By Greg Scholand

Greg Scholand is an Assistant Editor at Athletic Management. He can be reached at: gs@MomentumMedia.com.

In Cherokee County, S.C., a new high school football stadium costing more than $8 million is currently being built. In Alabama, Hoover High School's football team spent the past two seasons as the subject of a reality television show. ESPN and CBS are going head-to-head in broadcasting this fall's all-star high school football games. Recruiting Web sites are some of the hottest fan pages on the Internet.

Even if this type of big-time noise hasn't hit your athletic department yet, you've probably taken notice: The attention paid to high school sports is growing at a very rapid pace.

For some athletic departments, the changes have been a boon, bringing in more revenue and heightened publicity for student-athletes interested in furthering their athletic careers. For others, it's only meant more criticism, parent problems, and--perhaps most troubling--intrusions into their educational mission.

Either way, it's taken high school athletic directors into a new arena of decision-making and public prominence. It has also forced some important questions to the forefront for schools of all sizes: How do you keep education as the top priority in the face of this new, higher profile? How do you "keep it real" while also being in tune with the times?

TOMORROW'S SUPERSTAR
Every school year, a few high school football standouts make college recruiters swoon from coast to coast. And in 2005-06, none did so more than Myron Rolle. As a student-athlete at The Hun School in Princeton, N.J., Rolle was the complete package at defensive back: lightning fast, great hands, a natural leader with uncommon football intelligence.

Those attributes made Rolle ESPN.com's top-ranked college football prospect for 2006, but they didn't tell the whole story. He was also a 4.0 student who scored a 1320 on his SATs and plans on becoming a neurosurgeon after an NFL career. Rolle was every college program's dream on and off the field, so not surprisingly, having him as a student made Hun Athletic Director Bill Quirk, Jr.'s job quite a bit different.

"Every day during the NCAA's recruiting periods, we would have at least four or five college coaches and recruiters show up wanting to see Myron," says Quirk. "And the media requests were almost constant--everybody, including statewide and national media, wanted to interview Myron for their newspaper or take his picture."

Even with more than 25 years of experience in athletic administration, Quirk says, "I've never seen anything quite like it." He realized he needed to be proactive and think long and hard about how to respond to all the requests. How should the school support Rolle and promote itself while also sticking to its values?

"When you have an elite athlete like Myron, everyone is suddenly interested in your school, but they're not talking about your academics, school spirit, sportsmanship, or all those areas that really define who you are," Quirk explains. "The key for us was not letting the hype come inside the building and cause us to change the way we did things."

His first step was to manage the meeting requests. "Any time recruiters are visiting your school, it can be tempting to try to accommodate them by pulling a kid out of class, but that can be a major disruption for the athlete and his classmates and teachers," says Quirk. "With all the visitors we knew Myron would be getting, we decided we couldn't allow those interruptions."

Instead, Quirk sat down with Rolle and school administrators and agreed to set aside four specific times during the day for recruiters: before school started, during a mid-morning academic break, at lunchtime, and after school. This way, Rolle could meet everyone who came by without ever having to leave class.

Quirk also helped Rolle sort through the piles of literature and the many scholarship offers he received. "I would look into the graduation rates of the schools that visited, and then I'd talk to Myron about which ones clearly cared about their athletes in the classroom as much as on the field," he says. "I do that for all our athletes who get visits from recruiters, and it really helps them to see that choosing a college is about academics first and their sport second."

They also came up with a plan for game days, when flocks of reporters focused almost exclusively on Rolle's exploits. "It's a bizarre thing when most of the media members at your games aren't even interested in who won or lost," says Quirk. "They wanted to know: What did Myron do? How many tackles did he have? Did he get any interceptions?"

When possible, Quirk (who's also an assistant coach for the football team) turned the frenzy into teachable moments for the whole team. He talked with Rolle about sharing credit and praising his teammates during post-game interviews, and also asked him to share the media spotlight so other players could learn a new skill. "You should always teach players to be generous and not self-centered when talking to the media, but when one guy has all the microphones in front of him, it's especially important," Quirk says. "Luckily, Myron is a great kid who has his head on straight.

"The head coach and I told him, 'You know, it would be a great learning experience for some of your teammates if they could go with you to your interviews, both to see how you handle yourself and maybe to take a few questions,'" Quirk explains. "And he was great about it. He would take one or two different guys with him, and in response to a few questions, he'd say something like, 'Well, why don't you ask this guy? He had a great view of that play.'"

