Optional 35-second shot clock won't be coming to Polk County in '22-'23
LAKELAND —- The FHSAA board of directors last week approved the 35-second shot for high school basketball but don't look for the clock in Polk County gymnasiums in the upcoming season that begins in November.
"They made it optional," Polk County athletic director Dan Talbot said. "You can't go to your school district to buy shot clocks if it's something that's not mandatory. My thing is they made it optional. It was already optional because they played with the 35-second clock at the City of Palms. So the board just made something that was already optional, optional."
The proposal that the board approved made the shot clock optional for the next two seasons with no requirement that it becomes mandatory in 2024-25. The proposal was amended from the original proposal that would have made the shot clock mandatory after two years.
Talbot had a number of concerns about the use of a shot clock, including the cost. He estimated it would cost the school district $45,000, about $3,000 per clock, to put one in all 15 public high schools.
"If it was going to be mandatory in three years I think we could move some things around and make it work to get what we need to do," Talbot said. "But the biggest concern is who's going to run the clock. That's always been my concern. Who's going to run the clock because right now in our district, our basketball (officials) association won't work a boys game unless there's three officials. Well now, they're going to want a fourth official."
Even if officials who worked the clock get a reduced rate like in football, it still likely would add at least $2,000 a year, possibly more, in expenses for each school for varsity and JV boys and girls basketball games where schools could have as many as 40 home games combined for the four teams.
"We haven't raised ticket prices," Talbot said. "We're trying to be consumer conscientious for our fan base by not raising ticket price. But the police supervision has gone up, transportation costs have gone up. Everything has gone up, and it's just awful.
"What I asked for at the board meeting was a strong commitment from them that they could produce an online certification program for one of our people at the school base level to let them run the clock and know how to run the clock. But you have some associations like with football that say we won't officiate unless it's our person running the clock. And I don't know where they think the money's coming from. You spend more money on game management personnel and officials than what's coming in the door."
Had it become mandatory, Talbot said he planned on investigating how the shot clock would be implemented at each school.
"We all have Daktronics scoreboard," he said. "Now can these shot clocks be tied into those scoreboards, or do you need to buy a separate, stand-alone system. What I think people don't realize too is, where do you put the shot clock? Do you want them on top of the goal? Because if you do that, then it becomes target practice at P.E. classes.
"There's just a lot of factors that goes into making a decision. But I just don't know why they voted something to make it optional, when it was already optional, and then they want to look at data after two years. At the board meeting, there was Miami-Dade County, Hillsborough County, Palm Beach County, Polk County, Duval County, Sarasota County, Lee County, Clay County, and we all looked at each other and said there's there's no way that our districts would help support something that's not mandatory."
Another factor in why the county would be reluctant to put them in schools is that because they're optional, Talbot said, both schools have to agree to use the shot clock.
"They've still got to understand that just because you have them at home, it doesn't mean you're going to play every game with the shot clock," Talbot said. "The (visiting) team has to agree to use the shot clocks."
Winter Haven coach Tyrone Woodside said Polk County basketball coaches were in favor having a shot clock, and Talbot said he feels his role as an athletics administrator is to support the coaches.
"If it became mandatory then I would find a way we would make it work," he said.
Roy Fuoco can be reached at roy.fuoco@theledger.com or at 863-802-7526. Follow him on Twitter: @RoyFuoco.
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Optional 35-second shot clock won't be coming to Polk County in '22-'23
