Monday night show on 970WATH

[93Bulldog]

Monday June 24th OHSAA football administrator Beau Rugg will be our guest on The Sports Fan on 970WATH & 97.1FM. Mr. Rugg has been the Senior Director of Officiating and Sport Management since August 1, 2017 and served as the Assistant Commissioner from 2013 to 2017.The topic of conversation will center on Ohio High school football, but most notably the decision making involved in divisional assignments and regional realignment. The show airs live at 6:06PM on 970WATH & 97.1FM or 970wath.com. The show will also be recorded and available on podcast immediately following.

[cbolt]

Thanks bulldog! Keep us updated on the shows and your guests that will be on.

[NY Tomcat]

Monday June 24th OHSAA football administrator Beau Rugg will be our guest on The Sports Fan on 970WATH & 97.1FM. Mr. Rugg has been the Senior Director of Officiating and Sport Management since August 1, 2017 and served as the Assistant Commissioner from 2013 to 2017.The topic of conversation will center on Ohio High school football, but most notably the decision making involved in divisional assignments and regional realignment. The show airs live at 6:06PM on 970WATH & 97.1FM or 970wath.com. The show will also be recorded and available on podcast immediately following.

Really looking forward to this. Will you be asking him if there's any chance that the OHSAA has a plan to field better refs in the future? I know they wrote that letter bashing parents and fans for question the refs, but it would be nice to see if they have anything planned other than blaming the fans in the future.

[93Bulldog]

The podcast to Monday's show available here ... https://anchor.fm/sportsfanwath/episode ... q/a-ahlnup

[EasternDspy]

The podcast to Monday's show available here ... https://anchor.fm/sportsfanwath/episode ... q/a-ahlnup

You guys called him out. He was just wrong anyway dude looks at it. Central , East and Southeast should be together.

[EasternDspy]

Clusters of teams is bogus

[EasternDspy]

We need more then one guy deciding regions for the entire state this guy has way to much power.

[93Bulldog]

Clusters of teams is bogus

This is the e-mail I sent out after the show once I realized I screwed up not sending him the alternative map beforehand.


Beau,

Thank you so much for taking the time to come on our radio show Monday night on 970WATH, it was a really good interview - and thank you Tim for setting it up. I feel I made a huge mistake by not sending you our breakdown of DVI before the show so he could look at the alternative map we came up with - and compared it to the current one about to be used in 2019.

The first map I am sending is basically an outline of what we consider 'our' region here in Southeast Ohio. It's highlighted in yellow. The lines highlighted represent a path which is essentially the Southeast, East and Central Districts. Once we reach a certain level in any tournament (regionals) those are the teams involved on a year to year basis. I understand football is a regional concept and teams from certain districts don't always fall into the same region, but it is normally close. For example, in DIII you had to stretch over into the Southwest District to pick up Bellbrook (Green County), Bellefontaine (Logan County), Western Brown (Brown County) and Wimington (Clinton County) to form a region of 26 teams that encompasses the SE/C/E area. In DIV, DV and DVII you did not, all the teams are actually in the SE/C/E district - and there were exactly 26 teams in DVI as well, but you elected not to give them a region (which you have always done in the past).

Belpre, Buckeye Trail, Crooskville, Federal Hocking, Fort Frye, Nelsonville-York, Trimble, Adena, Huntington, Paint Valley, Southeastern, Valley, Coal Grove, New Comerstown, Tuscarawas Valley, East Knox, Elgin, Centerburg, Fredricktown, Johnstown Northridge, Africentric, Grandview heights, Mt. Gilead, Cardington-Lincoln, Northmore, Worthington Christian.

26 teams all located inside the SE/C/E districts, which (on a map) you will see is the biggest quadrant when you split the state into 4 regions. It's obvious once you have that region in place, the other three follow suit in a way that gives you the shortest travel (distance) for all teams involved. I attached a 2nd map how DVI should have been split to avoid 3, 3.5, and even in some cases, 4 hour drives for a week 11 playoff football game. The way DVI, Region 21 is set up now on the 2019 OHSAA regional map, there are numerous scenarios where teams will literally be on buses for 3.5 to 4 hours. Six teams (Nelsonville-York, Trimble, Federal Hocking, Crooksville, Belpre and Fort Frye) are clear down at the bottom of Ohio near West Virginia - Seven teams are located in the top right hand corner of the state in Trumbull, Geauga and Ashtabula counties. The fact the scenario exists where Nelsonville-York (Athens County) could be playing a team from Ashtabula County in a week 11 playoff game is downright asinine. As you can see on the 2nd map I attached, I found 26 schools in the SE/C/E quadrant, 26 in the SW, 27 in the NW and 27 in the NE. There was one oddity, I had to go north a little bit and pick up Spencerville in Allen County to get 26 teams in the SW region. But even still, the distance between Spencerville and lets say Cincinnati County Day is only 2 hours and 13 minutes. That is a far cry from the numerous 3+ hour trip scenarios about to occur in Region 21 this fall. And it's not just going to affect Southeast District teams in Region 21. Coal Grove and Valley, which are located at the southern most tip of Ohio, could be sent almost to Indianapolis for a week 11 game in Region 24. Coal Grove to Arcanum is a 3 hour drive, Valley to National Trail is also a 3 hour trip.

