NSAA Board of Directors Meeting Minutes - January 23, 2020

[Alum-Ni]

The NSAA Board of Directors met on January 23, 2020 at the NSAA Office in Lincoln with the following members present:

District I - Mark Norvell, Fillmore Central
District I - Kathi Wieskamp, Lincoln Public Schools
District II - Dr. Bob Reznicek, Boys Town
District II - Thomas Lee, Omaha Northwest
District III - Dr. Jon Cerny, Bancroft-Rosalie
District IV - Dan Keyser, Sutherland
District V - Jim Kent, Dundy County-Stratton
District VI - Dr. Troy Unzicker, Alliance
​

Also in attendance were Kim Snyder, Nebraska Department of Education liaison; Rex Shultze, NSAA Legal Counsel; and Julia Plucker, NSAA Lobbyist

The meeting was called to order at 8:30 a.m.

1. A motion was made to approve the Consent Agenda as presented. Items on the Consent Agenda included:

- approval of the meeting Agenda
- approval of the Minutes of the December Board of Directors meeting
- approval of the Financial Statements
- approval of the following new cooperative sponsorships for the 2019-20 and 2020-21 school years:

- St. Paul and Palmer High Schools for Baseball
- Humboldt-Table Rock-Steinauer and Pawnee City High Schools for Boys Golf
- Fort Calhoun and Cornerstone Christian High Schools for Baseball
- College View Academy and Parkview Christian High Schools for Boys Soccer
- Wood River and Shelton High Schools for Boys Golf
- Bruning-Davenport and Shickley High Schools for Boys Golf
- Boone Central and Newman Grove High Schools for Boys Golf​

- approval of the following cooperative sponsorship renewals for the 2019-20 and 2020-21 school years:

- Humphrey and Lindsay Holy Family High Schools for Boys Track, Girls Track and Boys Golf
- Raymond Central and Malcolm High Schools for Baseball​

Motion Carried: 8-0

2. The Board discussed legislative proposals

3. It was moved to implement a student and parent May 1st transfer consent form effective immediately. Motion Carried: 8-0

4. The Board heard presentations for hosting the Unified Sports, Bowling Championships from the communities of Columbus and Lincoln

5. The Board moved to award the Unified Sports, Bowling Championship Host contract to Lincoln for 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024. Motion Carried: 8-0

6. The Board moved to recognize the following individuals with the NSAA Distinguished Service Award for their contributions to the NSAA: Allen Beermann, Daryl Blue, Carolyn Chamberlain, Clayton Heath, Jeff Johnson, Mark Norvell, Mark Skillstad, and Deb Velder. The following individuals will be recognized with the NSAA Outstanding Service Award for their service in a particular NSAA activity: Jim Rathe, Tennis; Tim Williams, Soccer; and Rich Reinert, Golf. Motion Carried: 8-0

7. It was moved to allow Omaha Creighton Preparatory High School to opt-up one classification in Journalism. Motion Carried: 8-0

8. It was moved to allow Omaha Marian High School to opt-up one classification in Journalism. Motion Carried: 8-0

9. The Board discussed Baseball pitch counts

10. The Board discussed the Unified Sports, Track & Field manual.

11. The Board heard presentations for hosting the State Volleyball Championships from the communities of Lincoln and Grand Island.

12. The Board moved to award the host contract for the State Volleyball Championships for 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024 to Lincoln. Motion Carried: 8-0

13. The Board held a telephonic hearing on an appeal of a domicile/transfer ruling from McPherson County High School in a closed session.

14. It was moved to enter into Executive Session at 1:33 p.m. to protect the public interest, and to prevent the needless injury to the reputation of an individual(s). Motion Carried: 8-0

15. It was moved to exit Executive Session and resume Open Session at 1:50 p.m. Motion Carried: 8-0

16. It was moved to uphold the Executive Director's ruling on the denied hardship waiver for McPherson County High School. Motion Carried: 8-0

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 2:10 p.m.

The next meeting of the NSAA Board of Directors will be held on Wednesday, February 19, 2020 at the NSAA Office in Lincoln following the NSAA Legislative Commission.

 

[MacMan92]

I wish Volleyball would have been sent back to Grand Island. When state was in GI the people at each facility were so helpful and excited to be hosting as opposed to Lincoln were the staff at Pinnacle and especially Devaney seem annoyed and inconvenienced by the event. I’ve attended state in Lincoln multiple times and in GI multiple times and there was really no comparison. Grand Island was much better by far.

 

[northeastNebraska]

I wish Volleyball would have been sent back to Grand Island. When state was in GI the people at each facility were so helpful and excited to be hosting as opposed to Lincoln were the staff at Pinnacle and especially Devaney seem annoyed and inconvenienced by the event. I’ve attended state in Lincoln multiple times and in GI multiple times and there was really no comparison. Grand Island was much better by far.

