PIAA officials acknowledge competitive balance formula has ‘room for conversation’ in future

By: Chris Harlan
Friday, January 26, 2024 | 5:28 PM

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A football team that reaches the state finals or semifinals two years in a row “is the cream of the crop in that class,” said PIAA executive director Bob Lombardi, explaining why health and safety concerns are excluded as grounds for appeal under the competitive-balance rule.

“It’s tough to make the argument that you’re not big enough, fast enough, strong enough or good enough to compete another step up, because for two years or longer, you’ve been the best of the best,” Lombardi said. “That’s where the rationale came from.”

Lombardi spoke Wednesday after the PIAA board voted to move Aliquippa football and teams from four other schools up one classification for the next two seasons. The competitive-balance rule impacts teams that have success in the state playoffs and also surpassed the threshold for transfers in a two-year period.

Aliquippa won the Class 4A state title last season and was the runner-up in 2022. The PIAA said the football team also added five transfers, which was over the limit.

The Quips successfully avoided a promotion two years ago, in part by arguing that playing schools with much larger enrollments would be a health risk. However, in the time since, the PIAA specifically excluded that health and safety argument for all teams facing promotion under the rule.

“Is that (exclusion) something that could be revisited? Absolutely,” Lombardi said. “And it might be, based on some of the information given. But it’s a success formula. It’s not a failure formula.”

Still, the PIAA board voted Wednesday to move Aliquippa to Class 5A for the next two seasons, but the vote wasn’t unanimous. All three WPIAL representatives voted “no,” along with two members of District 1 in suburban Philadelphia for a 22-5 total.

WPIAL president David McBain declined to say what motivated the WPIAL’s three “no” votes because PIAA board discussions are held in executive session, but he acknowledged “room for conversation” about the rule’s future.

“Anybody responsible for the rules, bylaws and procedures … we all have the inherent responsibility to try to make them fair, firm and consistent across the board for everybody,” said McBain, the athletic director at West Allegheny. “There is always going to be interpretations to that, sometimes even within the board room itself as you saw the other day. But our goal has always been to do the best we can for the member schools as a whole.”

The rule — officially called the PIAA competition formula — has changed a number of times since its creation 2018. The first tweak was to reduce the threshold for transfers allowed, cutting football to two and basketball to one. Last July, the PIAA board voted to expand the competitive-balance rule to all team sports.

The rule nearly got a complete overhaul last winter when the board considered eliminating transfers from the formula. The proposal to make the rule entirely success-based passed the PIAA board by two votes, but, ultimately, was denied on a third and final reading in December 2022.

Many of the affected schools who had appeal hearings Wednesday disagreed with how the PIAA counts transfers. The Aliquippa football team had five, but Quips coach Mike Warfield argued unsuccessfully that they provided no competitive advantage.

PIAA chief operating officer Mark Byers said there is always discussion by the board to make the rule better. Some of the ongoing talk has focused specifically on the transfer element of the formula.

“I don’t think this is the final version of what you’ll see,” Byers said. “In applying this to all team sports, there are going to be different arguments made that may not have been considered previously. So we’re going to constantly evaluate it and make changes as appropriate.”

Lombardi acknowledged some limitations to the rule, including that teams in the top classification aren’t affected because there is nowhere higher to move them. That means teams in Class 6A football can accept an unlimited number of transfers.

“We understand the six classification issue,” Lombardi said, adding that the PIAA has studied what other states have done, including a “super class” option above 6A, such as California uses.

“You just don’t have enough schools,” he added. “So we’re looking at some other things. Maybe the number of transfers? Or the number of years you have success at the highest level? Those are all things that could be discussed.”

Along with Aliquippa football, the PIAA board on Wednesday also voted to promote the Steelton-Highspire and Wyomissing football teams, along with Villa Maria field hockey and Springfield Township boys soccer. Bishop Guilfoyle football was the only team to win its appeal this year.

“The competition formula isn’t punishment,” Lombardi said. “It’s looking at trying to balance what we have.”

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.

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