Personally, I thought the lawsuit that forced the MHSAA to bring volleyball and girls basketball seasons into line with the rest of the country was of dubious merit. Nevertheless, pretty much every federal court judge who heard it thought otherwise. Fair enough.
Well, the MHSAA is now crying again about how the realigned system is stretching facilities, never mind that the rest of the country seems to make it work, including a handful of other states that have had similar season realignments in recent years (Virginia, West Virginia, and both Dakotas, if I recall correctly). One "solution" they are tossing around: a five season schedule. Yes, you read that right, instead of the typical three season alignment used pretty much everywhere else, a five season one.
This idea is beyond bad. First of all, you once again have girls and boys basketball in different seasons (girls finals would be in late February, boys the start of May. March Madness(TM) my ass.), which likely would open up the MHSAA to another expensive lawsuit they will lose.
Secondly, this is going to absolutely kill baseball and softball. Michigan's diamond sports season (due to a Mother Nature-enforced late start) already stretches in to what really should be Summer ball time. If you push back the end of the season two weeks, I can't help but think that the best kids are going to have to choose either high school ball or their travel team, and as is already the case with hockey and to a lesser extend soccer, they are going to choose the latter.
The MHSAA needs to realize that AAU-type events, despite their negatives, and there are plenty, are now the primary way for a student athlete aiming for a scholarship to garner attention from college coaches. In addition to the aforementioned issues with baseball and softball, the proposed schedule conflicts with national wrestling competitions, and likely conflicts with track, girls tennis, and boys golf events as well. Trying to maximize participation is a good thing, yes, but doing it in a way that only weakens the overall product serves nobody's best interest.
Make the current schedule work.
