A week after the Oahu Interscholastic Association threw a wrench into the three-tiered state high school football tournament format by saying it would abandon the top tier, a counterproposal for an alternative three-division field is making the rounds, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser learned Saturday.
Details of the counterproposal were received via email from a person close to the situation speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the subject.
It is unclear where the counterproposal originated. According to one source, it was presented Friday afternoon by HHSAA executive director Chris Chun to principals and athletic directors at an OIA meeting at the league’s office.
COMPARING FORMATS
PASSED BY HHSAA FOR 2017
>> Open Division (4 OIA teams, 2 ILH)
>> Division I (3 OIA, 1 ILH, 1 BIIF, 1 MIL)
>> Division II (2 OIA, 1 ILH, 1 BIIF, 1 MIL, 1 KIF)
COUNTERPROPOSAL IN THE WORKS NOW
>> Unnamed top tier (3 OIA, 1 ILH)
>> Unnamed middle tier (2 BIIF, 1 ILH, 1 MIL)
>> Unnamed lowest tier (2 OIA, 1 ILH, 1 BIIF, 1 MIL, 1 KIF)
But that conflicts with the information received by the Star-Advertiser — a forwarded email originally sent by Interscholastic League of Honolulu assistant executive director Georges Gilbert to ILH athletic directors and other league officials. In it Gilbert states that the counterproposal was originated by the OIA office and presented to the ILH office for perusal before it is brought to the HHSAA football committee.
Wherever it originated, the counterproposal calls for three OIA teams and one ILH team in a four-team, top-tier division (the terms Open, D-I and D-II were not used).
The middle tier would be drastically different than the one currently in use. It would consist of one ILH team, two from the Big Island Interscholastic Federation and one from the Maui Interscholastic League instead of three from the OIA and one each from the ILH, BIIF and MIL.
The lowest division shows no changes between the current proposal and the counterproposal — two teams from the OIA, and one each from the ILH, MIL, BIIF and Kauai Interscholastic Federation.
The HHSAA’s Chun and OIA football coordinator Harold Tanaka declined to comment Saturday morning. Calls to OIA executive director Ray Fujino and the ILH’s Gilbert were not returned.
According to ILH sources, the private-school league decided this offseason to declare its Big Three — Saint Louis, Punahou and Kamehameha — for the top tier, Damien
