Rep Council Approves Expanded Basketball Schedules, Classification Changes at Winter Meeting
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
March 29, 2022
An increase in the number of regular-season games high school basketball teams are allowed to play may be the most visible action taken by the Representative Council of the Michigan High School Athletic Association during its annual Winter Meeting on March 25 in East Lansing. However, a change in classification procedure expected to bring more equity to tournament groupings should have the most far-reaching effects across all sports.
The Winter Meeting frequently serves as an opportunity for the Council to discuss items expected to come up for action at its final meeting of the school year, scheduled for May 1-2. However, the Council took a number of actions at this meeting as they relate to scheduling currently underway for the 2022-23 school year, or Spring tournaments this May.
The Council approved a Basketball Committee proposal that will allow, beginning with the 2022-23 season, high school basketball teams to play up to 22 regular-season games at every level (varsity, junior varsity and freshman). Teams previously played a maximum of 20 games during the regular season; this adjustment brings MHSAA school schedules in line with what is allowed in most other Midwest states. Additionally as part of that proposal, mandatory preseason practice was reduced by one week, allowing teams to begin playing games after 14 days instead of 21.
The Council also approved a proposal by the Classification Committee that will result in postseason divisions more reflective of the number of schools actively sponsoring teams for that season. Divisions are assigned by taking the number of teams playing a sport and dividing equally by the number of team championships awarded in that sport (for example, four in baseball and softball). Previously, by the time seasons started the smallest-school divisions in many sports ended up with fewer teams than larger-school divisions because several small schools would declare they would be sponsoring a team during the classification process in March but then be unable to do so because of lack of participation or other reasons.
With this change, schools that have indicated they will sponsor a sport but haven’t participated in that sport as a team or with individual qualifiers over the previous two years will be removed from the classification process before divisions are determined. Those schools that have been removed must then notify the MHSAA they have an active team before being added back into the tournament.
A number of other actions will affect competition as quickly as this spring’s MHSAA Tournaments, and into the 2022-23 school year.
The Council approved a Cross Country/Track & Field proposal to allow for more MHSAA Tournament opportunities for wheelchair athletes. Starting with this Spring 2022 season, Regional and Final meets will include four events for wheelchair participants – 100, 200 and 400-meter races and shot put. These events will be open to wheelchair track & field athletes at MHSAA member schools. Additionally, the Council approved the expansion of postseason Paralympic opportunities in swimming, adding a 100-yard freestyle heat to the 50-yard freestyle heat that has been offered at Finals since 2020.
In baseball and softball, the Council approved committee proposals in those sports to allow District first-round games to be played during the week before Memorial Day. Baseball may play first-round games that previous Thursday, Friday or Saturday, and softball may play that previous Thursday and Friday, beginning this upcoming season. Previously, all first-round games were played the Tuesday after Memorial Day. This change is expected to alleviate pitch count concerns in baseball and provide scheduling flexibility for later District rounds that could allow athletes – especially at small schools where baseball and softball players frequently participate in track & field – opportunities to compete in both sports during the week following Memorial Day.
Another change proposed by the Classification Committee and approved by the Council will raise the enrollment cap for cooperative hockey programs, potentially allowing for more opportunities for schools to contribute athletes who wish to play the sport. Nearly 50 percent of hockey teams playing in the MHSAA Tournament are cooperatives made up of students from multiple schools, and for hockey those schools’ enrollments now may total up to 5,500 students, an increase of 2,000 students for hockey only. Schools participating in a cooperative hockey program must continue to receive Executive Committee approval and show a demonstrated lack of participation in hockey.
The Council also approved a Classification Committee proposal that will allow football teams to opt up in division after the annual release of classifications for the upcoming season in late March/early April. Football teams may opt up one division, with Executive Committee approval, and must show reason and rationale for their request. All football opt ups will be for a minimum of two years, and the Executive Committee will consider those opt-up requests at only its April and May meetings each year.
The Council approved a number of increased benefits for MHSAA-registered game officials, including raises in postseason game fees paid to officials across all sports. Also moving forward, MHSAA officials will be provided membership in the National Association of Sports Officials (NASO), which will provide expanded liability insurance plus additional resources and professional services for all MHSAA registered officials. The Council also approved a change to the registration process and fees that will automatically provide each official registration in two sports. All three changes were proposed by the Audit & Finance Committee.
The Council also approved a rule change allowing the use of school transportation during summer, but it must be funded from school-approved activities of booster clubs, school teams, student groups and community, civic or service groups. This includes the use of busses, vans and other vehicles owned or leased by the school district or operated by any entity with which the district contracts to provide transportation services.
The Representative Council is the legislative body of the MHSAA. All but five members are elected by member schools. Four members are appointed by the Council to facilitate representation of females and minorities, and the 19th position is occupied by the Superintendent of Public Instruction or designee.
The MHSAA is a private, not-for-profit corporation of voluntary membership by more than 1,500 public and private senior high schools and junior high/middle schools which exists to develop common rules for athletic eligibility and competition. No government funds or tax dollars support the MHSAA, which was the first such association nationally to not accept membership dues or tournament entry fees from schools. Member schools which enforce these rules are permitted to participate in MHSAA tournaments, which attract more than 1.4 million spectators each year.
Gordon to Receive MHSAA Hampton Award for Championing Unified Sports
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
February 11, 2026
As athletic director at Novi High School a decade ago, Brian Gordon helped Michigan become a national leader in growing Special Olympics Unified Sports for students with intellectual disabilities. Nearly three years after retiring from school administration, he remains an impassioned advocate helping schools all over the state add these inclusive programs to their athletic offerings.
