City of Basketball Love

Joseph Santoliquito (@JSantoliquito)
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PHILADELPHIA — It’s a war that has been waged for some time now: Should the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA), the governing body of state high school sports, make the split between boundary and non-boundary schools (public vs. private/charter schools)?

Recently, it is a movement that has once again reached the political realm in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, when on May 12, in Harrisburg, Rep. Scott Conklin (D-Centre County) introduced House Bill 41, to reform the current PIAA playoff system, stating that it jeopardizes the health and safety of public school athletes.

“The current system isn’t just putting public school athletes at a disadvantage, it’s endangering their health and safety,” Conklin said in a press release. “It’s forcing students from public schools, which must recruit from within district boundaries, to compete against students from private schools, which can recruit from anywhere and amass teams that are larger and stronger.

“The system is also depriving public school students of scholarship and recruitment opportunities and teaching them the wrong lessons. K-12 sports are supposed to be about building confidence and reinforcing concepts of fair play and good sportsmanship. We can’t be doing that with a system that puts some students on an unlevel playing field before they even walk out onto the field.”

In 1972, Pennsylvania legislators signed House Bill 2104 Act 219 into Pennsylvania law, authorizing private schools to participate with public schools in postseason athletic events. House Bill 41 (lists basketball and football) only gives the PIAA the option to separate boundary schools with non-boundary schools in postseason play. It may ultimately be up to the PIAA Board of Directors to make the decision to make the split.

When asked about this very topic in December 2018, PIAA executive director Dr. Robert Lombardi said, “We want a true state championship, where the best face the best. I believe in our competition formula. It’s worked. Our transfer rules have worked. You have to go back before 1972 when it was ‘public only.’ (Act 219) changed that. Separating the schools goes against the legislative intent of that.”

This is at least the fourth time Rep. Conklin has bought this topic up to the House. In the past, PIAA attorneys have shot down separate playoffs behind the law based on Act 219.

City of Basketball Love reached out to numerous prominent coaches in the area on their opinion on the most recent debate about the boundary/non-boundary split.

It falls along party lines: The Catholic League and charter school coaches could care less who they play, though they are in favor of the current system, while many of the public school coaches feel that it is about time a separation takes place between boundary and non-boundary schools, like they have in New Jersey, under the NJSIAA, which has a Non-Public A and Non-Public B format based on school enrollment for the private and charter schools, and Group 1, 2, 3, and 4, based on school enrollment for the public schools.

In 2003, the Philadelphia Public League joined the PIAA. The Philadelphia Catholic League followed in 2008.

In Pennsylvania, under the current PIAA format, basketball has 12 state champions, boys and girls Class 1A through Class 6A, based on school enrollment. This past season, four public school teams won state titles (including District 1 champion Perkiomen Valley in 6A) and two non-boundary schools (including Catholic League champion Neumann-Goretti in 4A) in girls’ basketball, while five non-boundary schools — including an all-time high four from the Philadelphia Catholic (West Catholic in 3A, Devon Prep in 4A, Neumann-Goretti in 5A and Father Judge in 6A) — won on the boys side.

“And that’s the problem right there, it’s a District 12 and Catholic League thing,” said Roman Catholic coach Chris McNesby, a three-time state champion. “We’re willing to do anything the PIAA wants. We don’t make the rules. The PIAA invited us in knowing that we are schools that have to draw students from other areas to stay open. The family of these kids pay to go here. We have always played within the rules. I enjoy playing all the great public teams around the state.

"If they want to adjust the rules, we’ll adjust. They are trying to fix rules that have been implemented years ago. I would get it if we went to a Jersey model.

“There is no hiding behind Catholic League and charter schools getting kids from other areas. We understand that. We currently have a true state championship playoff system. To me, it’s like a bar of soap, the more you mess with it, the less you have. Maybe the PIAA is trying to appease other areas of the state that aren’t having the kind of success that the Catholic League is having. Philadelphia is the biggest city in the state, and we are going to be the most prominent. I see how we can be a target.”

Neuman-Goretti coach Andrea Peterson, a six-time state champion, agrees. She, too, likes the current system, but she also has no problem if there is a split.

“I really don’t care, the ball goes in the basket the same way, I would play the Monstars (from Space Jam) if I could,” she said. “No one said a word when we lost to a really good Wyomissing team the last two years (in the PIAA playoffs). Kids have to pay to come here. I really do not care what the (PIAA) decides to do. But what are we really teaching here? Does everyone deserve a trophy?

“When we play a great team like Westtown, my pregame talk to my players is about finding a way to beat them. They can divide it up all they want, who then can say they are the best team in the state? People are so worried about boundary and non-boundary, but you have teams in the PIAA state playoffs that aren’t as good as St. Joe’s Prep, which was the best team in the best league in the country for most of the season, and they were not even in the state playoffs.

“How fair is that?”

The legendary Gregg Downer, winner of over 700 games at Lower Merion, three PIAA state championships and the last District 1 boys’ team to win a state title, is in favor of the split.

“It’s been long overdue,” he said. “It’s fair and other states have had success with it. The time is right to do it. What we have currently has produced too many inequities. I don’t know what the perfect model is. This legislation may be moving in the right direction, and we will have a bunch of separate champions. It’s done this way in New Jersey and Maryland, to my understanding. It works there. It can work here. I’m just looking for an even playing field. I will play anyone. That’s never been a problem. My drawing pool is Lower Merion. It’s just a different set of rules we're under as to what rules the Catholic League and charters play.”

