State considers ‘mercy’

Adam Candee

Thursday, May 1, 2003 | 9:42 a.m.

Valley girls' hoops coach Barney Holmes knows both sides of owning a big lead on the basketball court.

The obvious joy of a strong victory is satisfying, certainly, but there is also the delicate matter of gently letting down the battered opponent without embarrassing or insulting them.

Sometimes, the latter is the hardest part.

"I passed the ball for almost an entire quarter," Holmes said of one recent blowout win. "I even played a zone. I don't play zone defense very much."

The National Federation of State High School Associations is seeking to take some of the guesswork out of the equation for coaches and players. Spurred by several terribly lopsided games in the past few years, the federation recently approved a change that will encourage individual states to enact a "mercy rule" that allows the game clock to continuously run late in essentially decided contests.

State associations are not required to make the change, a standard operating practice of the national federation according to Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association director Dr. Jerry Hughes. It will also be up to each state to set the score and time at which the mercy rule would kick in.

"I think a lot of schools would like that rule," Hughes said.

Hughes said the rule will likely be added to the NIAA Board of Control's June agenda as a discussion item. The rule could potentially be enacted in Nevada for the coming season, although Clark County School District athletics director Larry McKay cautions that coaches would need to be surveyed before any decision is made.

Local coaches, especially in the girls' game, are generally supportive of the mercy rule. One area coach who declined to be named even admitted to enacting such a setup for a home game against a far less skilled opponent in a previous season.

"I think that (rule) is a great idea," Holmes said. "It offsets poor coaching. It's overdue."

Western girls' coach Mel Washington feels that teams like his own risk demoralizing opponents by unintentionally running up the score in a sport that does not lend itself to hiding from scoring.

"You don't want to embarrass the kids and take the heart away from the kids," Washington said.

In the past two seasons, defending 4A state champion Centennial has won a number of games by 50 points or more, and Cheyenne even walked off the court in a game against the Bulldogs last year. Bulldogs coach Karen Weitz countered by pointing out that she only has nine players to put in, most of whom are starter quality.

"You can't tell your kids not to play, not to do what you've practiced," Durango boys' coach Al LaRocque said.

A mercy rule might lessen the impact in these lopsided games by eliminating stoppages on fouls and substitutions. The national federation also hopes to cut down on frustration fouls to increase player safety.

"I don't see anything really wrong with it," Hughes said.

Coaches in the boys' game generally sounded more tepid to the idea, saying that boys contests do not tend to produce the same blowout scores that uneven girls' games do.

"Most coaches are comfortable with the way it is now," Bishop Gorman boys' coach Grant Rice said. "You rarely see a blowout by more than 30 points."

"It's almost more embarrassing if you do have the mercy rule put on you."

The mercy rule already exists in a number of other prep sports, including the 10-run rule in baseball and softball that ends many games after five innings. LaRocque thinks that putting such a rule into basketball could be helpful for coaches.

"The mercy rule takes the heat off the coach," LaRocque said. "If you coach long enough, you'll be on both sides of the score. There's no reason to prolong the agony of the inevitable."