By this time I’ve usually spoken to every coach in Division IV and have just about made my way through Division III, but nothing about 2020 has been normal.

 With the NHIAA pushing back the start dates of practices to December 14th, skills and drills sessions are now being conducted at most schools. The start of the regular season will be Monday, January 11th, so we have a few weeks to get our bearings.

 Today’s column takes a look at where we are, how the 2020-21 season might look and shares updates on our annual Coaches for a Cause Jamboree as well as the NHsportspage senior and underclassman teams competing this spring.

 Today’s column is brought to you by our friends and longtime partners at Great Bay Community College.

 Click on any of their banner ads for information about second-semester registration, open houses, and options for winter and 2021 fall courses!

 

 Basketball should be approved at all 87 schools competing in the NHIAA….and there’s a pretty simple & logical reason why

 They say hindsight is 20/20 so let’s use it….

 We just completed fall sports and although there were expected hiccups along the way (Pinkerton, Exeter, St Thomas, and Lebanon were four schools that had to drop out of the football season/playoffs due to possible COVID exposure) the kids were able to compete safely.

 I feel strongly that the best four teams in each football division were crowned as champions and the same applied to volleyball.

 The schools that went forward with fall sports were rewarded for their trust in their athletic directors, coaches, parents, and players while the few schools that didn’t may have regrets for a long time.

 Massachusetts and Maine chose not to compete in fall sports. I’m not here to judge that decision but are we in any worse shape than those two states because of our participation?

 The answer is no, we’re not.

 There are a lot of reasons why winter has been and should continue to be approved in many school districts but the #1 reason is the mental health of these kids.

 They’ve had their proms, spring sports, daily routine, and in some cases championship games taken away from them. Through it all, they have shown a level of perseverance I did not possess at their age. They deserve the opportunity to play winter sports.

 The Players in their own words from March 2020

 The reason why, as I stated above, comes back to the NHIAA’s decision to approve winter sports.

 The headliner was the delayed start dates along with the fact that all divisions will have open tournaments, meaning every team qualifies for the post-season, regardless of record.

 What was buried though was the lead; the NHIAA announced there will be no minimum games requirement for any teams, in any division.

 This was a very smart call by Jeff Collins and his team because it changes the decision-making process for school boards still voting on whether their schools will compete this winter.

 With the season being pushed back that also pushes back the dates of the playoffs. If you remember, in June I wrote about a drastic change in Division I & II basketball schedules that would have seen the championship games being played on or around February 20th.

 Here is that article which includes quotes from over a dozen coaches on the change. (Core Physicians presents big changes coming to Division I & II)

  The pandemic has pushed all that to the side. The season will now conclude sometime in late March. Three months from now.

  The vaccine news gets better by the day and whether you will be among the first to get it or choose not to, we as a society are going to look a lot different in March than we do today.

 Let’s use the Colebrook girls’ basketball team as an example of why basketball should be unanimously approved.

 The Mohawks are the defending Division IV champions and they return their two best players in Sage Smith & Samantha Howe.

 The town has been hit with a surge of COVID cases (17 active cases in Colebrook is the equivalent of having 850 cases in Manchester) in the past two months, leaving some doubt as to whether Colebrook will approve winter sports.

  Back to the no minimum games requirement: how could you possibly tell a team like Colebrook (I’m not picking on the decision-makers in Colebrook I’m simply using them as a broad example for the rest of the state) they won’t compete this winter when the landscape could look vastly different by February?

 All they technically need to do is play one game, and being the clear #1 team in the pre-season, taking that opportunity away from them three months before a championship will be decided would be wrong.

 If you told those girls today, ‘You might not play a game until February but you’ll still be eligible to defend your title in March.’ They’d be disappointed in fewer games but would take that deal in a heartbeat.

 Any player would.

 It’s very simple. Basketball should be approved at every school in the state.

 While some teams will play 14 games and others may play fewer than 6, they will still get a chance to see where they rank among the teams in their division come March.

