In the competitive world of high school sports, the topic of seniors on JV sparks debate among students and parents. Should seniors automatically be put on varsity? Should they be able to get cut? Should they be treated like every other athlete?

At Menomonie High School, when making the rules for each sport, the coach decides. The coach picks how they want to place their seniors. For example, the volleyball coaches choose not allow seniors to be on JV, they automatically get to be on varsity, and they can’t be cut. Boys’ basketball has the rule that the seniors can be cut, but they can not be on JV. 

This is a common theme in our Big Rivers Conference. All other schools in the BRC let the coaches decide. This sparks the question, why don’t we have a consistent rule throughout the state of Wisconsin or even just in our conference? The answer: each sport is different. Not all sports have the same number of teams or participants. The coaches should know their program well enough to decide what they will do based on their numbers. 

I asked our athletic director, Mr. Riley, if he thinks not having a set-in-stone rule hurts the performance of our sports. He said, “We don’t have different rules; we have coaches with different philosophies, and I think the coaches are making the best decisions for each program, and it’s not affecting the performance of our sports.” 

From some people, this sparks the question: do newly hired coaches know they can switch the rules? Do athletes know they can bring this up in conversation with their coaches?