For nearly 30 years, Don Palmer served as both Head Boys' Basketball Coach and Head Girls' Basketball Coach at Milford High School in Highland, Mich.--posts he was able to hold simultaneously thanks to Michigan's nontraditional fall season for girls' basketball. But this summer, Palmer had to choose one over the other.
In early April, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a final appeal from the Michigan High School Athletic Association (MHSAA) in its eight-year long Title IX battle over whether nontraditional seasons discriminate against girls. With no more appeals available, the decision means the MHSAA has lost the case and will switch its sports to traditional seasons immediately, moving girls' basketball, volleyball, golf, and tennis, and boys' golf and tennis.
This winter, Palmer will step down as Head Boys' Coach to stay with his girls' team. "It was a tough decision," he says, "but girls' basketball gave me my first head coaching opportunity when I was just 26 years old. It seemed appropriate to finish where I started.
"Also, my experience has been that girls are more receptive to coaching than boys," continues Palmer. "Even today, they don't get the level of attention and playing opportunities coming up through the youth ranks that boys get, so when they get to high school, they are still eager to learn."
In late April, Hawai'i, then the lone state with girls' basketball in a nontraditional season, decided to move girls' basketball from spring to winter. It is also switching softball from winter to spring, and boys' volleyball from fall to spring. The Hawai'i High School Athletic Association initially planned to realign its seasons starting in 2008-09, but threats of lawsuits prompted the association to make the changes effective this fall instead.