I can tell you of all the people that I have spoken with over the last week, who are upset about the realignment, the most upset are parents. Coaches, fans, players are all not happy about the idea of traveling so far, but the parents are down right angry. Often we forget a high percentage of fans at high school games are in fact teenage students. Parents of 16, 17 year old kids that may or may not have just got their drivers license are not comfortable allowing them to drive 3.5 hours to parts of the state they are not familiar with. It's one thing to send a group of kids in a vehicle up the road an hour to cheer on their classmates - it's quite another sending them on a 3 hour trip up to Youngstown just for a week 11 playoff game.

I understand decisions have been made and it is what it is, but I can assure you Trimble, Fort Frye and possibly Nelsonville-York will most likely make the post season - and unless they get lucky and play each other - you are looking at three sets of games in Region 21 where the traveling team will be making at least a 3 hour trip. I'm no genius, but that can't be good for attendance.

But thanks again Beau for the interview. You, Tim or anyone from the OHSAA are more than welcome to come on anytime! Really enjoyed having you.

[EasternDspy]

Belpre, Buckeye Trail, Crooskville, Federal Hocking, Fort Frye, Nelsonville-York, Trimble, Adena, Huntington, Paint Valley, Southeastern, Valley, Coal Grove, New Comerstown, Tuscarawas Valley, East Knox, Elgin, Centerburg, Fredricktown, Johnstown Northridge, Africentric, Grandview heights, Mt. Gilead, Cardington-Lincoln, Northmore, Worthington Christian.


This is exactly how I thought it would go before this mess. I truly believe they wanted to break up the powerhouses and they screwed so many other teams over it.

[OSU22]

Clusters of teams is bogus

This is the e-mail I sent out after the show once I realized I screwed up not sending him the alternative map beforehand.


Beau,

Thank you so much for taking the time to come on our radio show Monday night on 970WATH, it was a really good interview - and thank you Tim for setting it up. I feel I made a huge mistake by not sending you our breakdown of DVI before the show so he could look at the alternative map we came up with - and compared it to the current one about to be used in 2019.

The first map I am sending is basically an outline of what we consider 'our' region here in Southeast Ohio. It's highlighted in yellow. The lines highlighted represent a path which is essentially the Southeast, East and Central Districts. Once we reach a certain level in any tournament (regionals) those are the teams involved on a year to year basis. I understand football is a regional concept and teams from certain districts don't always fall into the same region, but it is normally close. For example, in DIII you had to stretch over into the Southwest District to pick up Bellbrook (Green County), Bellefontaine (Logan County), Western Brown (Brown County) and Wimington (Clinton County) to form a region of 26 teams that encompasses the SE/C/E area. In DIV, DV and DVII you did not, all the teams are actually in the SE/C/E district - and there were exactly 26 teams in DVI as well, but you elected not to give them a region (which you have always done in the past).

Belpre, Buckeye Trail, Crooskville, Federal Hocking, Fort Frye, Nelsonville-York, Trimble, Adena, Huntington, Paint Valley, Southeastern, Valley, Coal Grove, New Comerstown, Tuscarawas Valley, East Knox, Elgin, Centerburg, Fredricktown, Johnstown Northridge, Africentric, Grandview heights, Mt. Gilead, Cardington-Lincoln, Northmore, Worthington Christian.

26 teams all located inside the SE/C/E districts, which (on a map) you will see is the biggest quadrant when you split the state into 4 regions. It's obvious once you have that region in place, the other three follow suit in a way that gives you the shortest travel (distance) for all teams involved. I attached a 2nd map how DVI should have been split to avoid 3, 3.5, and even in some cases, 4 hour drives for a week 11 playoff football game. The way DVI, Region 21 is set up now on the 2019 OHSAA regional map, there are numerous scenarios where teams will literally be on buses for 3.5 to 4 hours. Six teams (Nelsonville-York, Trimble, Federal Hocking, Crooksville, Belpre and Fort Frye) are clear down at the bottom of Ohio near West Virginia - Seven teams are located in the top right hand corner of the state in Trumbull, Geauga and Ashtabula counties. The fact the scenario exists where Nelsonville-York (Athens County) could be playing a team from Ashtabula County in a week 11 playoff game is downright asinine. As you can see on the 2nd map I attached, I found 26 schools in the SE/C/E quadrant, 26 in the SW, 27 in the NW and 27 in the NE. There was one oddity, I had to go north a little bit and pick up Spencerville in Allen County to get 26 teams in the SW region. But even still, the distance between Spencerville and lets say Cincinnati County Day is only 2 hours and 13 minutes. That is a far cry from the numerous 3+ hour trip scenarios about to occur in Region 21 this fall. And it's not just going to affect Southeast District teams in Region 21. Coal Grove and Valley, which are located at the southern most tip of Ohio, could be sent almost to Indianapolis for a week 11 game in Region 24. Coal Grove to Arcanum is a 3 hour drive, Valley to National Trail is also a 3 hour trip.

