Competitive equity for OSSAA member schools delayed once again

   Prior to the 2012 Oklahoma high school sports seasons - the member schools of the Oklahoma Secondary Schools Activities Association (OSSAA) determined that competitive equity during competition between schools was nonexistent. Most member schools believed the 'playing field' was tilted in the favor of those schools which had specific structural advantages such as the ability to offer scholarships and restrict enrollment. In order to promote competitive equity within OSSAA competition for all sports, the OSSAA directors appointed an eighteen member committee to study the issue and construct a plan which would eventually 'level the playing field' for member schools. Nine committee members were administrators from those schools which restrict enrollment and/or provide scholarships to athletes, and nine members were from schools which cannot restrict enrollment and/or provide financial incentives to athletes.
   The Competitive Equity Committee eventually settled on Rule 14, which was to solve the 'level playing field' problem. The Rule required those schools which fit a specified 'success' criteria involving several factors, to advance one enrollment based classification level. For instance, a school participating in class 2A sports would advance to class 3A when all criteria were met. Many member schools at the time believed Rule 14 would fail in its intended purpose. Even several of the Committee members believed it would fail miserably, but said at the time that "It's the best we could do."
   Rule 14 subsequently was implemented for the 2012 high school sports seasons, so we can now take a look at the data to analyze the effectiveness of the Rule - for high school football. The data from the 2011 football season (one year prior to implementation of Rule 14) can be compared to the data from the 2019 season (eight years into the Rule). Since 'success' is determined by the OSSAA as 'placing in the top eight' in post-season competition, we may study the 'success data' from the 2011 and 2019 football seasons for those schools which qualified for advancement under Rule 14:

                                2011                                                        2019
Class Final 8    Semis      Finals         Final 8      Semis      Finals     Champ.   
5A:   1)Kelly                                        1)Kelly      Kelly
                                                              2)E.Prep
                                                              3)McG.      McG.      McG.
4A:   1)McG.                                        no criteria schools                                         
3A:   1) Metro                                      1)H.Hall    H. Hall 
         2) Cascia  Cascia   Cascia       2)Lincoln  Lincoln   Lincoln   Lincoln
         3) H. Hall   H.Hall
 2A:  1) Lincoln                                    1)Metro     Metro     Metro     Metro
 A                                                           1)Rejoice  Rejoice
 B                                                           1)Regent   Regent    Regent
 C                                                           1)Covenant

   The data indicates that six separate 'criteria' schools made the final eight in 2011 with three advancing to the semis and one advancing to the finals. The 2019 data indicates that nine 'criteria' schools made the top eight, seven advanced to the semis with four advancing to the finals and two state champions. Very simply - Rule 14 has been a total bust for leveling the playing field!
   One may notice that as several Rule 14 'criteria' schools became affected in 2012, they actually improved their success level. For example, Lincoln Christian was eliminated in the quarterfinals of class 2A football in 2011, but was a state champion in 2019 for class 3A. Metro Christian School was eliminated in the 2011 quarterfinals, but restricted its enrollment enough to win the class 2A State Title in 2019. Heritage Hall was eliminated in the 2011 class 3A semifinals but still eventually advanced to class 4A as a 'criteria' school several years later where it won several state titles. It then restricted its enrollment enough to be a class 2A school, but advanced to class 3A on criteria where it was eliminated in the state semifinals in 2019. All this restricting makes my head spin. Bishop McGuinness was eliminated in the class 4A quarterfinals in 2011, advanced to class 5A because of either increased enrollment or 'criteria', where it was eliminated in the class 5A finals in 2019.
   Another competitive equity committee was appointed early in 2019 to once again come up with a solution to the problem. It was composed of four traditional public school officials and four 'restrictive' school officials. The committee decided that Rule 14 has been inneffective for leveling the playing field in only two sports (volleyball and tennis). They provided data which indicated that Rule 14 has been effective for promoting competitive equity in all other sports. The committee cited that the same approximate number of state titles were won by 'criteria' schools in the eight years previous to the implementation of Rule 14 as in the eight years after implementation. By many members accounts, their analysis is both invalid and unreliable. At any rate, the OSSAA executives believe that many non-restrictive school officials are citing data such as that above - based on 'emotions'. They have stated as much. These disparaging comments were made in both OKC and Tulsa area meetings.
   I believe Joe Van Tuyl has a very workable plan which is fair to both restrictive enrollment schools and non-restrictive schools. If you don't already have a copy of the plan, you may request one from Jim Beckham or Joe Van Tuyl, and we'll be happy to send you one.