I don’t personally know Mary McGowan, but there is one question I would ask her right now.
How much longer do we have to wait for an answer?
McGowan is the Pulaski County circuit judge and the person who will provide the ruling in the pending lawsuit between the Bryant school district and the Arkansas Activities Association. Bryant has sued the AAA over the upcoming reclassification cycle, the latest result of having mixed conferences within the state’s two largest classifications.
There are others who want to know her answer as well.
The AAA voted to eliminate two conferences that currently are a mixture of both Class 6A and 7A schools that use a confusing power rating formula to determine playoff seedings. The board voted 26-7 to revamp the conferences, which would make the current 7A/6A-West Conference an all-7A conference (removing 7A Van Buren and 6A Siloam Springs, then adding 7A Fort Smith Northside and Fort Smith Southside). The 7A/6ASouth would have all 6A schools.
Bryant, which has been the lone 7A school in the 7A/6A-South, doesn’t like the changes because it was moved to the Central, and its one-way mileage to conference games will more than double. It has been placed in the same conference with Siloam Springs, Van Buren, Alma and Greenwood — all schools near the Oklahoma border.
The AAA announced its 2014-16 conference assignments in June, and Bryant appealed the decision to the AAA board of directors. After that appeal failed in September, the school filed the lawsuit a month later.
McGowan heard about three hours of testimony between both parties Dec. 3, but she hasn’t issued a ruling. Instead, she gave both parties 10 extra days to submit briefs, and Bryant superintendent Randy Rutherford said at the time he fully expected a decision before Christmas.
Christmas was more than a month ago, and McGowan has yet to render judgment on the case. Nobody really has any idea when an answer will finally come, and I’m sure my friend in Bryant is tired of me constantly asking if he’s heard anything.
Because of this indecision, at least three-fourths of the state’s 32 largest schools — including seven in Benton and Washington counties — don’t know who their conference opponents are until an answer is given. It means they can’t finish next year’s athletic schedules until they know which schools are in their conferences, and “next year” is actually less than seven months away for sports such as golf, tennis and volleyball.
Imagine being in Siloam Springs athletic director Kevin Downing’s shoes — or any of that school’s coaches, for that matter. The only conference foe they definitely know will be on their respective schedules is Van Buren until McGowan’s decision is made.
I wouldn’t wish to be in that position at any time.There’s quite a difference between a 19-mile drive to Springdale Har-Ber and a 227-mile journey to Bryant and everything else that goes with it.
It could be even worse for schools like Northside and Southside, both of whom have tentatively scheduled Greenwood for nonconference football games next fall. If McGowan rules in Bryant’s favor, all those schools might end up in the same conference and will have to scramble for new nonconference opponents, which can often be diffi cult to find this late.
Had this been a bottle of Heinz ketchup, a bunch of people would have forgotten about any anticipation. They would have given the bottle a heave-ho, or they would have given up because the French fries are cold and not worth eating.
So please, Your Honor. Give us an answer soon. We’ve waited long enough.
HENRY APPLE IS A SPORTS WRITER FOR NWA MEDIA.