COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Ohio High School Basketball Coaches Association held an annual meeting with the Ohio High School Athletic Association Tuesday, but it doesn’t appear an OHSBCA shot clock proposal will be approved anytime soon by the OHSAA Board of Directors.
“Our board is not ready to pass that,” OHSAA Executive Director Doug Ute told the Ohio Prep Sports Media Association Tuesday afternoon.
Ute acknowledged the OHSBCA has sent a shot clock proposal to the OHSAA. Ute said the OHSAA has an “ongoing discussion” with the basketball coaches association and Ohio Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association.
“We want to continue to have the discussions about how does it make the game better,” Ute told WCPO 9 Sports. “And then if we decide to (do) it, how are schools going to implement it? There is a cost to it, and there is a personnel issue with it as well. That somebody else sits at the scorer’s table and run that.”
The OHSBCA posted its support of a shot clock in Ohio high school basketball Tuesday afternoon.
“The OHSBCA will continue to advocate to the OHSAA for the implementation of the shot clock in Ohio,” the OHSBCA posted. “The time is now, and we will remain committed to pushing for what is best for student-athletes and the game of basketball.”
For the past two years, the OHSBCA has hosted events that have experimented with the use of the shot clock.
In December 2024, the OHSBCA hosted an event in Canton over three days where girls and boys teams competed using the shot clock. They then had a two-day shot clock event in Canton again, one year later.
The OHSBCA announced several events are scheduled to have a shot clock this upcoming December and in January 2027.
Three events had to apply for and get approval for the use of the shot clock this past January.
Those events included The Classic in the Country at Berlin Hiland, The Battle of the 614 at Ohio Dominican and the MLK Classic at Fort Loramie.
The shot clock topic has gained momentum in Ohio after years of debate.
Ute said some of the debate comes from more states implementing the shot clock. He said the OHSBCA talks to those who have instituted it to learn more about how it has changed the game.
"I think what’s brought on the forefront a little bit is just the growth in the nation, and then as our coaches association becomes a little more educated about it, what do they want to do with it? And so I think they’re a little bit ahead of OIAAA on where they want this to go. Our athletic administrators aren’t there yet," Ute said.
The National Federation of State High School Associations said in March that 32 state associations (31 states plus Washington, D.C.) used the shot clock this past season. The Indiana High School Athletic Association voted down a coaches association proposal Monday.
The Kentucky High School Athletic Association Board of Control voted in September 2025 to adopt a 35-second shot clock for varsity boys and girls basketball teams starting in the 2027-28 season.
