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THSCA announces new partnership with Eccker Sports to help coaches navigate Name, Image, and Likeness
HOUSTON - The Texas High School Coaches Association is "not promoting" Name, Image and Likeness at the high school level. That is not changing.
But the association knows that NIL is one of the hottest topics across the country right now and has made a move to arm its more than 24,700 member coaches with the tools to make them well-equipped to educate their student-athletes on NIL.
On Monday, the THSCA partnered with Eccker Sports to provide educational services and resources to help high school coaches, administrators, student-athletes, and their parents and guardians navigate the challenges that Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) contracts are bringing to high school sports.
"We're in the process of keeping our coaches on the front porch of the recruiting process," THSCA Executive Director Joe Martin said. "As soon as we heard anything about NLI two years ago we started looking for someone that could help educate us and then our coaches. The Eccker Sports group is the group.
"They are going to be able to provide accurate and current information. Our coaches are going to be up to date immediately."
With a quick internet search on NIL comes plenty of information but with that also comes plenty of "misinformation" on the topic.
For North Shore head coach Jon Kay and others, they have been seeking "vetted and up to date" information that they can use as a resource when talking with their players.
They are faced with questions such as what is legal and what is illegal? What kind of questions should we be asking on our visits to schools? Is this coming to the high school level in Texas?
"The focus for us right now in the State of Texas is our kids in college or trying to get to the next level," Kay said. "I anticipate some changes in that as well. We're just trying to stay in front of the curve and provide the right information to people that are thoroughly confused by what they see in the media."
Summer Creek coach Kenny Harrison added: "If we can get accurate information and educate our parents it would be huge. I think the main question kids would like to know is when they get to college and sign an NLI, how does that affect grants and things of that nature. There's a lot of information that kids will be looking to get before college as well as parents.
"For us to be able to give parents this information on the high school level is very important because parents on this level have the tendency to trust and go to the coaches for all accurate information."
Currently in the United States, only nine states have laws that permit athletes to profit off their name, image and likeness. Sixteen states (including Washington, D.C.) are considering adopting new laws, while 26, including Texas, prohibit it all together at the high school level.
According to Martin, there is belief among the leadership that new legislation will be presented in the Texas Legislature come January when the new session is set to begin in Austin.
"NIL changes daily," Martin said. "We will follow the legislation starting in January and determine where we think that puts the State of Texas and what is best. We don't know really what's going to come out and how that's going to be presented. We are not promoting NIL at the high school level at this point."
From the high school coach's perspective, Kay said he has talked with other high school coaches in California and Louisiana and are dealing with NIL.
He doesn't know what the future holds in Texas as far as NLI at the high school level, but Kay said that he wants to "stay in front of the curve".
"We'll deal with it one day at a time," Kay said. "Hopefully a little bit more of an organized and efficient manner than we saw from our college counterparts. It is so new that we're just trying to make sure that we have the right information to make those decisions if and when the time comes."
Harrison added: "I know this is something we will have to deal with in the very near future. So, I think it is important that we're educated on this, so when it presents itself, we're prepared to deal with it and take it head on."
According to a news release, Eccker Sports offers a comprehensive service, including a video curriculum of six module courses online that will educate users on the history of NIL, key terms and concepts, and best practices. Additionally, the Eccker Sports resource hub has the most detailed library of NIL information for the high school market, including articles, state laws, abstracts, summaries, bylaws, interpretations, as well as college and university policies and procedures.
To access all information provided by Eccker Sports, schools have to register for an annual license at the cost of $1,500. Once that is done, families can register for just $25 per year to access the same information.
Along with the Texas High School Coaches Association, Eccker Sports is also working with the Louisiana High School Athletic Association, the Alabama Football Coaches Association and the Tennessee Football Coaches Association.
MORE REACTION ON PARTNERSHIP
Lee Wiginton, Allen HC
"I think it is incredible. I applaud the leadership of our association in getting this education piece out there. There's just so much unknown about NLI right now. We've heard about it but when we do hear about it, we talk bad about it or brush it under the rug. We do that because we simply don't, or I don't know anything about it. I'm so ill-equipped, I can't educate our kids or talk to our coaching staff. Just to have the ability to have something that can help families and our athletes who are here and have gone off to college, it's just a no-brainer. There was a need."
