Friday, May 8, 2020

MHSAA Releases Changes heading into the 2020-2021 School Year.

Written Friday May 8th at 11:15 AM

The MHSAA representative council met on Friday which the league announced several changes heading into the 2020-2021 school year.

In hockey, the league will use the MPR format which is the Michigan Power Rankings and require all coaches to wear certified helmets while on the ice or for games.

In baseball, the league will adopt a suspended game policy in which if a game gets called in regulation or tied is suspended with play picking up right where they left off. If both schools agree that a game is called prior to regulation then they can replay the game and start from scratch.

In football, the league approved that the running clock would extend to 50 points if the score gets that far. The 35 point clock rule will still be employed for the second half. Players have allowed schools 15 summer dates of non-contact (helmets only.) Seven may be used for seven on seven competition.

In tennis, the league approved the use of CoOp programs but they limited to under 3,500 students.

For the playoff bracket the Michigan Power Rankings or MPR that determined the top two seeds last season now whoever are the top two seeds will get byes into the semifinals. This will apply for basketball, soccer, and hockey. The rest of the field will be based on a random draw.

Also coaches and athletes who are ejected from games will be required to take an online sportsmanship course from the National Federation of State High School Association before returning to competition.

The representative council agreed to waive the dead period this summer in wake of the coronavirus pandemic. Also they waived the requirements to student-athletes who got their physical last year and allow athletic directors to request a waiver for student-athletes to wear their competition uniforms during school events recognizing the 2020 class.

Thoughts

The biggest change to me is the playoff format and that now hockey is being included in the MPR discussion. I think that the top seeds getting byes makes the most sense especially hearing the complaints from a few coaches that the seeded teams had to play on the opening night.

I was surprised that volleyball wasn’t discussed in the MPR format. It would had been very interesting if they were doing their tournament by the MPR.

Probably one of the most interesting changes is the fact that athletes can play more than four quarters in a football game in a week and more than four quarters during a day for basketball. There are some schools that don't have the numbers to field teams. It will be interesting how this would pan out.

We shall see what happens.

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I have highest function of autism (Asperger Syndrome.) I'm a huge Dallas Stars fan. I like to play and watch football, especially when the Dragons play on Friday nights. I am a 2006 alum and used to play football for the Dragons. I ran track, I ran the 100, 200, 400 meter dashes along with shot-put and discus. During my time in Orion I was a manager for Junior Varsity Boys Basketball team. I'm the volleyball, girls basketball, and football announcer for the team and do the book on the road for girls basketball. I do the clock for volleyball in the fall along with girls basketball in the winter and announce some boys basketball games as well. In the spring I coach shot-put at Scripps Middle School, in my fifth season coaching. I run the shot-put for high school meets. I played Special Olympics Basketball, I've won three gold medals for them. I host "Between Taorminas" which is on ONTV along with a podcast called "OAA Now". In other various things outside of Lake Orion, I love to jet ski over Saginaw Bay. Saginaw Bay is basically my life. I'm a trained weather spotter for the National Weather Service for Oakland and Huron counties.