Rep Council Wrap-Up: Fall 2014
December 11, 2014
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
The promotion of junior high and middle school athletics and possibility of allowing younger students opportunities to compete in certain sports highlighted topics discussed by the Representative Council of the Michigan High School Athletic Association during its annual Fall Meeting on Dec. 5 in East Lansing.
Although no action was taken, the Council heard findings of the Junior High/Middle School task force created at the 2013 Fall Meeting to consider how the MHSAA should continue to encourage multi-sport experiences at that level and review the possibility of serving sixth-grade students in addition to those in the seventh and eighth grades.
The task force met four times during the 2014 calendar year. It provided support for longer quarters in basketball and football that were recommended by the MHSAA’s Junior High/Middle School Committee and approved by the Representative Council in March. The Junior High/Middle School Committee will consider another task force recommendation in January that would allow sixth graders to participate against seventh and eighth graders in all sports except football and ice hockey without seeking annual waivers from the MHSAA in order to do so. The Council could then review that recommendation when it reconvenes in March. Currently, the MHSAA serves 725 member schools at the 7th and 8th-grade level.
The Council also continued to examine the impact of increasing numbers of international students and additional rules approved in March to equalize the treatment of J-1 and F-1 visa students and standardize their opportunities at both public and non-public high schools.
A package of proposals adopted at the Council’s March 2014 meeting in part allowed for the MHSAA to approve school-operated international student placement programs if they were not listed by the Council on Standards for International Educational Travel (CSIET). The MHSAA for 2014-15 approved five such programs, with the notion that all programs would require CSIET approval moving forward. However, the Council will determine in March if the MHSAA will retain the ability to approve non-CSIET school-operated programs again in 2015-16.
An update also was provided on work to determine if rules regulating out-of-season coaching by school staff should be changed to allow those coaches more involvement with student-athletes out of season. MHSAA staff discussed possible changes with member school administrators at league meetings and then athletic director in-service and update meetings this fall and surveyed athletic directors on the desirability of potential changes in late October. The Council reviewed results of the survey and input from meetings and a schedule of upcoming discussions with coaches associations and league and conference leaders. Further Council discussion is slated for March with possible action during its final meeting of the school year in May.
The Council voted on two matters concerning MHSAA tournaments. E-cigarettes and other smoking devices were added to the list of substances prohibited at MHSAA tournament events. The Council also approved the opportunity for presentation of awards by a sport’s coaches association at MHSAA Finals for that sport so long as awards are to recognize students.
The Fall Meeting also saw the addition of Pat Watson, principal at West Bloomfield High School, to the 19-person Council. He was appointed to a two-year term and previously served as his school’s athletic director and coached baseball and girls and boys basketball. He fills the position formerly held by Carmen Kennedy, principal at St. Clair Shores South Lake High School, whose term ended. Also, Orlando Medina, athletic director at Harrison Township L’Anse Creuse High School, was reappointed for a second two-year term. Don Gustafson, superintendent of St. Ignace Area Schools, was appointed to the Upper Peninsula Athletic Committee for 2015.
The Council elected Scott Grimes, assistant superintendent of human services for Grand Haven Area Public Schools, as its president; Buchanan athletic director Fred Smith was elected vice president and Vic Michaels, director of physical education and athletics for the Archdiocese of Detroit, was elected secretary-treasurer. Grimes was elected to fill the position of recently-retired Negaunee Superintendent Jim Derocher, who had served as Council president since 2008. Grimes had served as vice president since 2009.
The Representative Council is the legislative body of the MHSAA. All but five members are elected by member schools. Four members are appointed by the Council to facilitate representation of females and minorities, and the 19th position is occupied by the Superintendent of Public Instruction or designee.
The MHSAA is a private, not-for-profit corporation of voluntary membership by more than 1,400 public and private senior high schools and junior high/middle schools which exists to develop common rules for athletic eligibility and competition. No government funds or tax dollars support the MHSAA, which was the first such association nationally to not accept membership dues or tournament entry fees from schools. Member schools which enforce these rules are permitted to participate in MHSAA tournaments, which attract more than 1.4 million spectators each year.
Flynn, Guzzo & Thayer Named 2021 Bush Award Recipients
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
November 18, 2021
Birmingham Groves’ Thomas Flynn, St. Joseph’s Kevin Guzzo and Bay City Western’s Michael Thayer are leaders of Michigan high school athletic programs who have put education and providing a positive student experience at the forefront of their work, while also becoming known among colleagues for their guidance and assistance to others striving to build the same foundations at their schools.
To recognize not only their work within their districts but their impacts on many other leaders in athletic administration, Flynn, Guzzo and Thayer have been named recipients of the Michigan High School Athletic Association’s Allen W. Bush Award for 2021.