For Quirk and the rest of the football coaching staff, keeping everything in perspective was simply a matter of remembering their roles. "If a couple of kids make it all the way to the NFL, that's great, but it's not why we're here," he says. "Some day, people will look back and say, 'Okay, a few players had some great success. But what did the other 45 kids get out of their experience?'"

PARENTS OUT OF CONTROL
The note left on Steve Vowell's desk this May spoke for itself: "Go back to the south. We don't like your softball. We know your wife's and kids' schedules." Vowell, the Head Softball Coach at Westbrook (Maine) High School, who had relocated with his family from Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina, also found a similar warning on his truck, and that one was laced with profanities. He resigned the following day.

It was the sad finale to what had been a difficult two-year stint for Vowell. When he was hired, Westbrook's then-Athletic Director Gary Groves (who moved on to Deering High School in nearby Portland last year) was impressed with Vowell's ideas for instilling discipline and a strong work ethic in a program that had lately lacked both. But the process was undermined by today's coaches' loudest critics: parents.

"There hadn't been very much structure or accountability in the softball program before Steve arrived," says Groves. "From the moment he came in, he did all the right things. At his preseason parents meeting, he laid out his expectations and explained there would be stricter team rules about conduct and academic performance, and that players would be disciplined for breaking them. His program was not only about building better softball players, but also about building responsible young adults with good character."

When the time came to enforce his rules, however, some parents were not okay seeing their daughters benched for infractions like skipping class or missing practice. "Several parents were very vocal in their criticism of him, mostly out of frustration over the team rules or playing time," says Groves. "On one occasion, after he took out a pitcher who was having a bad game, the girl's father actually went in the dugout and berated Steve in front of his team, the opponents, and the fans. It really got out of hand."

Like most athletic directors would, Groves turned to school administrators for help with Vowell's parent problems. But he found none. In fact, in one meeting, an assistant principal pressured Vowell to overturn the suspension of a pitcher who'd missed several classes, saying the team would have a better shot at winning a big game that night with her in the lineup.

With no allies in sight, Groves and Vowell weathered the storm for a while, but after the incident with the two notes, Vowell decided to turn to the local media. "He told me he felt compelled to resign for the safety of his family, but said if he could prevent a similar thing from happening to another coach by shining a light on the situation, it would be worth it," Groves says.

And it worked. Vowell told his story to a local newspaper reporter, who published a full account of what had happened. Going public about the threats proved to be a wake up call for the entire Westbrook athletic community.

"After the newspaper published the story, Coach Vowell and I both received calls and e-mails from other coaches in the area who were grateful that someone was bringing up the issue of how coaches are treated," says Groves. "But more importantly, a lot of parents called to say they were embarrassed about what he had been put through, and they couldn't believe things had gotten so out of hand."

Ultimately, Groves believes the media spotlight worked like an intervention for out-of-control parents and other fans. By seeing someone who'd come in with the best of intentions driven out of his job, they realized something had gone horribly wrong.

"I believe the vast majority of parents and others who follow high school athletics understand what it's really about," Groves says. "It's sad that Steve had to lose his coaching position because of what happened, and it's sad for the Westbrook community to have lost a great coach. But sometimes, it takes an incident like this for people to step back and remember what's really important."

NATIONAL ATTENTION
Since its inception in 1920, the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) has focused on promoting the education-centered model of high school athletics. So when the association announced last year that it was sponsoring its first ever national tournament, featuring some of the top basketball teams in the country--and partnering with telecom giant T-Mobile to do it--many observers did a double-take.

Had the NFHS suddenly forgotten its mission and bought into the idea of high school sports hitting the "big time," complete with corporate tie-ins, national media attention, and a businesslike approach? Bob Gardner, Chief Operating Officer, answers with an emphatic "no." In fact, the NFHS hopes its actions serve as an example of how to partner with sponsors to promote all that's right about high school sports.

"The basketball tournament has gotten the most attention, but it wasn't the driving force behind our new partnership," Gardner explains. "By working with a corporate sponsor that shares our enthusiasm for the educational values at the heart of high school athletics, we've created new opportunities to reinforce those values in ways that can benefit young people all across the country."

One of those opportunities was the resurrection of the NFHS's National Student Leadership Conference (NSLC), which welcomed more than 300 student and adult delegates to Indianapolis this July. The NFHS started the conference in 2001 as an annual event, but funding shortfalls in 2004 brought an end to it until T-Mobile stepped in to help cover the costs.

