Time’s A-Wastin’ : Rule Change Resulting in Longer Football Games Has Drawn Criticism From Some Coaches, Officials

The biggest debate of this year’s prep football season has not been lopsided scores, questionable officiating or ineligible players.

No, the biggest debate has centered on the game clock, or more specifically, the national rule change that determines when the game clock starts after a change of possession. It’s a rule change designed to bring the high school game closer in line with the college and pro versions, but in doing so, it has lengthened games considerably, and therein lies the problem.

The new rule has its detractors . . .

“I personally don’t like it,” El Toro Coach Mike Milner said. “Under the new rule the games get over with too late. Our first game this year was against San Clemente, and it lasted between two hours 45 minutes and three hours. That doesn’t make sense.”

But it also has its supporters . . .

“It’s much ado about nothing,” Servite Coach Larry Toner said. “Can you really say how much time it adds? We have not gone back to the old rule because we don’t practice that way. And in the playoffs, you’ll have to play under the new rule.

“Except for extreme circumstances, I don’t think the rule has that kind of impact. I can understand why they went to it because no official starts the clock the same way. This takes the capriciousness out of it.”

No matter, this type of controversy is not what the National Federation of State High School Athletic Assns., the governing body for high school sports, had in mind when it approved the rule in January.

The federation’s football rules committee rewrote Rule 3-4-3b to read, in layman’s terms: After a change of possession, the clock will start with the center’s snap of the ball.

Previously, the clock was started by the referee after the down markers were set and the ball was spotted on the field.

So how much additional time does the new rule add? As long as it takes for a team to huddle, call a play, line up and snap the ball--anywhere from 10 to 25 seconds--on each change of possession.

In a single game, those numbers can add up. Take the three-hour game Oct. 25 between El Modena and Santa Ana Valley, which included two 45-minute quarters, a 40-minute quarter, a 20-minute quarter and a 30-minute halftime for El Modena’s homecoming festivities.

While the rules committee knew it was lengthening the game, one wonders if it knew what impact the new rule would have.

The teeth-gnashing this season ranges from local football coaches to Southern Section Commissioner Dean Crowley. Those who do not like the new rule cite several reasons:

* The games last too long. Coach Bruce Rollinson said it took 52 minutes for his Mater Dei Monarchs and Santa Ana Valley to complete a single quarter in a season-opening game. Rollinson said penalties and the fact that both teams passed the ball a lot contributed to the length of the quarter, but he said those factors were not as much at fault as was the rule change.

“In my experience, I can’t think of another rule that has caused this type of problem,” he said. “I feel they have given [the new rule] enough chances to work. The problems it’s causing are glaring, especially the length of a game.”

This is especially apparent after Thursday night games. Teachers and administrators are seeing tired students in their Friday morning classes, if they come to school at all.

“The new rule has made it a late night for kids,” said Jim Morrison, Bolsa Grande principal and president of the Garden Grove League. “Each school in our league will play two to three Thursday games this year. We voted to start them at 7. We changed to that because we thought they would get home earlier.”

Said Jack Clement, El Toro’s principal and president of the Sea View League: “I have seen some 7:30 games last until 10:45. If it’s a TV game, plus the new rule, plus a long halftime like homecoming, it can really be hard on a Thursday night.”

* Increased costs in areas such as transportation. State law prohibits school bus drivers from working more than 16 hours a day. Drivers who worked in the morning and taken teams, bands and cheerleaders to a game that evening, could be forced to leave games without passengers if their shifts run past 16 hours. If caught driving a bus beyond a 16-hour shift, drivers and school districts could be fined.

“We travel a long way for home and away games,” Esperanza football Coach Gary Meek said. “We used to take three buses, and our district buses cost $200 a bus. Now under the new rule and with the 16-hour law, we’ve had to charter. Charters are $300 a bus.

“The increased cost has already been added to the transportation [fees] we will charge kids next year.”

* Increased chances for injury. “The teams without depth get tired faster, and they’re staying on the field longer,” said Jim Patterson, Esperanza boys’ athletic director and a football referee. “They say when you have fatigue is when the injury factor goes up.”

There are no statistics to prove there has been a rise in injuries, but in a season when a couple Southern California high school players have died after playing football (including Coronado quarterback Adrian Taufaasau during a game against Costa Mesa Sept. 20), more than one administrator admitted concerns about putting athletes in needless jeopardy.

“It’s a dumb rule,” said Wayne Mickaelian, principal at Laguna Hills and Pacific Coast League president. “It’s my feeling that in high school football, there is great chance for injury. That’s why I don’t want the games lengthened. The coaches may not agree; I can’t speak for them, but I believe the athletes are out there longer than they should be.”

Crowley had an even stronger reaction to the rule.

“I’ve been around [the section] 20 years, and officiated for 30 years, and I’ve never seen a rule impact schools like this,” he said.