Al Bush served as executive director of the MHSAA for 10 years. The award honors individuals for past and continuing service to school athletics as a coach, administrator, official, trainer, doctor or member of the media. The award was developed to bring recognition to people who are giving and serving without a lot of attention. This is the 30th year of the award, with selections made by the MHSAA's Representative Council.
Flynn has begun his 21st year as Birmingham Groves High School athletic director and 32nd overall at the school after beginning as a teacher. He has served as a host of MHSAA Tournament events in team and individual wrestling, girls and boys diving, girls and boys tennis, girls and boys basketball, baseball and softball, football, ice hockey, volleyball and girls and boys soccer. Flynn also has served on MHSAA Committees for wrestling, gymnastics, swimming & diving, tennis and various officials topics. He made Groves the home of all Metro Detroit Officials Association meetings and has received recognition for his service to the Oakland County Wrestling Officials Association.
Flynn has served as president, vice president, secretary and treasurer for the Oakland County Athletic Directors Association, and as the Region 11 representative for the Michigan Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (MIAAA). A certified athletic trainer, he also is a longtime member of the National Athletic Trainers Association. The MIAAA named Flynn a Regional Athletic Director of the Year in 2012.
He graduated from Hillsdale High School in 1984, then earned a bachelor’s degree in biology with an emphasis on sports medicine from Grand Valley State University in 1990. He received a master’s in sports administration from Wayne State University. Flynn also has served on the Birmingham Bloomfield Community Coalition.
“Tom is a guy who is willing to do anything to assist the MHSAA. He’s hosted an Individual Wrestling District for 20-plus years, and that’s far-and-away the most difficult event to host – and he wants to do it every year,” MHSAA Executive Director Mark Uyl said. “Tom is not afraid to do the dirty work, but he’s also not afraid to speak up, and that’s something I’ve always admired and appreciated about him.”
Guzzo has begun his 26th year with St. Joseph Public Schools and 18th as athletic director after previously serving as a coach and teacher. He earned his elite certification in the MHSAA Coaches Advancement Program in 2014 and has served as a CAP instructor and as an instructor for the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (NIAAA) Leadership Training Institute. He also has served as chairperson representing the MIAAA on the Five State Exchange Committee. A frequent contributor as well to MHSAA Committees for sports, officials, classification and site selection, Guzzo recently contributed as part of the MHSAA Multi-Sport Task Force.
He received his certified athletic administrator (CAA) designation from the NIAAA in 2007 and was named an MIAAA Regional Athletic Director of the Year in 2015.
Guzzo graduated from Bessemer High School in 1991, then earned his bachelor’s degree in secondary mathematics at Western Michigan University in 1995 and master’s in math education from WMU in 2001. He has been active in the St. Joseph Lions Club, First Tee of Benton Harbor and the local Senior PGA Tournament Committee.
“Kevin has become a real leader in the southwestern corner of the state, and in many rooms has grown into a veteran voice of reason on many topics and issues,” Uyl said. “He’s taken what he’s learned over the years and incorporated it into his teaching as a Coaches Advancement Program instructor, and we are thrilled that we have many beginning coaches who one of their first mentors is a person like Kevin through CAP.”
Thayer has begun his 25th year as an athletic director and also serves as an assistant principal at Western. He served at Merrill Community Schools from 1995-2007 before arriving at Western with the start of the 2007-08 school year. He also is a frequent MHSAA Tournament host and has been a valued voice on a variety of MHSAA Committees, including the Multi-Sport Task Force and selection committee for the MHSAA-Farm Bureau Insurance Scholar-Athlete Awards. Additionally, he has served as the MIAAA’s historical records chairperson and as part of its public relations committee.
He is active with the NIAAA and Michigan Association of Secondary School Principals (MASSP) and National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP). He was selected for a Regional Athletic Director of the Year Award by the MIAAA in 2017, and also that year received the MIAAA’s George Lovich State Award of Merit.
Thayer graduated from Muskegon Orchard View High School in 1986, then earned his bachelor’s degree in business teaching from Central Michigan University in 1990 and master’s in educational administration/school principalship from CMU in 2003. He also is a CAP elite-certification graduate. He has served as a trustee for Thomas Township – with membership in the Michigan Township Association – and been active in the Shields Lions Club.
“Mike has been one of the true leaders of the Saginaw Valley League for a long time, and he’s really become the point guard of that league over the last five years,” Uyl said. “If ever someone should be defined for quiet, steady leadership, it’s Mike Thayer. It’s always about substance with Mike. He’s as reliable an athletic director as there is in the country.”