2020 Selection Committee Changes

To: All MHSLCA Head Coaches and AD’s of member schools

From:  James Carl, President of the Michigan High School Lacrosse Coaches Association

Re: Changes to the selection process for 2020 All Americans

 

Dear Head Coaches and AD’s,

 

There has been a great deal of discussion about how our Association will administer post season honors for both All State and US Lacrosse’s All American. The two processes are independent of each other, but we are trying to have them done in a way that is appropriate and fair for our student-athletes.

 

The process for 2020’s All State is posted under that link at the top of our page. .  Our Vice President, Andrew Kransberger, (Chair of the All-State Selection Committee) is administer the changes.  

 

The process for selecting US Lacrosse’s All American is also going through change.  As the HS Area Chairman, I have a little latitude in the process used.  This latitude was built in by US Lacrosse prior to the 2019 season.  After discussions with a large number of coaches, we have decided to change the way we select US Lacrosse’s All-Americans. We will move back to a selection by Committee beginning in 2020 rather than having all members vote.

 

Bullet pointed below are some, but not all, of the reasons why the decision was made to move to an All-American Selection committee:

 

  • Most of the coaches that vote have not seen the majority of the nominated players play.  There are simply to many nominated players and our geography is too large.
  • The time table laid out by US Lacrosse makes it difficult to see our State’s best players play as all of our coaches are ‘in season’
  • Statistics of players being considered are often unverifiable and many times nominations lack any statistical support.  
  • There has been a number of coaches voting as a bloc to ensure that their high school players, club players, or league players finish higher in the All-American voting to the detriment of other players.  This has, in many instances, been accompanied with a bias against other deserving players, schools, leagues, and geographies. 

In order to move to committee, there are four prerequisites that must be met.  The following is copied/pasted directly from the US Lacrosse High School Area Chairman handbook.  Our status in moving to a Selection Committee follows the condition in red.

 

In order for the All-American process selections to be determined by a committee the

following must be adhered to:

 

  1. A hard vote of all member coaches must be administered with a majority voting in favor of using a committee for selections.  Between June 6, 2019 and July 17, 2019, 86% of our coaches voted that they preferred a Selection Committee.
  1. All member coaches must be given the opportunity to apply to serve on the committee. If you would to apply to be on the All American Committee, click HERE.
  1. All member coaches must have input in the selection of the committee members.

All members will be allowed to vote on the list of applicants.  The committee will be limited to 20 people and will be constituted with the following considerations:

  1. Division 1/Division 2
  2. East side/ West Side
  3. Legacy Program/ Emerging Program
  4. Strength of Schedule (the higher the strength of schedule (MPR), the more likely a coach has seen the best players in the state).

As High School Area Chair, I will make sure the committee has the best mix of members on the committee.

 

  1. The process must be revisited annually and re-voted upon every two years. We will review this process for the 2022 season.

 

Finally, I think it would be beneficial to see the timeline for ALL post season honors:

 

  1. May 24- USLacrosse All American Online Nominations Due
  2. May 24- All State Nominations Due to All State Committee Chair
  3. June 6, 2021- All State Selection Committee meeting
    1. First Team All-State Honorees will be placed on All American Ballot.  If these honorees do not have an ONLINE nomination at US Lacrosse, they will be required to do so. 
  4. June 13th – Year End Meeting
    1. 8:30am- All American Selection Committee, reviews ballot and adds/removes names as they deem appropriate. 
    2. 10:00am- All American discussion- All coaches of nominated players will have 1 minute to discuss their nominee in front of all of those in attendance. 
    3. At the conclusion of the MHSLCA Year End Meeting, All American Selection Committee will vote on those on Ballot.  The voting will be limited to those on the Committee and will not be open to all MHSLCA members.
    4. All State Honorees will be announced at the Year End Meeting
    5. All American Honorees will be announced as soon after the vote as possible (same day)
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