To recognize his pioneering and now continuing work in expanding these opportunities across the state, Gordon has been selected as the recipient of this year’s Nate Hampton Champion of Progress in Athletics Award by the Michigan High School Athletic Association.
The Hampton Award was created by the MHSAA’s Representative Council to honor Nate Hampton, who retired in 2021 after serving in education and educational athletics for 50 years, including the last 32 as an MHSAA assistant director. Honorees have championed the promotion and advancement of opportunities for women, minorities and other underrepresented groups within interscholastic athletics, while serving as an administrator, coach, official, educator or school sports leader in Michigan.
Gordon will receive the Hampton Award during the Michigan Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (MIAAA) annual conference, March 13-16 in Traverse City.
“To me, (Unified Sports) is absolutely the purest form of sport – what you’re supposed to get out of participating in athletics. Kids that participate in this program get every bit of that – teamwork, camaraderie, adversity, how to win, how to lose, being part of something bigger than yourself. It was, to me, just so impactful,” Gordon said. “The whole idea of more kids being involved in their athletic program, where they have the opportunity to play in front of their parents, being members of an athletic department at their school, to me was just incredible. … And the life lessons that kids learn, families learn, you can’t even measure them.
“It’s just a great, positive experience – for everyone.”
Gordon began his professional career in educational athletics in 1990 as a physical education and health teacher for Royal Oak Schools, and moved into his first athletic director/assistant principal role at Royal Oak in 2010. He left to become the director of athletic and physical education at Novi High School in 2012, retired from Novi at the end of the 2020-21 school year but then returned to Royal Oak as athletic director the following fall for two more years.
Unified Sports pair students with and without intellectual disabilities as teammates for training and competition. While at Novi, Gordon and Brighton athletic director John Thompson were inspired to bring Unified Sports not only to their schools, but to the Kensington Lakes Activities Association as a whole – and during the 2015-16 school year their schools were joined by Northville, Howell and Hartland in offering Unified teams, with the total soon growing to 13 KLAA schools. The KLAA, at Novi, hosted the first league tournament in the nation for Unified Sports teams – playing 21 basketball games during the inaugural event.
Also following his Novi retirement in 2021, Gordon became a liaison for Special Olympics of Michigan and Unified Sports. He meets with school administrators to promote Unified Sports and help districts build programs, and estimates there are more than 600 elementary, middle and high school Unified Sports teams across the state – with more than 100 high schools playing as part of leagues.
Current Unified offerings in Michigan include basketball, soccer and bocce, with track & field to be introduced this spring. Unified athletes have opportunities to play not just as part of leagues, but during special events like school-day assembly games and at venues like Little Caesars Arena in Detroit.
“Brian Gordon has spent more than 35 years promoting school sports and the athletes they serve, and who better to advocate for Unified Sports than someone who has dedicated his career to championing kids and creating opportunities for them to excel,” MHSAA Executive Director Mark Uyl said. “The MHSAA and the state’s school sports community have long benefitted from Brian’s positive approach and tremendous energy, and he’s poured all of himself into building bridges for Unified Sports in communities all over Michigan.”
In addition to his Special Olympics efforts, Gordon has served as a mentor for the MHSAA’s AD Connection Program since its creation at the start of the 2023-24 school year, working with first-year athletic directors as they transition to that role.
He’s also taught at the elementary and middle school levels, and supervised physical education and served as a health advisory chairperson at the district level. Including a season while still a college student, he has coached baseball, football, basketball and track & field from the junior high to varsity levels, including a stint as Royal Oak Kimball and Royal Oak High varsity baseball coach from 1995-2010. He was inducted into the Michigan High School Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2011 and the Michigan High School Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2021.
Gordon was selected for the MIAAA’s Jack Johnson Distinguished Service Award in 2021 and received an MHSAA Allen W. Bush Award in 2019 for his essential but often “behind-the-scenes” contributions to school sports. Previously, Gordon also was named Oakland County Athletic Director of the Year for 2018-19 by the Oakland County Athletic Directors Association, served as the OCADA president in 2014-15 and on its board from 2010-16, and also served as vice president of the Kensington Lakes Activities Association and president of the Kensington Conference. He has been a member of the MIAAA since 2008 and National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (NIAAA) since 2010, and was named a Regional Athletic Director of the Year by the MIAAA in 2018.
“Being a recipient of the Nate Hampton Award – Nate has made such a difference in educational athletics in our state for so long, that it’s truly an honor to represent him in this award,” Gordon said. “I’m really proud of the fact that we’ve been able to make a difference in the state, just like he did, with Unified Sports.”
Gordon graduated from Clawson High School in 1985 and earned his bachelor’s degree at Central Michigan University – where he also played baseball – and master’s in sports administration and school leadership from Wayne State University. He earned his certified athletic administrator (CAA) designation from the NIAAA.
Prioritizing education and students has been a family focus for the Gordons; Brian’s wife Jill Gordon also is a retired teacher. They have two children – daughter McKenzie Ribbing and son Zachary Gordon, and retirement has allowed for more time with both as well as son-in-law Mike Ribbing and granddaughter Isabel.
The first Nate Hampton Champion of Progress in Athletics Award was presented in 2024.
Past recipients
2024 – Nicole Carter, Novi
2025 – Arnetta Thompson, Wyoming
(Photos courtesy of Brian Gordon.)