Plymouth Whitemarsh coach Jim Donofrio, another Hall of Famer in the same realm as Downer with over 500 career victories and a state championship, is also in favor of a split. He feels the private and charter schools have a “bigger playground” to draw from than the boundary-restricted public schools.

He feels there is a different set of standards he is under than the private and charter schools.

“The PIAA has had such a hard time with this over the last 10 years and they keep putting big band aids on it, but the intensity has grown on this subject,” he said. “I am in favor of the split, but how do you do it in Pennsylvania? You have to go way back to 2013 when Gregg (Downer) was the last District 1 team to win a state title. That was 12 years ago.

“I will play anyone. I have had some great teams and I have another good team coming up. Gregg will play anyone and always produces great teams. But the Catholic League teams, and I have the utmost respect for that league, and their great coaches, does not deal with the same limitations we have to deal with. We have to deal with the hands that we are dealt. I can’t just go out and grab a kid from somewhere. It’s why I find it funny anytime a kid transfers into an area like Lower Merion or Plymouth-Whitemarsh, people would raise hell if it’s me or Gregg. I am looking for a fair balance. Still, if someone wants to go to a certain public school and transfer, there is a major upheaval. They have to uproot their lives.

“You can go to St. Joe’s Prep to play football from three states. How fair is that? No one cares. No one seems to blink an eye over that. Hey, it’s a great school. It’s a great program. I see why kids go there. But I would like some Vegas odds on the next District 1 team to win a state championship in the next 20 years. To me, it’s why the district title is like a state title. I feel my team has a shot next year. We’re playing for a state title. I know what I have back. I don’t know about somewhere else, where suddenly someone comes from nowhere making them a better team. It’s not an even playing field. That’s all I want. I’m going against teams that have the boundaries of three states. They have a much bigger backyard.”

Sankofa Freedom coach Isaiah Thomas, the At-Large Philadelphia city council member and the President of the Philadelphia Public League Coaches Association, asked several people what they thought about House Bill 41.  

“We already have a bunch of things that divide us when it comes to sports,” said Thomas, who guided Sankofa to the 2019 Class 1A state title. “I understand the bill sponsor has good intentions, but I don’t know if this is the best time for the bill, where we are even more divided as far as the athletic space. I can’t speak for the entire commonwealth, so I can’t be critical of the sponsor of the bill, but I haven’t had much dialogue of people who are in favor of it. There are people who have been indifferent, like ‘I don’t care, just do what you have to do.’

“People think increasing the number of classifications would address some of the same issues. What happens if some of those issues, which I am unsure what they are, will continue to move us in a way that divides us or keep us united? That’s my biggest concern.”

Imhotep Charter coach Andre Noble, owner of over 500 career victories, 10 state championships, four-straight Philadelphia Public League and District 12 titles, and an all-time Philadelphia Public League high 13 championships in the last 16 years, agrees with the Catholic League coaches: He will play anyone, it does not matter if a split takes place or not.

Noble is aware of the House Bill 41. He will still play a national schedule. Nothing will change.

As for the split … “I don’t care,” Noble said. “I will play anyone. This system is the one we know. I wanted to play up to 6A for years. I really enjoyed playing 6A this past year. I want to play the best. It’s why we constantly challenge our players here. But our teams and student/athletes are almost harassed on social media about the private/public, boundary/non-boundary thing. That is what I don’t like. Whatever they do with the state playoffs, it will not move what we do. We’re still going to try and be the best we can be.”

Chris Roantree, the newly minted coach of 6A state champion Father Judge, is not in favor of a split, because, he feels, it will water down the integrity of the state title.

“This (House Bill 41) is targeting Philadelphia,” Roantree said, bluntly. “It’s pretty obvious. Look where the talent is coming from. District 12 and the Philadelphia Catholic League dominate state basketball and people across the state don’t like it. When I was building this program, it’s kind of funny no one said anything about Father Judge basketball before that. I understand what it is. We’ll play anyone. I think you can talk to anyone in the Catholic League. They have the same attitude. It’s why we’re the best league in the state. The PIAA could do what it wants. I’m obviously in favor of the current system.

“Logistically, how would they split it up? It’s already a very long season now. You’re dealing with young people. We might be talking about another layer of playoffs. Pennsylvania has the best against the best, where you have great pub teams like PW and Lower Merion, but there is a talent gap with the rest of the state. They could split it up anyway they want, Philadelphia has the talent. The split would water down the value of being a state champion. If you’re a competitor, you want to play the best. If you have a really good program, your local kids will want to stay there.”

Cardinal O’Hara coach Chrissie Doogan, who has won three state titles and is also O’Hara’s athletic director, agrees with Roantree, McNesby, and Peterson, that House Bill 41 is aiming at District 12. She brings up the point Perkiomen Valley winning this season’s PIAA Class 6A championship and she maintains wanting to play the best teams in the state. She also brought up the fact O’Hara lost this season to a very good boundary-school team, Garnet Valley, 49-43, in the PIAA Class 6A state quarterfinals.

She thinks that House Bill 41 has an extreme longshot of passing.

“They don’t want the Catholic League in there, that’s what this is about,” Doogan said. “There is a misconception across the state that all our kids are recruited. My basketball team are traditional feeder-school kids. I know the boy’s side is different. The rest of the state doesn’t like us. As a coach, I would hope that they don’t pass this. We want to play the best in the state.”  

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Joseph Santoliquito is an award-winning sportswriter based in the Philadelphia area who began writing for CoBL in 2021 and is the president of the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be followed on BlueSky here.