Bonine gazes into an uncertain future for the LHSAA with latest moves

“Round and round she goes, where she stops, nobody knows.”

The current state of the LHSAA would seem to fit the description of the old, frequently used axiom to describe a spinning wheel or an uncertain future.

The latter is most certainly appropriate to describe the current state of the LHSAA after multiple votes on Friday allowed select schools to stage their own championship events, beginning with football this year and expanding to basketball, baseball and softball in 2020.

LHSAA Executive Director Eddie Bonine is charged with trying to make it all work.

Bonine was a guest on The Three Tailgaters Show with Ed Daniels and I on WGSO, 990 AM this morning.

Bonine said he was not caught off guard or surprised by the votes to separate championships on non-select and select lines in four sports (football, basketball, baseball, softball).

“I thought that the moves were a possibility,” Bonine said. “Some things happened early on at the beginning of the convention and that kind of had me prepared for yesterday. Some early votes on some items kind of threw me but then we revisited items and it seemed as though that changed what was going to happen. At that point, all of the items passed, not by much but they passed.”

It is back to the drawing board for Bonine and his staff with more sites for championships now in the immediate future.

“We’re in a position where we have to try to regroup and make it right for everybody,” Bonine said. “These are unchartered waters. I will work diligently with whoever I need to work with but I think in the grand scheme, regardless of where anybody is playing their postseason events, we need to address the playoff structure and how those teams get to that event. I think right now, that’s probably my first priority.”

Many have speculated from one end of the spectrum to the other about what the split championships will mean for the future of the current structure of the LHSAA.

Some feel it may help mend fences and perhaps eventually end the split in the four sports while others feel it is the first step for select schools to leave the LHSAA and start their own organization.

“I am not sure where this is going, we have never been here before,” Bonine said. “For me to speculate on that would be remiss on my behalf. I’m going to do the best I can. I am going to reach out to you and others who have been here a long time for guidance. It could be a larger step forward in the divide or it could very well be a step toward normalcy back toward the middle. I am not going to speculate one way or the other. My charge is to make this good for the students.”

Bonine admits that he is concerned that the moves could lead to a further split in the organization.

“Yes, it is a concern,” Bonine said. “I have a handful of e-mails from people asking if they have to play district games or wondering if they can re-do their district. Questions like if their playoffs are before ours, what do we do with our district schedule? Who’s going to pay for the officials? In some ways, it looks like two different organizations still under my supervision. Those are all things we are going to have to work through.”

Outgoing LHSAA Marketing Director Mitch Small addressed concern about the possibility losing sponsors and that had an impact on the votes Friday. Could the moves impact the continued sponsorship of the Allstate Sugar Bowl, the presenting sponsor of all LHSAA championship events?

“It could, but there is no specific language in the contract, including with the Allstate Sugar Bowl which would address what we did yesterday,” Bonine said. “The concern I had with the Allstate Sugar Bowl is if there is a complete tear between the two organizations, that jeopardizes that contract we have with the Sugar Bowl. I’m still in that shock and awe phase. We have to regroup, talk on Monday as a staff and start reaching out to our sponsors and see what their sentiment is.”

Several private schools have expressed possibly moving their football championship games away from the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, where all championships have been staged since 1981. Bonine feels strongly about all championships remaining in the Dome.

“Since I’ve been here, all I’ve heard is the road to the Dome, kids trying to get to the Superdome, watching the eyes of those young athletes as they walk in on those practice days, having a chance to gravitate to the Fleur de Lis in the middle of the Dome,” Bonine said. “I will argue that until my career ends here. That (Superdome) is a special venue. I have colleagues around the nation talk to me about how special it is.”

Bonine says it is the students who will regret not having a chance to play in the Poydras Street facility if select school members decide to play title games elsewhere.

“It’s unfortunate that there’s a group of students in the 109 select schools we have, those that offer football that won’t have the opportunity to play in the Superdome unless they are able to garner some type of deal with SMG, which manages the Dome, to rent the facility for a day to play in there,” Bonine said.

Bonine made a genuine sincere effort to reunite the split organization upon his arrival in December of 2014, a split perpetrated under the regime of his predecessor, Kenny Henderson. He nearly lost his job doing so.

“You know that when I got here, I was charged to try to stick to what we had previously and it didn’t work,” Bonine said. “We have done nothing but get further apart but maybe this will give everybody an opportunity to pause and do what they want to do with what they have. It just makes some decisions for me and my staff and you as a media person and other media that do a great job of covering prep sports. You now have to pick and choose.”

Bonine is concerned about a reduction in media covering championships with so many different venues and what are bound to conflicting dates.

“I know many of you are stretched with what you do now,” Bonine said. “Some of those championships may conflict. There are so many unintended or intended variables that have to addressed. I think it’s just going to take time. I hope when its done that it looks like something like it looked back in the day. At this point, I can’t say one way or the other. Our staff will work our tails off to make sure that all are special events.”

It is safe to say that Bonine inherited a fractured organization. The bone has not healed. The break has, unfortunately, grown larger. All of this growing mess could be solved if principals would vote to reunite as one organization with everyone competing with each other but there is still a lack of sentiment (and votes) for that to occur.

Until that happens, if it ever occurs, look for more moves like those we saw occur yesterday continue to rise to the surface to complicate an already complicated organization more until the bone breaks completely.