So who is a candidate? That’s where the controversy lies.
Although Article 40.7.3, which defines who is a candidate, has been part of the MIAA Handbook since 2003, it reads in part: “A varsity or sub-varsity athlete who has participated in a high school program at a certain interscholastic level and eligibility remains. . . ”
Obtain starting point
“What is the definition of ‘a high school program’? Is that a school or just your own school?” MIAA deputy director Phil Napolitano posed for the board.
Defining “a high school program” as any school in the state would have a chilling effect on coaches, many of whom manage club or AAU teams in the offseason.
“If I coach baseball at Archbishop Williams,” Pembroke principal Marc Talbot said, “I can’t participate in a clinic or AAU program in that area because every kid in that area is a candidate.”
After a lengthy discussion, the board voted 20-0 with one abstention to change the wording from “a high school program” to “a high school program that they coach” for clarity. While the wording change is only a recommendation and must be approved after review by the MIAA’s attorneys, the board agreed to go further by interpreting the current rule to apply only to a coach’s home school.
“I think it’s in the best interest of all of us that this candidate is your student and we rely on the recruiting rules for any nonsense that might arise,” Hingham athletic director Jim Quatromoni said. “I don’t think it’s in our best interest if we have a shortage of coaches to let them make these decisions. And this is how the vast majority of us already operated.”
Several athletic directors noted that if the rule applied to high school students at any school, it would be impossible to police.
“We did some research in District 6 and we believe there are thousands of coaches who are violating this particular rule as it stands today,” Arlington Catholic AD Dan Shine said. “The winter season starts in a month and many people are panicking because of this.”
Yet this exact wording has been in use since 2003 and survived rule updates in 2005 and 2009 that left high school students about to enter high school.
“I think the original intent of the rule was that a candidate was someone in your own building,” said MIAA vice president Tom Arria, the AD at Cambridge Rindge & Latin. “It was someone on your roster, in your own building. It was introduced to avoid putting pressure on children to participate out of season.
MIAA Executive Director Bob Baldwin announced a 7 percent pay increase for all game officials, starting with the 2025-2026 school year. Moreover, the wages of the hockey officials would be equal to the wages of the football officials. Hockey officials will be paid the current $97 per game this season, with an increase to about $113 per game next winter, according to the National Ice Hockey Officials Association
“We’re doing everything we can to support our officials and get them where they need to be,” Baldwin said, noting that individual conferences can pay more than the MIAA’s recommended rate. “We have to be competitive with what is being paid at the AAU and youth levels.”
In a letter to One NIHOA members, committee member Mike Ober praised the MIAA’s leadership for “doing the right thing.” After two years of effort, we finally have a definitive path forward.”
Arria, chairman of the finance committee, explained the upcoming increases in the contributions each school pays to the MIAA. These are expected to increase by 6 percent in 2025-26, 5 percent in 2026-27, 4 percent in 2027-28 and by 3 percent in 2029-30 and 2030-31. “The reality of the situation, unfortunately, is that costs are rising everywhere,” Arria said. “Whatever it is, sporting goods, buses, civil servants, contributions. That’s just the way it is.”
Brendan Kurie can be reached at [email protected].