“It started with officials [required to be at varsity games an hour before kickoff] not getting to games on time [because they often worked an afternoon underclassman game the same day]. Now, officials want more money because they work longer.

“Security people at games are costing more because of the game lengths, as is the cost of hiring medical people.”

Crowley said Jack Hayes, CIF executive director, spoke with National Federation officials three weeks ago asking them to consider rescinding the rule. Hayes was turned down, but he did receive permission to allow freshman and junior varsity games to be played under the old rule.

Crowley took it one step further. He told his Southern Section schools that he was interpreting National Federation Rule 3-1-3, which states game times could be shortened in any emergency by agreement of the opposing coaches and the game referee, as the loophole to allow games to be played under the old rule.

“The emergency being the sudden rises in costs schools were incurring because of the new rule,” Crowley said.

Nine of the county’s 11 leagues have taken advantage of Crowley’s ruling and will either finish the regular season under the old rule or allow their coaches and the referees to make the decision on a game-by-game basis.

Only the Olympic and Century leagues will stick by the new rule this season, but Century League president Ralph Jameson said that could change next year.

“If we have the option in the future, we may look at possibly going back to old rule,” said Jameson, Canyon High principal. “Personally, I prefer games last long because of play and not because of a rule change. I don’t think this is necessary.”

*

Crowley said he attended the Oct. 13-16 meetings of sections 7/8, which oversee high school sports in 11 Western states. After many discussions about the new rule, Crowley said, the section executive directors--representing Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming--voted unanimously to recommend the National Federation return to the old rule next season.

In addition, Larry Hughes, who represents the Western states at National Federation meetings, is working on a proposal that would ask the federation’s football rules committee to rescind the rule.

Hughes, executive director of the Nevada Interscholastic Federation, said his state’s high school teams have encountered some of the same problems as Southern Section teams have.

“We often play triple-headers--freshman, junior varsity and varsity,” said Hughes, from his office in Reno. “By the time all three games were over it was getting to 10:45 and 11 p.m. And we’re entering the colder part of the year.”

Not all county coaches are opposed to the new rule.

“We’ve played every game under the new rule,” Dana Hills Coach Scott Orloff said. “To be honest, I haven’t seen much of a difference. I think the time factor has not had a great impact. Why should the clock start on [the referee’s signal]? They should wait till a play is run. But again, I don’t care which way it goes.”

Said Orange Lutheran Coach Jim Kunau: “Overall, I like it because it will lead to one to three more possessions a game. But I also think it’s neat if officials ask both coaches about playing under the rule. When we played Corona del Mar, they wanted to play under the old rule and we accommodated. As long as coaches agree on which rule to play under, it can circumvent problems.”

Said veteran Orange Coach Dick Hill: “I think the rule is a good thing. Officials are too inconsistent. I don’t like the extended length of game times, in regards to high school. But it is effective and I think the right thing to do.”

*

None of the problems or complaints that have arisen this season were foreseen by the National Federation, whose headquarters are in Kansas City, Mo.

Dick Schindler, federation assistant executive director and a member of the football rules and editorial committees, said the change was proposed and adopted to provide more uniformity with the college and professional rules.

“The rule was put in to bring consistency in the timing of games,” Schindler said. “Last year, the clock starts were dependent on how quickly the ball and chains were moved and how long it took referees to signal to start the clock. A game’s time depended on their efficiency. Now, the timing is dictated by when teams snap the ball.

“We thought it would [extend contests] 10-15 minutes longer a game. Someone checked the game reports from a year ago. They looked at 100 games. We estimated each time you use the rule, it would be an extra 15 seconds a play. We don’t have anything definite, that’s our average.”

Larry Rice of Santa Cruz, the California representative on the national football rules committee and the editorial committee (which writes the official rule book language), said he voted for the rule change.

“The intention was to give some greater consistency among the three rule books as far as the timing of the game,” Rice said. “It also was to give high school players a fuller measure of [actual] playing time. You have 48 minutes on the clock and you want to give the full measure of those minutes. By changing the starting of the clock to the snap, you did not use up the playing time during non-playing activities, like moving the chains.

“I have to say that when the rule was changed, we heard initially from some coaches and officials organizations saying it would create problems. I think there was an initial reaction that snowballed.”

Crowley seems convinced the rule will eventually be overturned. “I’ll bet it is changed next year, “ he said.

But it won’t be easy. For the National Federation to change the rule, it would require the approval of two-thirds of the 51 federation voting members. The Western voters must rally support from the East, South and Midwest voters. Only Tennessee and Texas do not play under National Federation rules.

Even in California there are sections that are having no difficulties adapting to the new rule.

“I have not had one call of complaint,” San Diego Section Commissioner Jan Jessop said. “We got the memo from Jack Hayes, but decided not to go back to the old rule. There have been some games that have gone maybe 20 minutes longer, but no one has gotten upset.”

Correspondent Patrick Larkin contributed to this story.