"The conference is a great forum for high school students to come together and learn how participation in sports and activities can help them develop positive leadership skills so they can serve as role models for their communities," says Gardner. "We had students from all over the U.S., as well as some from Canada and Israel this year, so it was truly an international event and an unforgettable experience for those who attended."

Over four days, NSLC delegates took part in small- and large-group discussions on subjects such as sportsmanship, respect, teamwork, healthy lifestyles, and self-evaluation. They also heard guest speakers address topics ranging from hazing prevention to NCAA eligibility to the responsible use of social networking Web sites. And all delegates took part in citywide community service projects in Indianapolis to round out their experience.

The NFHS is using its T-Mobile partnership to advance other ideas as well. It's improving its Fundamentals of Coaching program, an educational course designed to highlight the importance of teaching life lessons--not just athletic skills--to student-athletes. T-Mobile has also provided funds to the NFHS Foundation, which conducts research on minimizing risks in athletics and is currently putting together a DVD on fan behavior and sportsmanship, intended for use by schools across the country.

But in terms of public attention, the crown jewel of the NFHS/T-Mobile partnership is the T-Mobile Invitational, an annual basketball tournament that brings together four boys' and four girls' teams from NFHS-member state associations. The teams are chosen with help from USA Today's "Super 25" high school basketball rankings, but each is also recommended by its state association as a good ambassador for high school sports. "We want not only high-quality basketball, but also high-quality athletes and coaches who represent all the things we stand for," says Gardner.

Why focus so much energy on a national tournament when some will misinterpret it as a national championship, and others will see it as high school sports moving toward high-stakes, high-profile competition? The NFHS has decided it has a message worth promoting, and it's using the tournament's national attention to help spread it.

"We'd love it if we could just call a press conference to talk about the values of high school sports and the educational benefits of participation. But if we did, I'm not sure anybody would show up," explains Gardner. "The truth is, if you want people to hear your message--to get it on TV and in the newspapers-- you need to package it in a way that's appealing. We've done that through the tournament, and as long as we keep the event in the proper perspective, we think it's a great opportunity."

At the first T-Mobile Invitational, held this past winter in Seattle, athletes and coaches attended a pre-tournament banquet where speakers talked about the NFHS's values and the importance of each program sharing in them. The teams also participated in a community service day, visiting a community center for underprivileged children to do chores and make posters with positive messages about sports. The events were a great success, and similar activities are already planned for this year's invitational in Albuquerque, N.M.

Gardner believes there's an important take-home message here about how high school sports can benefit from corporate sponsorships, as long as they're chosen wisely. "We would never enter a partnership that hurts the integrity of high school sports," he says. "This arrangement is simply about sharing our most important values with a larger audience. Will it help T-Mobile to raise its profile and get more customers down the road? Sure. That's the way the business world works. But for us, it's about a lot more than that.

"We've found a company that believes in what we're doing and has the means to help us do it better," he continues. "When you form a partnership like that, everyone wins."

COSTS & BENEFITS
Compared to corporate deals at the national level, sponsorships for individual school districts are a different ballgame. But the same guiding principles apply: If you find the right partner, craft an agreement both sides are comfortable with, and weigh the costs against the benefits, your program can reap major rewards without trading integrity for income.

That was the thought process the Green Bay (Wis.) Area Public School District (GBAPS) used this past year when it unveiled prominently displayed advertisements at its four high schools' athletic facilities. The GBAPS signed a five-year agreement this spring with Ohio-based marketing firm Sports Image, which is responsible for selling ads displayed on scoreboard placards and electronic message centers around the high schools' football, basketball, and baseball facilities. The school district will receive around 80 percent of the revenue generated by the ad sales.

For the Green Bay school board, the calculation came down to this: Yes, there's a cost to placing ads in the gyms and stadiums, but there's a greater cost to not doing so. "Our focus is on maximizing opportunities for our kids," says Mary Pfeiffer, Executive Director of Instruction for the GBAPS. "When we realized the many ways revenue from the advertising deal could improve our programs, we decided it was the right move."

Pfeiffer says one key to forging an agreement everyone could accept was taking a slow, measured approach that kept school administrators in control. "We definitely did not want our facilities to become a public bulletin board," she says. "We didn't want things plastered all over our gyms and fields without regard to how they looked, and we didn't want just any company to be able to purchase an ad. So in our meetings with Sports Image, we brought several stipulations to the table."

