The effects of COVID-19 are still a foremost concern of the Minnesota State High School League, as is athletic eligibility and how it's determined by the league, and the future of shot clocks in high school basketball.

Those issues headed up Thursday's MSHSL area meeting for athletic and activities directors held at Edinburgh USA Golf Club in Brooklyn Park.

The newest addition to the MSHSL staff, Associate Director Charlie Campbell, said one of the league's biggest concerns is lack of a statewide mandate on COVID protocols. Leaving the guidelines up to individual school districts, he said, has opened the door to a wide variance in cooperation from parents.

"When the mandates came from the state, parents didn't question it," he said. "They knew what they had to do. Now, they want to fight back. They want to say 'It's my family's decision.' Well, no, it's not."

He added that the league doesn't have the resources nor the appetite to enforce the various rules that are in place.

"It puts the league in an impossible place. We're just not equipped to do that," he said.

MSHSL Executive Director Erich Martens told the 100 or so ADs gathered they are anticipating the league following the latest CDC recommendations, which are asking for a 10-day quarantine for any reported positive cases. So far, the league has yet to take that step.

  • Director Bob Madison said 75 students had regained eligibility under the new temporary pandemic provision that allowed this if they transferred back to their original school after transferring to a different school because of COVID.
  • Whether the league will recommend shot clocks for basketball, which has heavy support from basketball coaches, found athletic directors divided on the topic. The league will ask the basketball coaches committee to make a recommendation at the Oct. 7 Board of Directors meeting and expects that it will be voted upon at the following Board meeting on Dec. 2.
  • The league announced that soccer, which added a third class this fall, will play its state tournament third-place games at the West St. Paul Athletic Complex instead of U.S. Bank Stadium to make room for the extra class.
  • The league is close to signing a deal with Xcel Energy Center to add a fourth day to the volleyball tournament. Volleyball expanded to four classes this fall and the extra day is needed to accommodate all four classes.