Bonine: Split "unconstitutional", to be dissolved at the end of January

BATON ROUGE – In a surprise press conference Monday morning, LHSAA Executive Director Eddie Bonine dropped a bombshell on presser attendees: the select, non-select football playoff split that was approved in 2013 violated the organization’s constitution and should never have been instituted.
Bonine says the error was discovered on Thursday, Jan. 7, in preparing for the organization’s annual convention scheduled for Jan. 27-29 in Baton Rouge.
He added that the LHSAA's official position is that football must return to the format used before the split, meaning only five championships and five divisions instead of nine.
But, there are measures on January's agenda designed to alter the football playoffs structure in the future.
Bonine will be traveling the state starting next week to hold area meetings in Shreveport and Monroe Jan. 19, Alexandria and Lafayette Jan. 20 and Baton Rouge and New Orleans Jan. 21, in advance of the statewide convention.
"I'll be the first to admit, the timing is horrible," said Bonine at Friday morning’s news conference in Baton Rouge. "What we did today was a step in the right direction. I want to be transparent. I’m not putting a spin on any of this. I don’t anticipate anything other than maybe some fierce conversations, and fierce for me is just good pointed dialogue," Bonine added.
Bonine was hired during the 2014 football season, but did not officially begin with the LHSAA until after the 2015 convention, so this month’s meeting will be his first in an official capacity.