The stipulations stated that school administrators would have the final say on which companies could be solicited--for instance, in accordance with the district's wellness policy, no ads for unhealthy foods or beverages will be displayed. Furthermore, the schools approve all ads to ensure that they fit aesthetically, so no facility ends up looking like a highway strip mall. In addition, to build community support, Sports Image agreed to give priority to locally owned businesses, especially those that have sponsored school athletics in the past.

Crafting the right agreement also meant drawing a clear link between where the ads are displayed and who is benefiting from them. "We considered installing scrolling message boards in front of our high schools, but we ultimately decided that would be going too far," explains Pfeiffer. "By limiting the advertising to sports facilities, we know the people who see the ads are the same ones being served by the revenue they're generating. That helps make us comfortable that we're not in any way 'selling out' our school district."

Even with so many safeguards, there were critics of the new sponsorship deal. A few teachers and community members voiced concerns that Green Bay schools were at the edge of a slippery slope, with more commercialization sure to follow. "Public schools should be havens where students are free from marketing," one teacher told the Green Bay Press Gazette after a school board meeting in June.

But school administrators and activities directors, much like NFHS officials, see corporate partnerships as a chance to improve their programs in ways that wouldn't otherwise be possible. "We're considering a lot of different projects, from expanding and upgrading our athletic facilities to sending our coaches to more clinics and our athletes to sportsmanship conferences," Pfeiffer says. "Each of our four high school activities directors will have input in deciding how to put this new revenue to use, and we're excited about all the possibilities."

Further down the road, it could even help ensure that more Green Bay youngsters have an education-centered athletic experience. "One major deficiency in our district is that we don't currently have a school-run middle school football program," says Pfeiffer. "The only program in Green Bay is community run, and there are obviously some drawbacks to that. It's something we'll be looking at in the future after we see how much income we generate through the sponsorships."

Pfeiffer says in a perfect world, she would agree with high school sports "purists" who argue that marketing and school athletics should never intertwine. But in the real world, she believes compromises made with students' best interests in mind are well worth the cost.

"High school sports is all about achieving educational goals, and you need resources to do that," she says. "Could we raise the funds to achieve our goals without any corporate sponsorships? Possibly. But it would certainly take a lot longer, and in the meantime, a lot of kids would pass through our programs without some things that could really enhance their experience. With this agreement, we've decided that our kids deserve the best we can give them right now."

Sidebar: Keeping the Trust
One of the biggest problems with high school athletics going high-profile is an increased emphasis on winning at all costs, which has led to more and more athletes donning uniforms of schools they're not eligible to compete for. The Georgia High School Association (GHSA) got an up-close look at this problem earlier this year when it received a package of photos and documents prepared by a private investigator hired to track one of the state's star athletes.

The materials provided evidence that Chad Mitchell, a top wrestler at Parkview (Ga.) High School, lived in a different neighborhood than he claimed. The wrestling booster club at Parkview's rival, McEachern High School, had hired the detective to follow Mitchell and prove its suspicions that he was living outside Parkview's district lines. Once the GHSA verified that he had lied about his primary residence, he was disqualified from competition for the rest of the season.

At first glance, it seems the GHSA should have been grateful--an outside group had helped enforce the association's rules, saving both time and resources. But GHSA Executive Director Ralph Swearngin says there's a bigger issue at stake.

"It's kind of like the old west, with vigilantes running around trying to keep law and order in Dodge--that's not supposed to happen in high school athletics," he explains. "We're a part of the educational process, and when schools do things like this instead of working out their problems by cooperating as administrators, they're giving in to that way of thinking. I'm worried it sends the message that we're all about competition, because that's certainly not the truth."

Swearngin isn't alone--even McEachern's wrestling boosters were hesitant about hiring the investigator, which reportedly cost the club around $2,000. "I just didn't know if it was our place to spend the money that the booster club had earned and worked so hard to raise, if that should be one of the things we should spend it on instead of camps for the kids [or] trips to help them get better at wrestling," McEachern Takedown Club President Steve Smith told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "But if we didn't do it, it wouldn't have gotten done."

Indeed, Swearngin admits that Mitchell may not have been caught without the investigator's evidence. But he's quick to point out the GHSA does have procedures in place to enforce its rules, including a protocol for investigating accusations of athlete ineligibility. And more importantly, he hopes the incident doesn't represent a new athletic culture of mistrust between schools.

"Schools need to talk to each other and work together, because the vast majority of administrators have the right priorities and are honest, and they can get to the bottom of any problems without taking extreme measures," Swearngin says. "But if they feel they can't trust each other, that's when the rumors and accusations start flying, which can be very disruptive to the harmony among schools. That's not good for anybody."