AHSAA botched handling of 6 games
Kyle Senkbeil knew from the start there was really no chance the Alabama High School Athletic Association would replay six state semifinal basketball games after it was discovered the goals were about 3 feet too far on the court.
However, the petition Senkbeil started March 2 after those six games had been played demanded the AHSAA replay the games so that the athletes on six teams involved would have the chance to compete “… on a fair court, not a broken one.”
Later that week, the Red Bay citizen acknowledged his demands were an unlikely probability. What he really hoped was the petition would serve as a call to action the athletic association could not ignore.
“Ideally,” Senkbeil said on March 6, “we’ll hear from the AHSAA with a clear explanation of what happened and what procedures exist for situations like this. … Organizations that carry that kind of responsibility also have a duty to evaluate situations like this and ask how processes can be strengthened moving forward.”
In short, what he most wanted was an acceptance of accountability by the athletic association.
Nine days later he had still gotten nothing in return — no acknowledgement of error, no explanation of how the problem occurred, and no plan going forth to ensure it doesn’t happen again in next year’s state championship tournament.
In fact, the athletic association hasn’t even reached out to Senkbeil concerning his petition. And when the Franklin County Times reached out by email and texts to Director of Communications Ron Ingram on March 6 and asked him directly if the AHSAA was aware of the petition, its claims or demands, Ingram failed to answer the question.
He did provide a statement by AHSAA Executive Director Heath Harmon: “It was brought to my attention that the goals might need to be checked. I … had both goals checked and adjusted as needed. The games continued after a short delay.”
For the record, that short delay was at least an hour.
More importantly, there’s been no explanation of how the state’s governing high school athletic association, which has put on these state basketball championships since February 1921, could in the 105th year of hosting such tournaments suddenly not know where to properly place the goals.
Red Bay High head basketball coach John Torisky took the high road after the goal adjustments were made following his team’s 34-32 loss to LaFayette in the Class 2A semifinal at Legacy Arena in Birmingham. While the loss was a hard pill to swallow, he noted he didn’t feel his team was cheated out of anything. Since both teams played on the same court, they were equally impacted, he said.
However, he was quick to add the AHSAA should be held accountable for what happened.
“I wish the state would have done a better job of communicating their mistake and apologizing to the teams that the court was not up to the standards it should have been,” Torisky said.
“When you’re a coach, you’re held to a high standard and held accountable when you make a mistake. You would think they (AHSAA) would be held to a higher standard as well, but I guess not.”
That lack of accountability is a serious problem for the AHSAA. Mistakes happen, but the unwillingness of the state’s high school athletic association to officially acknowledge its problems and lay out plans to ensure those problems don’t occur again sets a troubling precedent for an agency that demands accountability from its membership schools.
“Transparency is important when questions like this arise,” Senkbeil told the Franklin County Times.
He’s right. The teams, coaches, fans and public deserved a better and a more timely explanation of the AHSAA’s botched handling of those six semifinal games.
