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WHSAA commissioner comments on NIL and reclassification

 

Commissioner of the Wyoming High School Activities Association (WHSAA), Trevor Wilson, spoke with SVI recently about some of items on the summer agenda for the organization.

• 4A Football and

Potential Reclass

One rumor that had been kicking around the state this past year was the potential of Cheyenne South to request a different schedule in order to try and gain a level of competitiveness. Since coming online in 2011, the Bison have won just ten total games in 14 seasons and have not won a varsity contest since 2019.

RELATED: WHSAA COMMISSIONER TREVOR WILSON RADIO INTERVIEW

“South has decided that they will fulfill a schedule like they have in the past,” Wilson responded. “If their numbers affect that during the season, they will make that decision but they are planning on those ten games this upcoming season.”

One rumor had a potential South change in schedule could mean a team like Star Valley could potentially schedule a program like Sheridan. That will not be the case.

• 2024-25 Reclass Year

Trevor Wilson

This past school year of 2024-25 was the first in a two-year reclassification cycle that saw the top 15 schools in terms of Average Daily Membership (ADM) compete in the 4A classification as they were all over 700 in their high school. This was the first time the WHSAA changed from keeping a specific number at a classification and in so doing, created an imbalance between the 4A West which had eight teams and the 4A East which had seven. The 2025-26 season will have the same format.

“I think overall it went well,” Wilson stated of the change. “There are some challenges but for the most part we worked through it. The [Activity Directors] will meet this summer and maybe make some changes to some of the regional formats. We will get our new numbers sometime in August. Those will be used for the next reclass cycle. Those would be used for 26-27 and 27-28.”

Currently the ADM numbers have Star Valley as the 11th largest school in the state with an average of 919. The largest in the 4A class, Kelly Walsh has 2,035. The smallest is Riverton with 763. Those same numbers have Kemmerer competing in the 2A classification with 188 and Cokeville currently at 68. The Panthers compete in 1A with the exceptions of football and wrestling where they compete in 2A.

One other hot-button topic across the country is that of Name, Image and Likeness, or NIL for short. This is the ability of student athletes to make money off their persona. Wilson commented on Wyoming’s current discussion about this topic at the high school level.

“As an association we felt it was time to move something forward and let our schools decide,” he stated. “So as of now, our NIL policy passed first reading. It will come out in September again for a second reading. I don’t believe it will pass based on things I”m hearing right now. There is a lot of fear with NIL. I think people immediately think of the NCAA. The two things really aren’t comparable. Our students and families deserve the opportunity to earn NIL money just like the ones in the other 42 other states who have that. But that’s just my personal opinion.”

Wilson also pointed out that even among those 42 states who have NIL policies, there is a very small number of high school athletes earning cash. He also noted there are policies in place to prevent someone from paying to entice an athlete to change programs.

“The biggest difference and most glaring is that the money that is tied to the colleges compared to the high school is not even close,” Wilson said. “Of all the states that have NIL policies, less than 2% have a deal. Of that 2%, less than 1% actually collect any cash. With our current policies we have a lot of restrictions. You cant be in school uniforms, things can’t be done in the school day or during practice. Those are in place now to protect the athlete and the schools and the teams from having those interruptions.  We still have transfer rules and we still have undue influence rules. For example in Casper, if you wanted to get a kid to go from NC to KW, that’s undue influence and the could potentially make that athlete ineligible.”

Finally, one discussion that will be ongoing is a five-class proposal. Unlike previous five-class proposals of the past, this one is just for the smallest schools in the state.

“In a nutshell, it keeps 4A,3A and 2A the same but it takes 1A and creates another class of 1A and 1B,” Wilson added. “It does create some potential questions with culminating events, but it’s only for volleyball and basketball.

That topic is expected to be discussed at the September meeting.