LHSAA Concludes 2023-2024 Season with Executive Committee Summer Meeting
by: William Weathers // GeauxPreps.com Contributor
The LHSAA’s executive committee brought its 2023-24 school year to a close Thursday with its annual summer meeting, but the group listened to a presentation that could potentially lead to the addition of another sport in two years.
With the city of New Orleans set to host the 2025 Super Bowl, the NFL is trying to capitalize on a surging interest nationwide in girls flag football – a sport that’s currently sanctioned in 10 states.
Could Louisiana be next?
Elicia Sheridan and Austin Pasco were on hand at the LHSAA’s offices representing the New Orleans Saints to pitch the idea to the LHSAA’s executive committee of broadening the sport statewide.
Sheridan told the committee that New Orleans hosted a 10-team pilot league on the 50th anniversary of Title IX with games played at the Saints practice facility that drew overwhelming support.
“Our ultimate goal is to have this sanctioned in Louisiana,” Sheridan said.
The NFL initiative was well received with ‘great’ attendance, Sheridan said. Games were conducted in the spring with each team being comprised of seven players each playing two, 20-minute halves with a running clock until the final two minutes of each half.
Sheridan said it was common to see Saints’ standout linebacker Demario Davis attend games and lend his support. The Saints and some of their cooperate partners covered the cost of the league, she added.
LHSAA executive director Eddie Bonine, who received an email Wednesday from the National Federation of High Schools asking for his participation in a Zoom call June 18 on girls flag football, said his office will begin surveying schools about their interest in the pilot program for the proposed spring sport.
He said the LHSAA would need to start with 80 schools in a two-year pilot program before moving toward a two-year probationary period.
“We’ve met in this office, we’ve talked about facilities, officiating training for coaches,” Bonine said. “This is the NFL’s hot promotional baby. I won’t get in their way. I will cooperate. I have a great relationship with (New Orleans Saints/Pelicans executive vice president/general manager) Mickey Loomis, anybody involved in the Saints’ organization. I’ll do anything to help them.”
Southern states such as Alabama, Georgia and Florida are among the 10 states where the sport is currently sanctioned. They’re joined by Alaska, Arizona, California, Nevada, New York, Illinois and Tennessee.
Before leaving for his current post in Louisiana, Bonine implemented such a flag football program in Nevada where the southern part of the state was more conducive to conduct the sport in the winter.
“As I understand, in some of the games, the attendance is better than some of the tackle football games,” Bonine said.
The summer meeting, which lasted approximately five hours and accounted for several sportsmanship hearings in close-door executive session, provided an endorsement to Bonine after the executive committee’s evaluation with a score of 3.8 on a 4.0 (perfect) scale.
“I’m very appreciative of the committee,” said Bonine, who has three years remaining on his current contract. “ I work hard and I’m as transparent as a I can with what I can. I have open lines of communication with the committee.”
The executive committee also approved its championship sites for the next two years with 16 of 17 sports remaining in their current venue.
The only change that will take place will be in powerlifting, where after a two-year run at the Cajundome in Lafayette, will tentatively move to the Pontchartrain Center in Kenner.
The Shreveport-Bossier City area received competition from UL-Monroe but will remain as host of the state wrestling championships, and Sulphur will also host both the baseball and softball championships after Broussard expressed interest in hosting the softball event.
Bonine said the LHSAA is scheduled to appear in a New Orleans courtroom over a three-day period in mid-November after Newman basketball coach Randy Livingston filed an injunction on Jan. 18 against the LHSAA, allowing him to coach the remainder of the 2023-24 season.
Newman won its third straight Division III state championship with a 59-46 victory over University High.
Livingston was suspended for a year and Newman stripped of all its wins over a three-year period, including two state championships on Dec. 14, when the LHSAA cited Livingston for improperly recruiting players.
Livingston countered with a lawsuit against the LHSAA on Dec. 29 to stop the LHSAA’s actions until a hearing and later received the preliminary injunction that enabled him to coach the Greenies to their third straight state title.
In other business, Bonine commended the job of outgoing director of communications, Vincent Cacioppo. The Shreveport native resigned last week after a four-year run with the LHSAA to move to Texas and his position, which was posted on the organization’s website, had drawn 21 applicants. … Westgate High in New Iberia made a presentation to the executive committee to drop from Division I to Division II for this upcoming year’s football and boys’ basketball state playoffs. … Former Teurlings Catholic principal Mike Boyer was awarded with a 50-year service award for his continued role as public address announcer for three of the LHSAA’s state championships – cross country, indoor and outdoor track.