B-Ball coordinator resigns over ability grouping

Saul Lerner, the Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District athletic director, recently resigned his post as coordinator of the Nassau County Boys' Basketball Committee because, he said, the Section VIII Athletic Council rejected a proposal of his to fine-tune the seeding process that ultimately determines teams' playing schedules.

In 2006, Lerner was the architect of an ability-grouping system that determined a team's conference by its record. Previously, teams were assigned to conferences without much regard to their records. Rather, officials used what they called the "snake," in which teams were seeded and then laid out on a grid that wound back and forth in serpentine fashion.

The first-, sixth-, seventh-, 12th-, 13th-, 18th- and 19th-seeded teams played in Conference I. The second-, fifth-, eighth-, 11th-, 14th-, 17th- and 20th-seeded teams played in Conference II, and so forth. It was clear at the start of the season that the top-seeded teams would likely come out ahead at the end of the season, and would blow out the bottom-seeded teams, often by 50 points or more.

Lerner moved to an ability-grouping format, in which the first, second-, third-, fourth- , fifth-, sixth-, seventh- and eighth-seeded teams played each other in Conference I, and so on down the line. The system balanced games out. There were few, if any, 50-point blowouts, and conference winners were much less predictable. When the system took effect in 2007, there were crossover games between the conferences. In 2008, the system was further modified, with no crossover games.

Coaches in the top conferences then complained that their players had no breaks during the season. They always played hard-fought games, which strained their best players. At the same time, teams in the lower divisions had an unrealistic sense of how good they really were, Lerner said. The best team in Conference IV, for example, ended the season as conference champion, while the eighth-seeded team in Conference I, which might have easily defeated the Conference IV winner, might well end the season with a losing record.

So Lerner tried to tweak the system. This fall, he proposed that each team play two crossover games in different conferences, giving the top-seeded teams a small rest while also giving lower-ranked teams a small dose of reality.

The Athletic Council, comprising about 20 school superintendents, principals and athletic directors from throughout the county, voted down Lerner's proposal to refine the system. So he resigned as coordinator.

“There were flaws in the [ability-grouping] system, and I was attempting to fix the system,” Lerner said. “... I can't run an organization if I don't have the ability to fix what's broken.”

Dave Zawatson, president of the Athletic Council and athletic director of the Great Neck School District, said he is "not comfortable" discussing the issue "in a media forum," and would not say whether the council had voted to reject Lerner's proposal, though Lerner insisted that it had.

Zawatson said he was "saddened" to see Lerner resign as boys' basketball coordinator. "Saul provided many, many years of great leadership," he said.

Todd Hiemer, executive director of the Nassau County Public High School Athletic Association, said he believes the ability-grouping system has benefited players. "If you want competition, it's working well," Hiemer said. "There are not as many blowouts as there used to be."

Nassau County athletic officials are now reportedly studying whether and how to fine-tune the ability-grouping system.