 The schools that were left answering questions in November were schools like Con Val and Kearsarge who didn’t allow their student-athletes to compete this fall. Once every sport concluded parents understandably were frustrated their kids were part of the exception and not the rule.

 The same applied to Maine where parents, especially on the seacoast in towns like York, grew more & more frustrated their kids were not allowed to compete while schools just over the border in Portsmouth and Dover were playing every week throughout the fall.

 If you rule out winter sports now you’re leaving yourself open to questions and criticism for the next three months and beyond. 

 You are also doing these kids a disservice.

 If you approve winter sports with the provision that you may have to cancel games along the way, you’ve at least given these programs a chance. Right now that’s all they are asking for.

 I’ve heard people comment that there will be an asterisk on this season’s champions and there are coaches who are already grumbling about their regional schedule.

 You know what? None of that matters, all that matters is these kids getting some semblance of their normal life back by competing this winter

 For the record, we covered four football championship games and participated in two undefeated dances and it didn’t feel any different from years past.

 Those kids earned those championships and they deserve the chance to compete for them again this winter.

 

 A basketball committee made up of coaches…and only coaches…needs to be formed to determine post-season seedings and match-ups……….

 If you enjoy Power Rankings then you are going to love our Thursday columns this season.

 Lance Legere and I will be ranking the teams in each division every week because with regional schedules there will be no way you can use win-loss records to determine who the top teams are.

 Volleyball, field hockey and soccer determined their seeding by picking out of a hat and the results were as disastrous as you would expect.

 Winnacunnet volleyball went 1-10 on the season and drew the top seed in their region while Dover went 10-1 and was relegated to the play-in game.

 That not only handed Dover a tougher road in the post-season but it meant that their parents couldn’t go to their playoff games, with several seacoast schools having restrictions on all opposing fans/parents.

 So after the Green Wave earned home-court it was taken away by a coin flip like we were determining if the Patriots were kicking off or receiving.

 In girls' soccer, the two best teams were Exeter and Timberlane, who ended up playing in the second round.

 Each of the eight divisions for boys & girls basketball should form a committee of six veteran coaches to determine seeding when the post-season arrives in March. 

 This is the same process used to determine the teams picked for the NCAA tournaments and for one year it needs to be implemented until life is back to normal next year.

 Let’s layout a very plausible scenario as an example of why a committee is needed:

 Let’s say Monadnock beats Conant on the road in a very close game and in the rematch wins in overtime at home. Jim Hill’s team beats Mascenic twice, loses to Division II Con Val twice, and finishes 9-3 on the season while Conant finishes 6-6.

 As we outlined above, things could look very different by the time we get to March with all the vaccines on the way. To the point where you may even be able to have 100 fans at games in mid-March.

 Let’s say the seeding is not determined by a committee of coaches but by randomly again picking out of a hat.

 Monadnock draws a low seed and has to go to Conant, who they beat twice, and play them on the road with fans now allowed to be in the gym cheering for the Orioles.

 You want to explain to Jake Kidney, a senior all-state guard for Monadnock, that the best route to go was simply picking out of a hat and ignoring an entire regular season?

 Go for it. Please just be sure I’m there to watch it.

 There is plenty of time to form a committee and no excuse not to do it.

 Gilford is a good example of why wins and losses won’t be as clear cut in determining where a team stands as it has been in the past. Rick Acquilano’s team will play eight of their games against Division II teams; Plymouth, Kennett, Kingswood, and Laconia.

 Their record is going to look a lot different than it would have if they were playing Newfound and Moultonborough twice instead.

 A committee will easily recognize that and seed teams like them appropriately.

 The same can be said for Lebanon, a Final Four contender every year in Division II.

 The Raiders are going to be confined to a regional schedule. Which means games against teams like Hollis-Brookline, Milford, Coe-Brown and Bow are being replaced by games against Fall Mountain, Mascoma and Stevens.

 Of the four divisions, Division IV is uniquely suited for the season we are about to begin.

 The teams are divided up by North/South and then you seed the teams before eventually ending up with championship games in both regions.

