A conversation with OHSAA Commissioner Dan Ross

By Mike Conley

February 20, 2008, 9:03AM

Photo courtesy of the OHSAACommissioner Dan Ross.

And after the team that had entered the game at 10-10 completed an overtime upset of a team that had finished its regular season at 15-5, Ross became even more of a fan.

"You see those kids celebrating - they were on Cloud 100," Ross said. "It's a wonderful tournament, and it's one of the most exciting times of the year."

Ross is approaching four full years in his official role as commissioner, one that allows him to enjoy such tournaments and events just long enough to not interfere with making the next tournament or event better. Ross has found working with the OHSAA Board of Control and district athletic boards to maintain the OHSAA's high standards to be an ever-changing and demanding job, but one he believes he's doing well.

"Are there new challenges everyday? Absolutely," Ross said. "The state of athletics in general is always changing, and so is the state of high school athletics. If it's not a new issue we're tackling, it's often a new nuance to an old issue. Ultimately, we're trying to do what's best for our young athletes and the games they play."

The state basketball tournament will be played at Ohio State's Value City Arena for the tenth time in March. That tournament and the six football state championship games played annually in Canton and Massillon are the OHSAA's marquee events, but Ross said the OHSAA invests just as much effort into getting the most - and creating the most opportunities - out of the other championships as well.

He points to the addition of bowling as a sanctioned championship sport, the addition of a second division in girls' golf this fall, the annual cross country championships "drawing 13 or 14,000 fans to watch and cheer on the runners - people from other states are flabbergasted by that" and using top-notch facilities at Ohio State for championships in golf, tennis and track.

"Those events are in good shape, but I think we ought to be constantly working to make them better," Ross said. "Honestly every year we sit and say, how can we make those better? And I think a good example is this year the softball state tournament will be at Firestone Stadium in Akron."

2007 marked the first year of a new three-year contract to play the football finals in Stark County, with the OHSAA also holding option years in 2010 and 2011. Ross said the OHSAA will listen to bids from other cities at the conclusion of this contract, but he's nothing but pleased with what he's seen from the hosts in Canton and Massillon thus far.

"I think they've done a great job," he said. "The people in Canton and Massillon have opened their doors not just to the tournament but to the communities that have come to support the kids. They've rolled out the red carpet ..."

Among the other topics Ross discussed last week:

The Internet ...

With message boards, recruiting sites, embedded video and online news sites making information as available as ever, high school sports might be as big as they've ever been. It's also created a set of interesting challenges for the OHSAA in trying to stay ahead of the online curve.

This March, the four girls state championship basketball games and all 12 games of the boys tournament the following weekend will be video streamed live throughout the internet via OhioHSSports.com. Three of last year's football championship games could be viewed live as well.

"The streaming piece, we believe that for the family that's in Florida or the youngster that's maybe serving in Iraq, to have the opportunity to see their cousin, brother, whoever it may be participate in a state championship contest has opened some marvelous doors," he said.

"The Internet is growing so fast and changing so fast. We probably need to take some time and figure out how this is affecting what we do. How are people working and dealing with his? How can we use it to our advantage? I'm not sure that all of us really know the best way to use it to our advantage. Probably more and more discussion would help us with that.

"And probably the other side of that is that we need to make sure the 800-plus schools we represent have the expectation about what the Internet holds for them. We need to use it to the best advantage for our kids and our schools and high school athletics."

On the state of the OHSAA as a governing body ...

Ross thinks good people are in place. The association recently added female and minority representatives to its Board of Control and to each of the district boards.

"Those changes in our governing structure have been extremely positive," he said. "In addition to the female and minority representatives, we've also added a seventh/eighth grade representative on each district board. All those people add quality leadership to our district boards and board of control."

The OHSAA has also established a junior high committee to establish a direction for its pre-high school programs.

"We believe very strongly that a lot of teaching and learning can go in the seventh and eighth grade levels that makes a lasting impression," Ross said. "We're really working through what our philosophy should be. Is the purpose of middle school athletics to prepare the kids for high school varsity or a D-1 college scholarship, or is the purpose for young people to have fun, especially when you think about all the research that's out there on obesity. How do we make those programs better? How do we keep young people involved?"

Major issues facing the board ...

Ross said the major recurring issue involves transfers and sometimes the recruiting of student-athletes.

"We don't have people that are going out and looking for all that (recruiting and transfers)," he said. "We have people calling us saying, 'this happened, that happened,' and we refer it back through the schools. Another recurring issue is the question between public and non-public, is the playing field level and the perception that it may not be level. We have a committee that's worked very hard in trying to work through those issues. From year to year and depending on the tournament results, that comes back to the forertont. Recruiting comes back to the forefront if not on a daily basis, it's weekly."