Wisconsin high schools to consider additional summer coaching contact days

STEVENS POINT, Wis. (Civic Media) – High school administrators will consider allowing additional days for summer coaching contact at the WIAA Annual Meeting on April 25.

The proposed constitutional amendment is one of five up for a vote at the association’s annual meeting in Stevens Point.

Currently, the rules allow for five days of coaching contact in the summer outside of a sport’s season. Schools will vote on whether to open that up to every day in the summer, specified as June 1 or the day after the last day of school through July 31.

The proposal allows for unrestricted coaching contact days during the summer except July 1 to July 7 for the Independence Day holiday, as well as the seven days leading up to the first day of football practice, known colloquially as the “dead week.”

Football would also be further restricted in not allowing fully-padded summer practices. Student-athletes would be restricted to helmets and shoulder pads only after heat acclimation.

In neighboring states, Illinois schools voted to trim summer coaching contact days from 25 to 20. Minnesota allows varying levels of coaching contact days during the summer, but football is limited to 11 practices, four of which can be full contact. Iowa already allows unrestricted summer contact.

Per NFHS rules, all summer coaching contact can’t be mandatory – student-athletes can choose whether to participate.

Supporters of the amendment said it will eliminate administrative burdens, as coaching contact is monitored by athletic directors and violations are self-reported. It also would give student-athletes more access to school coaches as opposed to club or travel team coaches, and more opportunities to work with their school community peers.

Opponents believe that there will be pressure on students to participate in the contact days, even if they aren’t mandatory, and that it could conflict with other school activities and family events. Coaches could also be under some pressure to give up family time to provide additional coaching opportunities in their sport during the summer.

Summer coaching contact isn’t the only hot topic on the Annual Meeting agenda. Schools will also vote on whether to allow student-athletes to enter into name, image, and likeness deals. Wisconsin is one of nine states that don’t allow NIL deals. The vote on NIL failed last year by 49 votes out of 369 cast.

Also on the agenda is a rule that would require spectators ejected from a contest to have take an online course in sportsmanship before being allowed back into that venue. In 2021, WIAA membership added a one-game suspension to the rules to discourage unruly fan behavior.

Another measure would take cross country out of the team sports subject to the Tournament Performance Factor. Small schools lobbied complaints that the system penalized programs that might not win a sectional or state event, but be forced to compete against schools multiple times larger in the postseason anyways in the three-division sport.

A proposal to allow freshmen (9th grade) teams to play the same number of games as JV and Varsity in the regular season also made the agenda. All five proposed amendments, as well as some proposed editorial changes to the constitution, were approved unanimously to be placed on the Annual Meeting agenda.

The WIAA Annual Meeting will be held on April 25 in Stevens Point. You can see the proposed amendments by clicking here.

You can watch the Annual Meeting on April 25 at 9 a.m. by clicking here.