Ihsaa Will Add Girls State Tournament In Soccer Or Softball
For years, Idaho high school girls have had one less sanctioned sport and state tournament than the boys.
That’s going to change by the 1996-97 school year, Idaho High School Activities Association executive director Bill Young says.
The IHSAA board of directors will decide in June which sport to offer a state tournament in - soccer or softball.
Presently, the IHSAA conducts state tournaments in seven boys sports and six girls. Technically, the IHSAA is in violation of Title IX, the federal mandate from the 1970s that called for equal athletic opportunities for males and females.
Young said the board appears to be mixed on which sport to add. The best guess is it’ll choose soccer because softball remains in a state of transition.
Two-thirds of the schools offering softball play fastpitch and one-third play slowpitch.
The board’s decision will need final approval in August. The chosen sport will be played in the fall of the ‘96-97 school year.
Official approval today
Voters approved the Coeur d’Alene School District’s supplemental levy Tuesday, opening the door for administrators to “officially” hire Bill Anderson as head football coach.
Anderson is expected to be officially hired today when the school board holds a special meeting.
Anderson, 51, a head coach the past two years at Grandview (Wash.) High School, has been hailed by school officials as the next Herb Criner, the charismatic former Viking coach who turned a hapless program into a state power in the early 1980s.
Interviews begin at Kellogg
Kellogg school officials Wednesday began interviewing for a head boys basketball coach.
David Roberts resigned last month to take a similar job at Meridian, an A-1 school near Boise.
Kellogg superintendent Larry Curry said the selection committee interviewed two in-district candidates Wednesday: girls head basketball coach Wayne Pfeifer and Roberts’ varsity assistant Steve Bourgard, a Kellogg graduate and native.
Interviews are scheduled with girls varsity assistant Mike Gundlach and Burley freshman coach Troy Schwem Friday, and Mountain Home boys head coach Tony Kerfoot Monday.
Schwem coached under former Kellogg coach Bill Cowell at Burley and comes highly regarded. Kerfoot has coached at Mountain Home the past two years and took his first team to the State A-1 Tournament his first season. Both Kerfoot and Schwem teach math, as does Roberts.
Curry hopes to name a coach by the end of next week.
More honors for area stars
Lake City’s Jennifer Kerns, who was named the Idaho A-1 player of the year in soccer and girls basketball this year, was recently honored as player of the year in Idaho by USA Today.
The Washington State Universitybound Kerns also was picked as honorable mention All-American by USA Today. Other North Idaho players who received the same honor were Lake City senior post Melissa Dodge, who signed early last fall with the University of Vermont, Sandpoint junior post Alli Nieman and Bonners Ferry senior wing Jana Nearing, who signed with North Idaho College.