Everybody acknowledges it’s a different world today, that school sports are not the only game in town anymore. Many people also recognize that well-intentioned rules to curb excesses and abuses in school sports not only do that, but also tend to drive student-athletes to non-school coaches and programs.

Every other year or two for the past dozen years or more there has been a tweaking of rules – nothing radical – addressing what can occur out of season between school coaches and their student-athletes.

We’ve been slow to change, worrying that if we go too far too fast, we might change too much of what shouldn’t change and never be able to change it back.

This is a difficult and defining topic we must keep before us.  How much activity we allow out of season, or don’t allow, affects the nature of educational athletics in Michigan.  Both our actions to date, as well as our inactions, have already shaped our scene, for better or worse; and both will continue to do so.