Could a shot clock be coming to high school basketball in Illinois?
The water cooler debate and ever popular twitter poll about having a shot clock in high school basketball will get it's time to shine Monday.
In a weekend story from the Chicago Daily Herald, a group of suburban basketball coaches that includes St. Charles East boys coach Patrick Woods, Lake Park girls coach Brian Rupp, Burlington Central girls coach Collin Kalamatas and many more have been part of a coordinated effort to bring the shot clock to the high school game.
Whitney Young coach Ty Slaughter helped start the process, and more coaches joined a weekly Zoom call in June and July to figure out steps to make the change happen. Recently they held a town hall meeting with 60 coaches around the state joining.
"Different members take on different roles," Kalamatas said. " ... A lot of troops on the ground trying to get word out to different coaches, a girls coach at the school to talk to boys coach to get momentum built. All trying to do our part. It is a very organized movement, not just us blabbing our mouths. Trying to put pressure on the IHSA to make a decision."
A little closer to home, Benton boys' basketball coach Ron Winemiller said there hasn't been much vocal support for a shot clock in southern Illinois. That doesn't mean he's against it. It also doesn't mean he's for it.
"I certainly don't know anyone pushing for it," Winemiller said. "I guess my response to that would be, tell me the pros and cons of the shot clock? For every three pros, I can tell you three cons."
<b>Majority in favor</b>
According to Sunday's Daily Herald story, a statewide vote was held in July to see how many coaches favor a shot clock. The results were extremely positive.
A total of 870 boys and girls coaches voted with 622 voting in favor of the shot clock (71.5%). Broken down by gender, 341 boys coaches, or 74%, voted yes, and 68% of girls coaches voted in favor.
On Monday, Evanston boys coach Mike Ellis, St. Ignatius boys coach Matt Monroe, Slaughter, Woods and Kalamatas will make their case in a 10 a.m. Zoom meeting with the IHSA's executive board.
The board, made up of 11 principals from around the state, will vote following the meeting. Woods said the biggest hurdle is the shot clock goes against NFHS recommendations, but he's confident the proposal can still pass.
If approved, Woods said the clock probably wouldn't start until 2021-22. If anything, this year teams might experiment with it at random games.
There's a couple of possible rollouts. One would start with varsity and then work into lower levels in following years. The other would start with 3A and 4A schools - which 85% of coaches voted for the clock - and then go to 2A and 1A where between 57 and 60% voted in favor.
Woods said they are flexible about the timeline, they just want the shot clock approved.
Harrisburg head girls' basketball coach Jake Stewart wants a shot clock approved - but for a different reason.
"Our jobs as coaches is to prepare kids for life and anything or everything they decide to do at the next level. If that's JUCO basketball, or Division I, II, III or NAIA, what do they use? They use a shot clock. If our goal as coaches is to prepare kids to play at the next level then a shot clock needs to be a part of it."
<b>There is added cost</b>
Coaches have been working to dispel what they feel are inaccurate negative views about a shot clock. One is the cost, where quotes between $2,200 and $3,600 have been given and the thought is if a mass number of schools order the shot clocks they can reduce that slightly. There's also an extra person to pay to run the clock during the season.
Woods said schools and booster clubs will have time to plan financially. He said Slaughter has been working with NBA contacts to help cover costs at schools with fewer resources.
Coaches in favor of the shot clock believe it is long overdue at the high school level.
"Hopefully the cost isn't something that scares everyone away," Stewart said. "I'm not sure I've been to one game in our district where I haven't seen enough people able to hit a button and run a shot clock."
Winemiller noted that while the idea of a shot clock is good in theory, there is still one single issue.
"Just because you shoot the ball within the shot clock, doesn't mean it's going to go in," he said. "Games are not going to be 90-87 because of a shot clock. Is it neat, yeah. But the impact on the game is going to be minimum. It will only matter for that last minute of the quarter and the last two minutes of a game.
"I know one thing for sure, I'll play more zone because now you have to shoot it."
The Daily Herald's John Lemon contributed to this story
Spyder Dann covers prep and college sports for the Southern Illinois LOCAL Media News Group. Follow him on Twitter: @spydieshooter.