When the 56th annual Hawaii Interscholastic Athletic Directors Association conference starts on Monday, don’t expect the football super alliance between the OIA and ILH to be on the agenda — unless the two leagues are feeling generous.
When the 56th annual Hawaii Interscholastic Athletic Directors Association conference starts on Monday, don’t expect the football super alliance between the OIA and ILH to be on the agenda — unless the two leagues are feeling generous.
It’s been reported that a 10-team Open division would be comprised of three power ILH schools and seven OIA schools, and the top six in a nine-game regular season would advance to some sort of state tournament.
The news of that super alliance caught BIIF executive director Lyle Crozier by surprise because no one from the ILH or OIA informed him.
“The last time I talked to the OIA, Ray (Fujino, OIA executive director) told me the OIA voted it down,” Crozier said.
That doesn’t mean the super alliance is dead. All it takes is one proposal at the HIADA conference to rise from the ashes.
And the OIA-ILH bloc holds voting power — a reason the Big Island was wiped out of the rotation for hosting girls basketball after 1997, despite turning a profit at Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium.
As BIIF basketball fans well remember, Punahou beat Honokaa 60-37 for the state championship, but they also know that the Oahu schools threw a cow about raising funds for airfare and lodging.
At the following HIADA conference, the OIA-ILH one-two punch knocked the Big Island’s rotation privilege out.
The BIIF didn’t host a girls state tournament again, well, a regional technically, until 2014. No. 1 seed Konawaena hosted a game at Kealakehe High, lost to Mililani and was finished.
Crozier said the BIIF will put in a proposal for hosting a softball regional with its league runner-up.
He pointed out that BIIF runner-up Kohala lost its first-round game on Wednesday, May 11, didn’t play the next day and lost in consolation on Friday.
The Cowgirls could watch the championship on Saturday at Maui’s Patsy Mink Softball Stadium or go shopping.
Still, Kohala couldn’t come back until Sunday because of booked hotels and flights. (Back in the old days, teams could change flights and drop hotels without penalty.)
Konawaena, the No. 3 team, had it worse from a financial pickle perspective.
The Wildcats lost Wednesday and Thursday, had two days of no games and returned home on Sunday, too.
It could be looked at as an expensive vacation, but if the BIIF proposal goes through then Kohala or a No. 2 could host and advance only with a first-round win, saving money.
But back to football because that makes the most money.
Crozier said last year’s cut for the each state football school was $3,000 and this year jumped to $5,000 for each with the OC16 TV money.
To be sanctioned as a Hawaii High School Athletic Association state championship, three leagues are required — a reason 8-man football doesn’t hold a state tournament. (Only the BIIF and MIL have 8-man football.)
The HHSAA, the governing body of the state tournaments, features six-team Division I and II football tournaments. The proceeds are shared among the football schools in the five leagues: OIA, ILH, BIIF, MIL and KIF.
From a financial standout, the football super alliance would be a windfall for the OIA and ILH, making the rich richer, whether there’s renewed talks at the HIADA getaway or down the road.
The super alliance wouldn’t have to share any money to the other leagues and could hold a revised version of the old Prep Bowl (1973-1999), the so-called state championship between the OIA and ILH.
Crozier noted that Maui is again proposing an eight-team field for Division I and II football. That would add two teams and eliminate a first-round bye for the top two seeds.
Basically, it’s a huge advantage to scout a game, watch a future opponent get beat up in the first round, and go in fresh for the semifinals.
The ILH has only one representative in both the Division I and II football tournaments. What’s more, there are often three teams (Kamehameha-Kapalama, Punahou, and Saint Louis) capable of challenging for the state D-I title, but two sit home.
The super alliance would solve that problem and provide more games for the ILH, which plays six games during the regular season.
Maybe at the HIADA conference, the super alliance proposal will come up, and the OIA-ILH powers invite the BIIF to their open division.
That would catch Crozier by surprise, again, but in a good way.