Texas discontinues high school all-star games

The Texas High School Coaches Association this week announced it would discontinue the state’s annual basketball and football all-star games.

The event, which featured the best high school student-athletes from around Texas, was held at the end of the association’s annual convention. The football game has been played since 1935.

From the THSCA:

At the December meeting of the Texas High School Coaches Association’s Board of Directors, the board was informed of the decision from the NCAA Legislative Relief Waiver Committee to deny the THSCA’s request for exemption from the new NCAA Bylaw (13.1.7.9.6 – which prohibits Division I college football coaches from attending or speaking at a convention that has an all-star game affiliated with it). This decision has forced the Board to eliminate an 80-year tradition of hosting the Texas High School Coaches Association All-Star games.

While there is a sentimental attachment to the THSCA All-Star games, which have had a rich history over the years, the THSCA Board of Directors felt it was in the best interest of the Texas High School Coaches Association to make sure its Convention and Coaching School remained a quality event. Eliminating attendance by the Division I college coaches would be detrimental to the success of the convention, which is the main source of income for the Texas High School Coaches Association.

“This is not a decision we wanted to have to make at all. We felt our convention and all-star games were not a violation of the NCAA rule and took extra steps to separate the two events as best we could, but the Waiver Committee felt otherwise, said THSCA Executive Director D. W. Rutledge. When faced with the burden of either excluding the college coaches from attending our convention or hosting the all-star games, the Board felt it was in the best interest of the association and its members to eliminate the all-star games.”

Winning Hoops attended the convention in July, and for those of you who did the same you might recall the fuss this created. Bruce Weber, Tubby Smith and Charlie Strong were among those initially slated to speak, but the NCAA’s new bylaw forced the association to change course one week before the convention and find new presenters.

The THSCA’s 2015 convention is scheduled for July 19-22 in Houston.

Texas discontinues high school all-star games

Sharing Block: Winning Hoops Sharing Block

By Kevin Hoffman, Managing Editor

The Texas High School Coaches Association this week announced it would discontinue the state’s annual basketball and football all-star games.

The event, which featured the best high school student-athletes from around Texas, was held at the end of the association’s annual convention. The football game has been played since 1935.

From the THSCA:

At the December meeting of the Texas High School Coaches Association’s Board of Directors, the board was informed of the decision from the NCAA Legislative Relief Waiver Committee to deny the THSCA’s request for exemption from the new NCAA Bylaw (13.1.7.9.6 – which prohibits Division I college football coaches from attending or speaking at a convention that has an all-star game affiliated with it). This decision has forced the Board to eliminate an 80-year tradition of hosting the Texas High School Coaches Association All-Star games.

While there is a sentimental attachment to the THSCA All-Star games, which have had a rich history over the years, the THSCA Board of Directors felt it was in the best interest of the Texas High School Coaches Association to make sure its Convention and Coaching School remained a quality event. Eliminating attendance by the Division I college coaches would be detrimental to the success of the convention, which is the main source of income for the Texas High School Coaches Association.

“This is not a decision we wanted to have to make at all. We felt our convention and all-star games were not a violation of the NCAA rule and took extra steps to separate the two events as best we could, but the Waiver Committee felt otherwise, said THSCA Executive Director D. W. Rutledge. When faced with the burden of either excluding the college coaches from attending our convention or hosting the all-star games, the Board felt it was in the best interest of the association and its members to eliminate the all-star games.”

Winning Hoops attended the convention in July, and for those of you who did the same you might recall the fuss this created. Bruce Weber, Tubby Smith and Charlie Strong were among those initially slated to speak, but the NCAA’s new bylaw forced the association to change course one week before the convention and find new presenters.

The THSCA’s 2015 convention is scheduled for July 19-22 in Houston.