The N.C. High School Athletic Association Board of Directors wrapped up its annual winter meeting on Thursday afternoon, and while the agenda wasn’t as full as it sometimes is, the board did tackle some issues in high school sports in North Carolina.

A lot of the attention this week was placed on action the board did not take. For example, the board did not sanction flag football, which was proposed by Durham, Johnston, and Wake counties. In addition, the board did not act on a proposal from Nash Central High School that would have separated charter and parochial schools from traditional public schools in the state playoffs.

The board also tabled a proposal to raise ticket prices during the state playoffs. Some schools have told the NCHSAA they are losing money from hosting playoff games in the early rounds because the NCHSAA charges less for playoff tickets than schools charge for regular season tickets. The NCHSAA has not raised ticket prices for the state playoffs since 2017, but the board plans to revisit this issue in the future after it gathers more information from member schools.

A proposal was sent to the board to create a subcommittee of coaches, athletic directors, school board members, and superintendents to look at the impact of the zero-tolerance policy for profanity. The board took no action on this, citing the emphasis on sportsmanship.

On Wednesday, the NCHSAA said there had been 564 ejections so far this year, including 183 for profanity. Of those 183 ejections, 92 were for using the F-word and 16 were for using racial slurs.

There was a proposal to award the highest finishing school per classification in a split conference with a Wells Fargo Conference Cup, however that proposal did not make it out of the Policy Committee this week. One of the concerns raised in the discussion was the impact it would have in the upcoming realignment if there are conferences with more than two classifications represented.

For the second straight meeting, a proposal from the Rocky River Conference to change the RPI formula used for the state playoffs has been tabled. The board wants to see more information about how realignment will bet setup and what the playoff format will look like before making any changes to the RPI formula. However, the board noted that there are clear concerns about the current RPI formula.

Sport-specific changes approved by the board

Many of the actions the board took this week were related to specific sports. Some of the proposals came from coaches associations.

Changes are coming to how yellow and red cards are tracked in boys and girls soccer. The board adopted a proposal from the N.C. Soccer Coaches Association which will require the NCHSAA to track yellow and red cards digitally through DragonFly. This will allow for more transparency in the tracking process.

According to the proposal, North Carolina is one of eight states that leaves tracking of yellow card accumulation up to schools, which means schools are also in charge fo enforcement. The soccer coaches association says this leads to inconsistencies across the state.

The NCHSAA hopes to have the new yellow and red card tracking program up and running for the spring girls soccer season, but if that is not possible, it will be implemented for the fall boys soccer season in 2025.

In football, the board approved a proposal from the Sports Medicine Advisory Committee that would require three calendar days between football contests, which clarifies an existing rule for player participation during the week. The NCHSAA says this time period will allow for rest and recovery for football players between contests.

A proposal from North Moore High School involving boys golf was approved. Effective next spring, four team members from the same boys golf team can score as a team at regionals even if they are not on the conference qualifying team.

Wrestling will get rid of a rule that is unique to North Carolina. The board approved removing the five stoppages before disqualification during blood time in wrestling, as requested by the N.C. Wrestling Coaches Association. The coaches said this leads to confusion when competing with out-of-state teams because the rule isn’t a national rule.

The board also adopted a NCWCA proposal to cap the number of girls wrestling matches at 55 matches. This brings girls wrestling in line with boys wrestling and will prevent the over-scheduling of wrestlers. The board tabled a proposal to raise the minimum match number for girls wrestling seeding until the spring meeting, citing the need to find out more about the upcoming realignment before making this decision.

The board adopted items from the Review & Officiating Committee that prevent people under the age of 18 or who are still in high school from officiating NCHSAA events and that would require the NCHSAA Director of Officiating assign officials in baseball, softball, lacrosse, and volleyball after the first two rounds of the playoffs.

Other action taken by the board

• Approved the 2024-2025 operating budget. The Finance & Personnel Committee said inflation and cost of state championship venues are causing a rise in expenses. The NCHSAA projects revenue of $3.7 million and expenses of $4.6 million, leading to a projected loss of about $900,000.
• Endowment fund update. The endowment fund has been transferred to the NCHSAA Foundation, which is a separate non-profit organization with a separate board of directors. Before this happened, the NCHSAA distributed $135,851.79 to member schools for educated-based grants and reimbursements for certifications.
• New hire. The NCHSAA has hired Austin Fleming as its Director of Sports & Championships. He started on Sept. 3.