I can tell you of all the people that I have spoken with over the last week, who are upset about the realignment, the most upset are parents. Coaches, fans, players are all not happy about the idea of traveling so far, but the parents are down right angry. Often we forget a high percentage of fans at high school games are in fact teenage students. Parents of 16, 17 year old kids that may or may not have just got their drivers license are not comfortable allowing them to drive 3.5 hours to parts of the state they are not familiar with. It's one thing to send a group of kids in a vehicle up the road an hour to cheer on their classmates - it's quite another sending them on a 3 hour trip up to Youngstown just for a week 11 playoff game.

I understand decisions have been made and it is what it is, but I can assure you Trimble, Fort Frye and possibly Nelsonville-York will most likely make the post season - and unless they get lucky and play each other - you are looking at three sets of games in Region 21 where the traveling team will be making at least a 3 hour trip. I'm no genius, but that can't be good for attendance.

But thanks again Beau for the interview. You, Tim or anyone from the OHSAA are more than welcome to come on anytime! Really enjoyed having you.

EXCELLENT EMAIL BULLDOG! Can't believe they're ignorant enough to make trips for week 11 games 3.5 to possibly 4 hours long. Is there any way to protest the region? I mean it's absolutely ridiculous.

[93Bulldog]

Belpre, Buckeye Trail, Crooskville, Federal Hocking, Fort Frye, Nelsonville-York, Trimble, Adena, Huntington, Paint Valley, Southeastern, Valley, Coal Grove, New Comerstown, Tuscarawas Valley, East Knox, Elgin, Centerburg, Fredricktown, Johnstown Northridge, Africentric, Grandview heights, Mt. Gilead, Cardington-Lincoln, Northmore, Worthington Christian.


This is exactly how I thought it would go before this mess. I truly believe they wanted to break up the powerhouses and they screwed so many other teams over it.

Four state powers of Coldwater, Mechaniceburg, Norwayne and Mogadore were in two different regions last year, as it should be seeing as all 4 our are in the 'northern' part of the state, north of I70. This year, they drew lines perfectly that separates ALL FOUR teams into FOUR different regions.

Coldwater - 23
Mechanicsburg - 24
Norwayne - 22
Mogadore - 21

The distance between Mechanicsburg and Coldwater is about 1hr 30 min.
The distance between Norwayne and Mogadore is only a 35 min drive.
If Norwayne and Mogadore play in a state semi-final, I don't even know if there is a school between them to host the game being so close. lol

[NY Tomcat]

Belpre, Buckeye Trail, Crooskville, Federal Hocking, Fort Frye, Nelsonville-York, Trimble, Adena, Huntington, Paint Valley, Southeastern, Valley, Coal Grove, New Comerstown, Tuscarawas Valley, East Knox, Elgin, Centerburg, Fredricktown, Johnstown Northridge, Africentric, Grandview heights, Mt. Gilead, Cardington-Lincoln, Northmore, Worthington Christian.


This is exactly how I thought it would go before this mess. I truly believe they wanted to break up the powerhouses and they screwed so many other teams over it.

Four state powers of Coldwater, Mechaniceburg, Norwayne and Mogadore were in two different regions last year, as it should be seeing as all 4 our are in the 'northern' part of the state, north of I70. This year, they drew lines perfectly that separates ALL FOUR teams into FOUR different regions.

Coldwater - 23
Mechanicsburg - 24
Norwayne - 22
Mogadore - 21

The distance between Mechanicsburg and Coldwater is about 1hr 30 min.
The distance between Norwayne and Mogadore is only a 35 min drive.
If Norwayne and Mogadore play in a state semi-final, I don't even know if there is a school between them to host the game being so close. lol

That's exactly the reason they drew them up that way, so they can separate those 4. The OHSAA doesn't want those 4 to knock each other out of the playoffs in the earlier rounds.

[EasternDspy]

Something has to be be done. I can’t believe they let one guy decide who is in what region this makes no sense.