Mark Soto, Converse Judson HC
"You add NLI to [recruiting] and it makes it very tough for both parents and kids to pick a school that is right for their child because now you're throwing a lot of money into the factor. For us to have the option to find great information, vetted information that is true and we can sit down with parents and talk with them is huge. Because parents trust the coaches and we have to have the information to make the best decision for their child and for their child to understand what's about to go down in the next chapter in their life. It's very important for us coaches to have this education because education is power."
Coaching School Notebook: UIL talks Home School rule, Class 7A, Water Polo to start '22-23
SAN ANTONIO - There was a buzz of excitement around the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center on Sunday morning.
As the doors opened at 8 a.m., coaches from across the State of Texas flooded into the convention hall for the annual Texas High School Coaches Association Coaching School event, which was done completely virtual in 2020 due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.
An expected 14,000 coaches are slated to attend the annual event with a record 23,778 THSCA Members now registered, according to THSCA Executive Director Joe Martin.
Martin and the University Interscholastic League's Dr. Susan Elza and Dr. Jamey Harrison addressed the media on Sunday morning to talk some of the biggest topics and challenges facing high school sports as we enter the 2021-2022 calendar year.
Here were some of the biggest takeaways.
Name, Image, Likeness
NIL has dominated the news cycle since collegiate athletes were able to start making money off their Name, Image or Likeness starting on July 1 in most states. That was the case for the State of Texas, which passed bill SB 1385 to allow that. But the rule doesn't impact high school athletes.
"We are hoping to have some of that final information in the next few days but we don't control that timeline. We are in wait and see." - Harris said.
READ FULL STORY ON UIL DIGESTING NEW NIL RULES, TEXAS LEGISLATION
Home School Athletes Allowed to Play HS Sports
Another bill that the Texas Legislature passed was better known as the "Tim Tebow Bill", which would allow schools to allow homeschool students to participate in UIL activities. Schools and school districts are not required to do it but can.
"There are definitely some schools considering it," Harrison said. "But using your words, I don't think it is even close as most of the school districts will not opt in to allow that. But I don't think we will have zero opt in either, I think there will be some school districts that will allow that."
In the June UIL Legislative Council meeting, Harrison said they passed numerous rules regarding this ruling.
School districts have until August 1 to opt in for the 2021-2022 school year to allow homeschool students to participate in UIL activities. That deadline, because the law doesn't go into affect until September 1 and UIL seasons begin early August, will apply to varsity athletics only.
Could Class 7A be coming sooner than later?
As school districts continue to build and open one high school after another, eventually there will come a time that the UIL will not be able to fit them all into Class 5A & 6A.
"I think the 7A conversation is becoming more and more real," Harrison said.
So, when could we see it come to fruition?
The UIL realigns classifications and districts every two years with the next coming in February of 2022, which will give schools their districts for the 2022-2023 & 2023-2024 seasons. It won't happen then, Harrison said but it could come in either the 2024 or 2026 realignment.
"There aren't many new 2A high schools," Harrison said. "They're all 5A or 6A. They may start as 4A but in very short order they are going to grow to 5A or 6A. So, we keep adding schools at 5A and 6A and we can roughly handle about 500 of them - 250 in 6A and 250 in 5A. So, if you had 20 and now we have too many."
In the 2020 UIL Realignment, according to UIL documents there was 245 Class 6A and 252 Class 5A programs. The cutoff for Class 6A programs was 2,200 & up and Class 5A was 1,230 - 2,219 enrollment.
In Houston alone, since opening Shadow Creek has jumped from 5A to 6A and Fulshear has gone from 4A to 5A and newly opened schools Katy Jordan and Randle HS are set to be aligned into districts for football play.
Water Polo to Begin in 2022-2023
Next fall, water polo will begin its first-ever UIL season.
Water polo was added as a sport prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and it is now set for its debut a year from August. Dr. Susan Elza said it will be a fall sport running from August until October with state championships being around mid-end of October.
Schools will designate in October and January of this year what sports they will compete in for the 2022-2023, 2023-2024 athletic calendars and then be aligned into districts come February. There will be boys and girls water polo seasons.