 The two winners would meet on a neutral floor for the Division IV championship in March.

 The entire seeding process could be determined in a one-hour Zoom meeting. If you hand the seeding to a committee of coaches you are going to see a bracket that matches the perception you’ve had all season long of where the teams ranked.

 You also need to scrap the regional schedules once you get to the post-season.

 Exeter, Portsmouth, and Winnacunnet will be among the best teams in Division I this season. Lumping them into the same region when the post-season arrives in March is not only illogical it’s unfair.

 Just three years ago the Division I boys semifinals included Portsmouth (the eventual champion), Dover (the runner-up), Exeter, and Londonderry.

 Now you’re talking about putting teams like that in first round match-ups? That can’t happen.

 If you leave it up to a coin toss you’re going to set yourself for a ton of aggravation and there will be good teams burned by it.

 Set up the committee now and take that second scenario out of the equation.

 

 Colebrook Hall of Fame Head Coach Buddy Trask will take a one year leave of absence for non-Covid related health reasons…………

 For the first time since the 1980 season, the Colebrook Mohawks will have someone other than Buddy Trask coaching them this winter.

 Trask, who has won 599 games, 3 championships, led Colebrook to 12 Final Fours and 6 Championship games, will sit out the season to focus on his health.

 Buddy, who expects to return to the sidelines next season, will be replaced by interim head coach and athletic director Ryan Call.

 Call was the 2008 Class S (Division IV) Player of the Year in leading the Mohawks to the state championship and is the current boys’ soccer coach.

 The moment Buddy realized he needed to step aside for a season and focus on his health he was signed to a lucrative contract to serve as a color commentator for NHsportspage (terms will not be disclosed).

 

 A Girls Basketball update from Lance Legere....

 After nearly nine months without writing a single column, I am beyond excited to at least be sharing the shortest of blurbs with you about girls’ basketball.

 It is crazy to think at this time last year my Division IV girls’ basketball preview was all loaded up into the website ready for everyone to see. This pandemic has taken a toll on many and left six teams seasons unfinished.

 With all of that hopefully behind us, the 2020-21 season is getting closer by the day. With that being said, some schools are still awaiting a decision. Nashua recently approved winter sports, but the Manchester schools are still awaiting a decision on whether they will be allowed to play or not.

 The same can go for Colebrook, who had a surge in cases just a month ago as Dave mentioned above. Skills and drills practices have begun, but there is still uncertainty that we may not see teams who could make major impacts in their respective divisions. 

 Regionalized schedules may cause a shakeup in how the final seedings are determined, but we saw last year with teams like Goffstown, Bishop Brady, Londonderry, and even Lebanon, that seeding did not matter when it came down to it all.

 Division III and IV may not be affected by this as much as many teams will be playing somewhat similar schedules to ones they have had in the past, especially the North Country and Lakes Region teams. 

 While talent is always a factor in winning ball games, health and being smart may be teams biggest attributes this year. The push back date to January 11th and avoiding any controversy with holiday travel was a great move by the NHIAA.

 It will now be on the players and coaching staff' to keep themselves and those around them in line to stay healthy and out of harm’s way for the next few months. If these teams want to be playing for a championship and hopefully going crazy with Jen and I at the end of all of this, they need to hold themselves accountable.

 Jen and I can’t wait to get back to work. It has been far too long without basketball in our lives. We want to expand upon all of the great strides and relationships we made last year and make Year 2 even more of a success.

 If there is one thing, we want to improve upon from last year it would be the support. Jen and I dedicate most of our winter to providing statewide coverage, so we would love to get more coaches and parents on as Gold Level members.

 We just wanted to give a quick thank you to the coaches that have supported us as Gold Level members up to this point. 

 Kevin Gibbs of Bedford, Frank Girginis of Alvrine and Greg Cotreau of Manchester Memorial

 The light is starting to shine at the end of the tunnel. There is a plan in place and a much-anticipated season to be played. Columns and highlights are right around the corner. 

