CIF Southern Section Commissioner Rob Wigod gives a preview of the 2019-2020 school year.

As July winds down and August beckons, a new school year is upon us. Therefore, I would like to give you a preview of the 2019-2020 school year by highlighting some of the topics below.

Transfer Rules – The Transfer Rules Committee will complete the review of our current state-wide transfer rules at their upcoming meeting on Wednesday, Aug. 14. At that meeting, based on information gathered from our section-wide survey last year and the feedback they have received from their constituencies, a decision will be made on whether to propose any changes to our current transfer rules or to keep them as they are. Stay tuned for another update after that meeting is held.

Summer Dead Period – A proposal to adjust the Summer Dead Period was defeated at the CIF Southern Section Council Meeting on April 9, 2019. However, there is an ongoing effort to address why that proposal did not pass so be looking for that discussion to continue regarding potential changes to that bylaw. We expect a revised proposal on adjusting the current Summer Dead Period bylaw to be submitted to the CIF Southern Section Council in October for their consideration.

Financial Matters – With your continued support, we are strongly committed to working on a more stable long-term financial structure that is less reliant on things we cannot control: attendance, match-ups, weather, etc., to things we can control: expenses, exploring new revenue streams in areas like broadcast rights and seeing our state-wide marketing program realize revenue share for the first time this year.

Boys and Girls Lacrosse Championships – We have had the sport of Lacrosse in our section for several years but have not had the required number of schools (20% of our section membership) who field that sport. That is not the case anymore. In May 2020, we will conduct our inaugural CIF Southern Section Boys and Girls Lacrosse Championships. We are excited to bring this new championship to our section and look forward to the great competition that is to come.

Officials Recruitment – As you know, we are currently facing a shortage of officials across all sports and all areas of our section. Therefore, we are launching a program to try and recruit new officials to join our ranks. This program is being managed by Tom Freker, Past President of the Southern California Soccer Officials Association. We have created a link on our website for prospective officials to sign up, https://cifss.org/officials/officials-recruitment-form/. Those requests will go directly to Tom who will connect the potential official(s) to the unit president and assignor for the sport(s) that the new official has expressed interest in. Everyone can help with this venture, so I am counting on our member schools to do so, especially with your graduating Seniors.

Competitive Equity Playoffs – Current Year Data – As you know, we continue to look for ways to improve the competitive equity playoff system and one of the key elements in doing so is to include applying current regular season results in the formulation of power rankings and divisional placements. We are hoping to use this school year in the sport of Football as a test run for that concept. More information will be forthcoming in the 2019 Football Preview available soon.

Those are just a few of the many things to expect in 2019-2020. As we begin this year together, I am excited to work with you in continuing to do the very best we can in service to young people.

As always, I sincerely thank you for your help and support, it is truly appreciated.

All the best,
Rob Wigod, CIF Southern Section Commissioner of Athletics