the state of Washington. It was a very bold and telling move by the coaches association to send this letter to the WIAA the night before the tournament brackets were finalized.
 
The declaration by Colbrese to donate the $10000 to a charity is a diversion.
The WIAA has been very much on the defensive which indicates weakness. Should make for an eventful week.
 
A look into what the WIAA has been making a priority. Their focus has not been on the ball.
One other note, during the January meeting the WIAA DENIED a request from the Puyallup HS baseball team to play beyond the season in 2015.
And just 3 weeks later, they grant RB permission to do the very same thing. A fun fact: WIAA was to receive $10k for the RB decision. Puyallup needs to SHOW MIKE THE MONEY!


http://www.wiaa.com/ConDocs/Con528/January%202014/Attachment%201-Healthy%20Culture%20Strategic%20Plan%202014.pdf
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This post was edited on 3/3 10:23 PM by wasports

This post was edited on 3/4 11:02 AM by wasports
 
hey, one thing I have to mention about the Prairie Blanchet game. Nicole Goecke tried so hard, especially in the last few minutes, to not make this her last game for Prairie High School. I felt really bad for her. She fouled out near the end of the game, walked off the court, and took a sit at the end of the bench. And it was just over and that was written all over her face. That girl is going to do well in life.
 
I watched a little of the selection show and you could just tell that there was not quite the same confidence in the faces of Cindy Adsit and Mike Colbrese. They were trying too hard and knew they were in front of a hostile group of coaches albeit the ones who did make it to state.
 
The complaint issued by the coaches last week has opened the floodgates of information regarding the actions of this fine organization.
As we know, the reasoning behind reducing State to 8 teams was originally financial.
There are some indications now that the WIAA may have capped the sponsorships to support their mirage.
A statement by the director lately seams to support this new information. It's unfathumable to understand their goals.
 
Here is a cut and paste of an email I wrote to another fan in this state:

It seems like some of the folks up North have some great ideas on how to make this tournament better and more profitable. But, of course, Mike Colbrese always has a reason why something will not work. Coach Sood who just wanted to know how much money is needed to make up the difference so that we can return to the 16 team tournament was given excuses without answers. Coaches said let us try and get more sponsors to help with this. Oh no, that would hurt the high profile of the current sponsors. Yeah, that makes sense to protect them. They want to be completely protected perhaps they should kick in a little more. You mean sponsorship couldn't be structured so that there are major and minor sponsors.

I was thinking about this sponsor thing and how easy it would be to raise any moneys needed. Here are a list of additional sponsors that could be solicited for various size donations:

Boeing
Amazon
Weyerhaeuser
Microsoft
Bill Gates
Steve Balmer
Jeff Bezos
Adobe Systems
Fred Meyer
Bank of America
Nordstrom

I think each and everyone one of these companies or individuals could find reasons why support of high school sports in the state of Washington would be good for them. The size of the money needed from each would really be very small when you consider the resources of each.
 
The irony of all this is that the sponsors that he is referring to would be appalled to know that this was the attitude of this organization.
To restrict opportunity of the student athletes and the unfair enviroment that it creates would be a deal breaker. The RB debacle may have opened a can of worms of unintended consequences.
Stay tuned, as the weekend is sure to produce stars.
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The Hardcourt may be turning into a series of blowouts in most classifications. Certainly another indicator that the current format may not better than the current NCAA format as suggested by the WIAA.

First Round Average Margins of Victory with the change from the last 16-team 2011-12 season on the right:
4a Girls: 15 -2
4a Boys: 17 +5
3a Girls: 19 +6
3a Boys: 16 +1
2a Girls: 14 +4
2a Boys: 12 +2
1a Girls: 18 +3
1a Boys: 12 +2

AMV of 1st round: 15pts
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This post was edited on 3/7 9:41 AM by wasports
 
The infamous WIAA format that actually promotes the option to loose was successfull today in producing a trophy.
If it's hard to understand the meaning of this statement, you probably have a Seattle (or Renton) zip code
 
Beach narrowly escapes a defeat by EC. Guessing the WIAA was on the EC bench as a loss by Beach would have basically baled them out of the extended season decision. 3 fouls called on RB's leading scorer in the 1st quarter, just a coincidence?

This post was edited on 3/9 3:00 PM by wasports
 
Surprisingly enough, or not, the WIAA confirmed post tournament that their decisions are "fair and consistent". All though on the defensive, they are still selling the belief that if they deny and ignore the critical issues long enough, they will go away. The Coaches associations may not fall in line this time. Time to refresh the picture of the executive board and recommit to their original mission statement.

This post was edited on 3/12 4:44 PM by wasports
 
Not knowing their coach personally, I would not want to suggest that.
Let's hope that wasn't the case. It would take a unique coach to pull that off without the players knowing as they would eventually spill the beans and would speak volumes about the integrity of the coach. It's almost criminal that the WIAA would put a coach in that position as it will always be in question, as it has become here.
For them to miss this possible scenario further validates their perspective on what is ethical.
Their main objective is obviously not running a legitimate tournament.

Bottom line is that Wilson extorted the failures of this organization, intentional or not.

This post was edited on 3/13 9:51 PM by wasports
 
With the recent decision by the WIAA to once again re-re-reverse their decision to classify the regional games as state games, they further exemplify their inability to be fair and consistent. It mimicks trying to follow a white rabbit in a snowstorm. The latest is a sign of either pandering to a specific team or the reiteration of their total incompetence of what a fair enviroment should be. If regional games are state games, wouldn't it be common sense to align the bracket prior to the sweet 16 round instead of after? I know it is unprecedented and borders on rocket science, but hey!

Regarding another fine example of fairness, Rainer Beach is in NY this week participating in a for profit tournament. One full month after their rules restrict all other teams in the state from practicing.

That's fair.

Without Integrity Athletic Association
 
I agree about the situation with the bracket. That was a very lackadaisical move. Their desire is weak. However, I still don't see what the big deal is about the Rainier Beach situation. Every other state lets teams compete. And they are representing our state among the nation's best. What does it hurt? Nothing and no one. But I guess we are just going to have to agree to disagree on that one.
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wasports the regional games have always been "state games". do not understand your statement that the wiaa has again changed that. please explain. thanks.
 
The RB situation is good for what you described. If the WIAA would establish some sort of consistency in their methodology, this would not have been an issue.
 
Ahh, okay. I was wondering what in particular about the situation was bugging you. That is understandable.
 
Members of the coaches association are miffed by the actions of this fine organization. It is the norm to look the other way on issues rather than to inquire with the WIAA. They have been shown time and again that they will be ignored. Coaches routinely warn against contacting the WIAA suggesting the possibility of retaliation. Hints of this lie in the ever changing direction of the organization.
Credible Policy and procedure must be implemented and accountability applied when not followed.
Unfortunately, as coaches will tell you, "don't hold your breath".
After all, as the WIAA has stated "this is not the NCAA ".
 
Not fun. Gotta roll with the punches I suppose. How could they avoid this without ranking teams? That would be unethical and would present an implied hierarchy. I'm all for it if we can find a better way but how can we fix this without implying that one district or one team is better than another?
 
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