How old-fashioned common sense helped Wyomissing win its appeal to PIAA

Wyomissing rarely pulls off an upset in football. The Spartans have been so good for so long they’re usually favored to win.

That wasn’t the case this week when the school went before the PIAA Board of Directors to appeal a decision to bump the Spartans up one classification because of its Competition Formula.

Wyo wasn’t favored in this one. Honestly, it looked like the Spartans were about to get sacked.

By the letter of the law Wyomissing met the standards of the success formula: It won a lot of postseason games the past two seasons and it did so with at least three transfers (the minimum requirement in football). That meant the football program was in line to be moved from Class 3A to 4A.

Generally the people who administer the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association are sticklers for the rules. They have a constitution and follows it to a T. No gray areas.

That wasn’t the case Wednesday. Board members heard Wyomissing’s appeal, looked at the facts and — here’s the upset — applied some common sense in making a decision.

It ruled in favor of Wyomissing.

The Competition Formula was put in place in 2018 as a way to stop the widespread recruiting that had rankled so many public school coaches and officials for years. It was an attempt to slow the flow of highly talented athletes to top football and basketball programs.

It isn’t a perfectly written rule, as Aliquippa’s legal team pointed out during a lengthy and often testy 90-minute-plus exchange with Board members Wednesday. The Quips’ debate team — which included Hall of Famer Ty Law — poked some holes in that rule and the way it’s written. The PIAA realizes it’s going to have to go back and tighten up the wording regarding the Competition Formula, and maybe re-think the way it is applied.

The rule, flawed as it is, works — at least to a small degree. High-level transfers are down across the state as a result because of it, and because of the overall tightening of transfer rules. Heavyweight programs such as Archbishop Wood, Imhotep Charter, Aliquippa and Cathedral Prep have been bumped up a classification. That helps level the playing, at least a little bit.

The rule was designed to slow down schools who appear to be actively be going after top athletes and to make it less appealing for athletes to jump to the “hot” programs.

Wyomissing got snared in that widely cast net. By the numbers, and after consecutive trips to the PIAA championship game, it met the rule’s standards, by definition. But did it fit the mold of a school that’s playing fast and loose with the rules?

No one who knows anything about the Spartans’ program or the people who run it thinks that. Not by a long shot. Integrity still matters, and some Board members took that into considerating when weighing what to do in Wyomissing’s case.

Members of the Board of Directors were able to take a step back, look at the big picture, and realize they had to do what was right, and not exactly what the rules say. They saw that the student-athletes who fell into the definition of “transfers” weren’t high-level athletes drawn to a top program.

It wasn’t an easy decision. The discussion in the room got heated. Some who are sticklers for the rules as they are written didn’t vote to grant Wyomissing’s appeal. Most did. The final count was 21-4-1.

That vote sends a message to schools that if you’re not abusing the situation you may be treated fairly in the context of this situation.

The Competition Formula rule is still in its infancy. It needs to be tweaked, a lot. It doesn’t address the largest schools. St. Joseph’s Prep, already in the highest classification, can’t be bumped any higher; it’s not affected by this rule no matter how many state titles it wins or how many players it brings across the river from New Jersey.

The rule, as written, could lead to kids being cut from the team if they are marginally talented and could threaten to push the program over the transfer threshold. No one wants to see that happen.

PIAA president Frank Majikes said the board will take another look at the rule.

“We will re-evaluate and see where we’re going for the future,” he said following the five-plus hour board meeting.

The Competition Formula rule will never been perfect but it’s reassuring to know that as long as some common sense is applied it can be effective, and fair.