 

 There will be no Coaches for a Cause Jamboree this season….but here are the teams who were set to compete in it

 We worked very hard behind the scenes with coaches and our partners at Great Bay Community College and NHTI to hold two Coaches for a Cause Jamborees.

 We had planned our first annual jamboree for the girls and what would have been our 9th for the boys, but like a lot of well-intentioned plans in 2020, it just was not possible.

 NHsportspage Coaches for a Cause Hype Video

 Coaches are being told they are not allowed to scrimmage before their regular seasons begin in mid-January. Add to that the fact that teams are not being allowed to play teams outside of their regions and it became a case of too many moving parts to hold the jamboree.

 We even discussed having the games count as regular-season games but again, the regional schedules made that impossible to pull off.

 Here were the 2020 Coaches for a Cause Jamboree teams & lineup:

 11:00: Exeter vs. Hollis-Brookline

 12:30: Winnacunnet vs Kearsarge 

 2:00: Bedford vs Newmarket

 3:30: Bishop Guertin vs Con Val

 5:00: Portsmouth vs Lebanon

 6:30: Goffstown vs Pelham 

 

 The participants in the Girls Jamboree were:

 Bishop Guertin

 Manchester Memorial

 Hanover

 Bedford

 Concord

 Spaulding

 Lebanon

 Bow

 Colebrook

 Conant

 Fall Mountain

 Sanborn

 By the way, I wasn’t asking Lance for a Memorial vs. Colebrook match-up I was demanding it.

 The jamboree has become the unofficial kick-off of the season and getting all those different players and coaches from all four divisions, both on the court and in the stands, together makes it one of my favorite days of the year.

 Unfortunately, there was just no way to pull it off and so we’ll be back again next December.

 Right now the plan is still to have the NHsportspage senior and underclassman teams play after the season in a series of games that will include BABC and hopefully games against Maine & Vermont.

 We are also planning to again hold the NHsportspage Seacoast Basketball Tournament as well.

 

 Our 2020-21 coverage and very big thank you………….

 We expanded our team over the summer and the plan right now is to cover eight to ten games a week.

 Lance Legere and ‘The Franchise’ Jennifer Chick-Ruth will lead our girls’ basketball coverage.

 Austin Grass, Nichole Marrero, Colin O’Neil, and Ian Melewski will work as videographers while Pete Tarrier, Brandon Bojarsky and I will handle play by play duties.

 You even may have a few cameo appearances by Justin McIsaac.

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 Like a lot of people and many small businesses, we had a tough time through the pandemic.

 We had several instances where companies chose not to pay us, citing concerns that there was not going to be fall sports for us to cover (Spoiler alert: There was. We added volleyball to our coverage and had record-breaking numbers).

 This left us in a pretty scary situation like a lot of people have had to face during unprecedented times.

 We got through it because of a group of coaches who stepped up and registered for their annual Gold Level membership earlier than usual.

 I wanted to thank those friends of ours for their support during really difficult times.

 

 Mike Rathgeber of Inter-Lakes

 Nate Stanton of Londonderry

 Rob McLaughlin of Salem

 John Mulvey of Portsmouth

 Jamie Hayes of Newmarket

 Jim Cilley of Belmont

 Kieth Matte of Lebanon

 Jaryd Piecuch of Raymond

 Jim Hill of Monadnock

 John Fisher of Bishop Guertin

 Nick Fiset of Epping

 Jay Darrah of Pittsfield

 ‘The Big Smooth’ Lewis Atkins of Oyster River

 Marty Edwards of Alvirne

 Sam Natti of America’s Team

 Mike Larson of Pelham

 Nate Camp of Kearsarge

 Ryan Cowette of Goffstown

 Frank Moreno of Bedford

 Leo Gershgorin of Con Val

 Along with our great friends Eric Stanley of Monadnock and The Reese Family of Gilford

 Each will be listed as Gold Level coaches/programs and already have access to our entire library of full game videos through next year

 Thank you for helping us when we were down.

 

 Coming soon: About 40,000 words worth of Division previews for the 2020-21 boys & girls basketball season.