Peninsula Athletic League hoops going to power-league structure

“I have a couple of athletic directors who have really been pushing this thing,” said PAL commissioner Terry Stogner.

The 2023 PAL basketball season highlighted the disparity between several teams, with extremely lopsided scores being more the norm than the exception. When teams are winning — and losing — by 40, 50 points, no one is having fun.

Stogner, who as commissioner simply initiates any changes the PAL’s Board of Managers makes, said he was asked to take the temperature of the boys’ and girls’ coaches in the PAL at the end-of-season meeting in March. He then took those recommendations to the athletic directors, who then advise the BOM, which is comprised of administrators from all the schools in the league.

“Coaches are employees. Athletic directors are employees,” Stogner said. “The board is the boss.”

Stogner said many of boys’ coaches were in favor of making the switch to divisions based on competitive equity. On the girls’ side, however, Stogner said there was much more pushback.

“I would say the schools that have an above-average program would prefer to play in a power structure, but that is not true across the board,” Stogner said. “The boys’ (coaches) did indicate they would favor going to a power-league structure. It was not an overwhelming vote (in favor of the change). The girls’ (coaches) were adamantly ‘no.’

“But coming out of the coaches’ meeting, there was a feeling there was a lot of uneven contests and they felt that for the benefits of the athletes, they would probably be better suited to be in a situation where the competition was more equitable.”

Kawann Summerville, Terra Nova girls’ basketball coach and the PAL girls’ representative to the Central Coast Section, said many of complaints about the change is the fact that coaches may have to adjust schedules that are already set.

“I know coaches are not too thrilled about having a power league because they’ve already put their schedules in,” Summerville said. “I think a majority of schools may have to change things.

“The biggest part of the pushback was the scheduling part. … Lake teams will get only eight league games and have to seek out 16 preseason games. You might not be able to play certain teams because they don’t want to play you.”

Summerville also said many coaches were rubbed the wrong way about the timing of all this. Stogner said because of all the staggered Spring Break schedules among the various school districts that make up the PAL, the league ADs could not all get together to discuss the proposed changes until April 17. They needed to come to a conclusion pretty quick because their recommendation had to go before the BOM April 18, with a CCS meeting looming April 19.

“For the most part, I don’t think [the coaches] mind the power structure,” Summerville said. “But (felt) it was pushed upon them to do it now instead of maybe waiting a year and really looking closer at it.”

The other big sticking point were the Friday-night quads, during which four games — girls’ and boys’ JV and varsity — are all played back to back. Many coaches and athletic directors are reticent to break up the biggest money-makers and best atmospheres of the season.

“A lot of the arguments were the (traditional quad games wouldn’t) mean as much to certain student bodies,” Stogner said. “That schools weren’t making enough money.”

The traditional quads would not go away under the new power-league structure, they just would be different. If two traditional rivals were in separate divisions and wanted to play a Friday quad, the games would have to be scheduled during the non-league portion of the season.

While Summerville can understand why some coaches may not be thrilled with the decision, personally he doesn’t have a preference.

“I can go either way, to be honest,” Summerville said.

What Summerville does have is some knowledge about the last time the PAL based the divisions on team strength. He was the Terra Nova JV and varsity assistant to his twin brother Kareem Summerville during the 2011, 2012 and 2013 seasons. It was the high-water mark for Terra Nova girls’ basketball. Those Tigers teams had four Division I recruits, led by Terilyn Moe, which won four straight PAL tournament titles and, in 2012, advanced to the CCS Division III championship game, falling 61-56 to Sacred Heart Cathedral.

“I believed (playing in a power-league system) helped us. We had a chance to compete against teams that were really good. It gave us a legitimate shot at getting to the CCS finals,” Summerville said. “Playing strong teams night after night; no layoffs, no gimmes. [Competitive games make] the coaching a lot stronger and the players a lot stronger.”

The change to PAL basketball brings it in line with the rest of the sports in the PAL. Football, volleyball, soccer, baseball and softball all used divisions based on strength, as do most of the leagues in the CCS. PAL basketball was the last holdout.

And in the end, the PAL boss, the Board of Managers, decided competitive equity was the best solution.

“[The BOM] was strongly in favor of ‘yes,’” Stogner said.