H.S. notebook: PIAA survey on shot clocks will be ‘good litmus test’ for hotly debated topic

By: Chris Harlan
Friday, May 16, 2025 | 8:55 PM

Shot clocks or no shot clocks?

The PIAA is tabulating results from its recent survey of schools and game officials to gauge their interest in adding the timing devices for high school basketball. But the survey alone won’t decide whether Pennsylvania ultimately adds the clocks, PIAA executive director Bob Lombardi said Friday.

“We need a good litmus test on what exactly is out there and how people feel,” he said.

Lombardi said the survey will be a source of information for members of the basketball steering committee, not a decisive vote on the hotly debated issue. A similar survey in 2022 found shot clock proponents and opponents were evenly split.

“Part of the thing with statistics is, it’s also meaningful to have rationale with those (numbers),” Lombardi said. “That’s where the steering committee can come in. We can take that (survey) back to them, and those individuals can voice their concern in discussions around the table.”

The committee can make a recommendation. The PIAA board has the final say. If the board decided to approve the shot clocks, they wouldn’t be added to games until the 2026-27 season at the earliest, Lombardi said.

“Let’s see where it goes,” he said. “I’m interested to see how it comes out.”

Three years ago, some schools opposed the shot clock because of the need to find, train and pay a shot clock operator. Others balked at the cost to buy and install clocks, which remain a four- or five-figure purchase.

PIAA associate executive director Pat Gebhart said the clocks range from $5,000 to $20,000 depending on the model but noted that installation costs have improved with the availability of wireless versions.

Also, they no longer need to be mounted.

“Originally, it had to be mounted on the backboard,” Gebhart said of NFHS requirements. “The Federation got away from that, and it can be put on the floor now. I think that’s helpful to some schools. That can keep the cost down and won’t require extensive wiring.”

The 2022 survey found 49.2% in favor of the shot clock and 50.8% opposed. Lombardi described the feedback he’s heard more recently from basketball coaches as “half and half.”

But he said coaching opinions surely vary by region and might differ just as much based on a team’s talent level.

“Some of the coaches were very vehemently against it for taking away a technique they have to win the game,” Lombardi said. “Some people have said, ‘I think this is going to make the rich richer.’”

A 35-second shot clock would prevent a team from holding the ball for extended stretches, a strategy some coaches find useful. But Gebhart noted that adding a shot clock would change the current five-second closely guarded violation.

So, there might be new strategies.

“If you have a Phil Ford that can dribble the ball for 35 seconds, you can run the clock down pretty easily,” Gebhart said of the former North Carolina point guard and 1979 NBA Rookie of the Year. “Even if the defender is within six feet of you, there is no five-second count when dribbling. That’s one little caveat that we haven’t talked much about.”

School district budgets are already set for the upcoming year, so asking them to buy shot clocks now would be unreasonable, Lombardi said. If they’re approved, the PIAA has ruled out shot clock use in the 2025-26 season.

“We’ve got to give people lead time,” he said. “It would be minimally one year away. And it may be more than that.”

Ticket policy approved

The PIAA wants fans to purchase postseason tickets online but will provide assistance for those having issues with electronic ticketing, according to a formal ticket policy adopted Wednesday.

The PIAA has used electronic ticketing since 2020.

“There was a feeling that we didn’t have a (written) policy of what we’re doing presently in our policies and procedures,” Lombardi said. “So, we codified what we’re doing.”

Lombardi noted that many championship sites such as Giant Center won’t accept cash at the gate. The newly adopted policy says the PIAA will help customers “who may have challenges with electronic ticketing by offering a support person and alternate forms of entry which may include the use of credit and debit cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay and cash.”

Cash payments, if needed, must be in exact amounts.

“The school folks really like not handling cash,” Lombardi said. “On a Friday night football game, you’ve got an awful lot of cash and now you have to try and deposit it.”

New vice president

Two of the three officers leading the PIAA board are keeping their jobs for another year.

PIAA president Frank Majikes and treasurer Paul Leonard both were reelected to their positions Wednesday. They’ll be joined next school year by Shamokin superintendent Chris Venna, who was newly elected as vice president.

Majikes, the principal at Wilkes-Barre Area Career and Technical Center, is the District 2 chairman. Leonard, the athletic director at Shade High School in Somerset County, is the District 5 chairman.

Venna, the District 4 chairman, is finishing his seventh year as superintendent at Shamokin in Northumberland County. He replaces former PIAA vice president Bob Hartman, the District 11 chairman, who retired as athletic director at Whitehall in Lehigh County.

Chris Harlan is a TribLive reporter covering sports. He joined the Trib in 2009 after seven years as a reporter at the Beaver County Times. He can be reached at charlan@triblive.com.