BRADENTON
John Harder wants to see change.
And what the long-time Southeast High girls basketball coach means is stability.
After his Seminoles lost a one-point decision Tuesday night to Fort Myers Dunbar in the Class 5A-Region 3 semifinals at home, Harder commented - not in a sour-grapes manner - on the ever-changing landscape of girls basketball.
Southeast High girls basketball coach John Harder wants to see more stability in the sport. STAFF PHOTO / DENINS MAFFEZZOLI
Last year, Southeast lost to eventual state champion Fort Lauderdale Dillard in the 5A State Semifinals.
“The only game I ever coached in 42 years last year where I would have lost 10 out of 10,” said Harder, who completed his 32nd year at Southeast. “They were the most fantastic team I’d ever seen in girls basketball.”
This year, the Seminoles remained in the same class - 5A. Dillard was gone, moving up to 6A. But they had to deal with the likes of Jacksonville Ribault (24-1) and Dunbar, the 2012 state champions and state runners-up the past two seasons.
“Dillard left us. They were big and strong,” Harder said. “I lost to them and have to come home at the end of the summer to two new teams in my division. In my opinion - and it’s a strong opinion, I know this state - there are too many classifications. There is too much movement. There’s no continuity.”
He points to Manatee County, where five of the eight different classes are represented: Manatee in 8A, Braden River, Lakewood Ranch and Palmetto in 7A, Bayshore with Southeast in 5A, Saint Stephen’s in 3A and Bradenton Christian in 2A.
“You can’t find competition at a local basis anymore,” Harder said. “I don’t get it. If it’s about money and politics, then it has to be looked at in legislature or somewhere, because it’s just not a football state. The girls deserve more.”
And it will get worse in Harder’s eyes.
Baseball and softball already have nine classes this season, and the other major sports, such as football, volleyball and basketball are expected to follow suit, going from eight to nine.
“The whole thing needs to be reworked,” Harder said. “We change districts every year. I don’t know who I’m going to play until I go back to school.
“Indiana did one for 100 years. Illinois did two for 200 years. At the time they were bigger states. It’s wrong. It’s dead wrong. Nine classifications is wrong.”
