By Matt Smith
The PIAA kicked the can back to Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf when the commonwealth’s governing body for high school athletics announced in a statement Friday that it had reached no solution as to how to proceed with fall sports.
if you’re angry, good. You deserve to be.
Yes, Wolf and politicians in Harrisburg deserve a large share of the blame, too. Wolf continuously avoided dropping the hammer or offering guidance on how school sports should operate in the fall. Rather, he demurred to individual school districts to make those choices before nonchalantly stating at the end of press conference Thursday that sports should be cancelled until January.
It’s clear that nobody wants to be the bad guy.
Wolf’s surprise comments notwithstanding, it’s the PIAA’s job to take firm action. But leadership spent two days in meetings – one a closed-door executive-only session, the other open to the media – and issued vague statements offering zero updates. The people wanted answers and the PIAA dropped the ball.
When it comes to high school sports and how to proceed in the fall, Pennsylvania is a shining example of what not to do.