NSAA Must Act to Save OPS

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The numbers are eye popping. The Millard South Patriots high
school football powerhouse have played four games. They have scored
two hundred and fifty six points, an average of sixty
four per game. They've hit seventy twice, they've allowed just fourteen.
The West Side Warriors, with the biggest opt in enrollment
of any school in the state, meaning the most kids

(00:22):
transferring in from another district, have won their first four
by an average of forty five to twelve. The gulf
between public high school football programs in the Omaha metro
appears to be the size of Lake Superior. Without changes,
the future of competitive athletics around here is very murky.

(00:43):
Last week, the flat Water Free Press, an online newspaper,
published and in depth analysis of the competitive crisis in
high school sports. But will that journalism or what we
have discussed here mean any change. The NSAA is acting
the governing body of Nebraska high school's starting next season
as a new method for how its schedules football teams.

(01:05):
In twenty twenty six, each school will have a schedule
reflective of its performance from the previous two seasons. The
top ten teams will largely play each other same thing
for the middle and bottom ten. Theoretically, then we'll never
see another display like Benson's record setting ninety three to
nothing loss to Lincoln North Star in twenty twenty three.

(01:26):
But will it address the root problem of competitive balance
among public high schools. The answer is no. Forty years ago,
the Nebraska legislature passed a law opening enrollment for public
school kids necessary for At the time, some school districts
were denying access to kids with physical and mental disabilities.

(01:49):
Just a year earlier, the state of Minnesota did the
same thing. It was immediately hijacked into sports free agency,
where kids were transferring in just to play RASCA. Fearing
the same thing, required any transfer to sit out a
year from competitive athletics one year. Fearing lawsuits, the NSAA

(02:09):
shortened that to ninety days. But if they transfer prior
to May first, they're immediately eligible. Does it work well?
Over the last three seasons, nearly fourteen hundred athletes have
transferred prior to the May first deadline. In their record
setting run to the title. Last year, three Millard South
transfers figured prominently in their state title. This year's team

(02:32):
has a few two, and so does West Side from.
Where are they coming most all from OPS. In twenty
twenty four, fifty seven hundred Omaha kids left OPS for
other districts. Not all athletes, but a lot. Are Is
it that bad inn OPS well for sports? The answer
is yes. The last OPS school to reach the Class

(02:55):
A football final was seven years ago. In three of
the last five five state basketball tournaments, no OPS team
has even qualified. OPS has produced one state girls basketball
and one baseball champion this century. In the fifty year
history of girls volleyball, only one OPS program has even

(03:17):
reached the state finals. Some of it is the residue
from disastrous former Superintendent Sheryl Logan's COVID nineteen lockout policy,
some of it is academic performance, and some of it
is sports. They want to win. OPS schools don't win,
and there is a facilities gap between the suburb districts
and OPS. Is it all on the kids. No. Technically

(03:40):
it's illegal to recruit, but coaches have learned the tricks,
use third party influencers like club coaches, other kids, even
influential boosters as lures. So that's it for now. Yes.
If the NSAA refuses to add teeth to the eligibility rules,
it's up to the unicameral again. Just like nineteen eighty

(04:01):
nine with the open enrollment law, the time has come
to referee the games off the field. Make it simple
to be eligible for any extracurricular activity. Nebraska public high
school kids must reside in a physical dwelling inside that
district's border from grade eight or lose a year of

(04:21):
eligibility at any level. Exceptions a few if your family
moves into that district from outside the metro area for
parental work or other family reasons, or that student was
placed in foster care. That's it. Documentation required. None of
these rules apply if the transfers for special needs or
academic reasons. Shortest bill in unicameral history, but will solve

(04:46):
a growing problem that threatens athletic opportunities not in the future,
but right now.