Every year around January, Ohio High School Athletic Association Executive Director Jerry Snodgrass starts getting bombarded on social media with comments about why there is no shot clock in high school basketball.
It’s actually an easier answer than one might expect: The National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) does not permit it, and the OHSAA’s bylaws require it to follow the federation’s rules in order for the state to have representation to the National Rules Committee.
The NFHS does not permit a shot clock because of the costs and additional personnel it would require schools to add to their game management at all levels of the sport.
“The cost has come down, so that’s not quite the factor it used to be, but it’s still difficult in high school to put that unfunded mandate on the schools all across the nation,” Snodgrass said. “They are a little sensitive about that.
“Part of it, too, is there is a lot of debate at the high school level whether it helps the game or not. You hear it in two camps. Those that favor it say it makes the game more exciting and that it prepares kids for college better because it’s closer to what they’re doing in college. The first part of that, most shots are taken – or there is a turnover – within 35 seconds anyway, so there is not a lot of evidence to support it makes the game more exciting. The second part of that, it’s not the high school’s job to prepare kids for college basketball when 98 percent don’t go on to play collegiately. The purpose is to give students high school opportunities.”
Basketball coaches in Hamilton are split on whether a shot clock should be implemented.
Badin High School boys’ basketball coach Gerry Weisgerber said earlier in his career he was against the idea, but now during his second stint with the Rams, he sees how it could benefit players.
Weisgerber became head coach at Badin in 1981-82 and remained there until 1998-99 after guiding the Rams to three Final Four appearances and their only state title in 1988. He returned as head coach in 2016-17.
“I wouldn’t mind having one,” Weisgerber said. “It wouldn’t be a bad idea, if it was feasible for everyone. The NFHS knows what it’s taking about with the financial cost and where to locate them, but at the higher levels everyone’s got it. The kids that are going to be at the college level would get used to it, and like everything else gets trickled down, I would assume eventually a shot clock would trickle down as well.”
First-year Hamilton High School coach Kevin Higgins, who spent the previous four years at Lebanon High, said those that are going on to play in college are good enough to be able to adapt quickly once they get to the next level.
He is against implementing a shot clock in high school.
“I like that teams can play a variety of ways and learn different ways to play,” Higgins said. “That’s part of what makes it fun is to see different styles.”
Many proponents of a shot clock believe it would make the game more exciting because it would lead to more scoring, but like Snodgrass, Higgins doesn’t think that is necessarily the case.
“You can control the ball with a shot clock too,” Higgins said.
Weisgerber said not having a shot clock does slow the game down a little in general, and that’s partly why so many scores are in the 40s and low 50s – because teams can be more deliberate with their offense. However, he also conceded that a shot clock could lead to more bad shots and thus not impact scoring.
“Offenses can get deliberate without a shot clock, but I haven’t seen stalling in a long time,” Weisgerber said. “You can do a lot in 30 seconds, but where it could help development of young players is in creating poor habits with shot selection.”
Neither Weisgerber nor Higgins are seeing a big push to change the rules in Ohio. The outcry, if there is one, is probably more from the fans, they said.
Snodgrass hears about it more often because of his position with the OHSAA., where he previously served as the basketball administrator before becoming executive director. He is personally against the idea of a shot clock, though he does see it eventually being added at some point down the road.
“I’m a former basketball coach, and I believe strongly that high school coaches have to do more with strategy because they can’t pick and choose the players they have,” said Snodgrass, who spent most of his coaching career at Finley High School. “My own opinion is slowing the game down is part of high school coaching, whether a person likes it or not. If you don’t have very talented players, part of the strategy is to use the clock a little bit. I still believe that in high school. If I were a college coach, I would feel differently.”
There is a more radical option out there, called the “Elam Ending,” that drew attention because it was implemented at The Basketball Tournament, which is an open-application, single-elimination five-on-five tournament played each summer for a grand prize of $2 million and broadcast by ESPN. The 72-team tournament, founded in 2014, features several current and former NBA players.
Developed by a teacher in the Dayton City Schools, the Elam Ending takes the leading score with four minutes left and adds seven points to it. That total is placed on a board, and the first team to reach that score is the winner. The idea is to take stalling out at the end of a game, and it makes it so every game ends on a winning shot.
“It’s such a radical change, but it’s interesting,” Snodgrass said. “It opens the door that maybe there are other ways.”