Agree. I’d like to see GI get one more crack at it.

 

[Alum-Ni]

Add me to the GI crowd.

Sadly, it's all about the $$$$$$$$

 

[Sean Callahan]

I wish Volleyball would have been sent back to Grand Island. When state was in GI the people at each facility were so helpful and excited to be hosting as opposed to Lincoln were the staff at Pinnacle and especially Devaney seem annoyed and inconvenienced by the event. I’ve attended state in Lincoln multiple times and in GI multiple times and there was really no comparison. Grand Island was much better by far.

My guess is if you surveyed the team/coaches they'd rather be in Lincoln at PBA/Devaney. Playing on the court the Huskers play on is a big deal. Also having two matches going on at once makes it so you don't have to stay the night in most cases Wednesday for the Thursday matches.

 

[northeastNebraska]

My guess is if you surveyed the team/coaches they'd rather be in Lincoln at PBA/Devaney. Playing on the court the Huskers play on is a big deal. Also having two matches going on at once makes it so you don't have to stay the night in most cases Wednesday for the Thursday matches.

I agree playing in the Bob is a big deal.

 

[just_average32]

Most of the population is located on the eastern side of the state, so I'm willing to bet if you're looking to maximize attendance, you'll get way more casual fans to walk through the doors in Lincoln as opposed to Grand Island. Mostly everyone from outstate that is going to go to the tournament will go whether it is in Lincoln or Grand Island. Casual fans located around Omaha and Lincoln probably won't make the trek to Grand Island.

Also, as stated by others, the BOB and Pinnacle Bank are strong reasons to keep it in Lincoln. Fixes a lot of scheduling issues and the experience keeps improving. I could see moving it if Lincoln was struggling with the experience, attendance fell, or they dropped the ball with how they run it, but they don't have a problem.

Now State Track could get interesting because Grand Island has invested a ton of money into their track/stadium and I've heard that's put a bunch of pressure on Burke/Omaha to improve their facilities. Burke has a lot of cool tradition, but they could make a lot of improvements to make that a better experience. If you've ever seen Papio South's track, that facility is very nice with a great amount of space to rival Burke. Burke naturally has more seating because of the hills that give you a vantage point, but it needs to update bathrooms, press boxes, concessions, etc.

 

[trackman77]

Burke could use some updates to its facility(mainly bathroom and concessions), but I'm not aware of any place (and I haven't seen every venue in the state) that could handle the Saturday crowd at the State Meet.

 

[northeastNebraska]

I like entertaining the idea of moving state track to Grand Island or Kearney. I’ve always felt that (for example) the one kid from Morrill High School or the two kids Gordon-Rushville shouldn’t have to go all the way to Omaha. Track is unique in that way where you could have 12 kids go from your school or 2. But lodging, logistics etc is all part of it.

 

[highschoolfootballnut]

My guess is if you surveyed the team/coaches they'd rather be in Lincoln at PBA/Devaney. Playing on the court the Huskers play on is a big deal. Also having two matches going on at once makes it so you don't have to stay the night in most cases Wednesday for the Thursday matches.

Bingo

 

[MacMan92]

I’m not discounting the advantage Lincoln has in facilities, I just wish the non-school host sites in Lincoln would treat the schools and their fans the way we were treated in Grand Island.

 

[coachlanum]

Burke could use some updates to its facility(mainly bathroom and concessions), but I'm not aware of any place (and I haven't seen every venue in the state) that could handle the Saturday crowd at the State Meet.

What really needs updated is the timing and video systems. These directly effect the athletes. How many recalled starts last year? That should never happen. Kids standing on the track while they figure out what went wrong.

 

[hailvictors2]

What really needs updated is the timing and video systems. These directly effect the athletes. How many recalled starts last year? That should never happen. Kids standing on the track while they figure out what went wrong.

The timing system should be priority #1. Agree 100%

 

[ReasonableThinkerQuestionMark]

I like entertaining the idea of moving state track to Grand Island or Kearney. I’ve always felt that (for example) the one kid from Morrill High School or the two kids Gordon-Rushville shouldn’t have to go all the way to Omaha. Track is unique in that way where you could have 12 kids go from your school or 2. But lodging, logistics etc is all part of it.

I too wouldn't mind seeing State Track moved around, but I just don't know that GI or Kearney have the hotels needed. Interested to see what kind of track UNL will put up in the old fairgrounds. Will that facility be built to accomodate something like the State Meet?

 

[trackman77]

Totally agree on the timing system. You go to small meets all year that have absolutely no problems and the we get to the State Meet. The timing system has been a nightmare for the last 3 years.