What stood out at April NJSIAA meeting, including basketball changes

ROBBINSVILLE − In a move that would fundamentally alter both sports, the NJSIAA will vote on instituting shot clocks for lacrosse and basketball at the annual membership meeting on May 4. And not even New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association executive director Colleen Maguire has an idea of how the vote will go. “I have to say I have no idea which way it’s going,” Maguire said after the April 15 meeting of the NJSIAA executive committee.

“I think there are pockets in the state that are strongly for or strongly against, and there are some where you can’t get a good pulse. I have to say no real strong feeling either way. ” Athletic directors from every NJSIAA member school (totaling more than 400) are summoned to one meeting each year to vote on major legislative and rule changes.

This year, there will be four items on the ballot. The two items not related to shot clocks, which are both expected to pass easily, are approving flag football as an officially-sanctioned NJSIAA sport, and allowing girls wrestling teams to form tri-ops (three schools feeding into one team). When it comes to shot clocks, there has been a lot of discussion.

There appears to be a split between athletic directors who worry about purchasing the equipment and finding officials to run it and coaches who feel like the game is enhanced with shot clocks and more representative of the college level. “This is why it’s going to the membership,” Maguire said. “I don’t want to make the decision for 415 basketball schools, because they are the ones who have to operate it and pay for it.