Too loud is not allowed
Blaring music at Trojans game reaches IHSAA
By Michael Pointer
[email protected]
August 31, 2007
Center Grove might get a written warning from the Indiana High School Athletic Association after being penalized three times for excessively loud music during a 37-7 victory over visiting Perry Meridian last Friday.
IHSSA Assistant Commissioner Bobby Cox said game officials are required to file a written report when a personal foul penalty is called on an adult. The IHSAA awaited the report this week.
Center Grove athletic director Jon Zwitt personally handles playing music from the stadium press box.
Cox has known Zwitt for several years, dating to when Cox was athletic director at Carmel, and said he doesn't think Zwitt purposefully tried to give the Trojans an advantage.
He added that game officials are given broad latitude to decide if the music disrupts the game.
"Sometimes the act interferes with the normal activity of the game," said Cox, who didn't attend the game. "That's left up to the referee and the officiating crews to make that decision."
Center Grove twice got penalized for delay of game, then received a 15-yard penalty in the fourth quarter for unsportsmanlike conduct.
"It's a fine line between squashing enthusiasm and screwing up the game," Cox said. "I don't think (Center Grove officials) were trying to mess up the game. I think they were trying to generate some enthusiasm."
Zwitt said no one had complained about the loud music until Friday. He has controlled the music since 1999.
"If I ever had an official say, 'You can't do what you're doing,' we would modify it," he said, "but if anything, (feedback) has been just the opposite."
Zwitt said he mistakenly played loud music early in the game when Perry Meridian's offense approached the line of scrimmage. The Center Grove bench received a warning, and Zwitt said he apologized to Perry Meridian officials.
He said he doesn't think he did anything improper after that. Zwitt noted that IHSAA Assistant Commissioner Sandy Searcy attended the game and never asked him to stop.
"The bottom line is we're in the entertainment business," he said. "There's too many options for kids and parents to stay at home. We have to give them a reason to be here.
"We've always had a good product on the field. We're just trying to do something to enhance it."
Perry Meridian coach Doug Bradburn said he didn't complain about the noise during the game and doesn't think it affected his team.
Bradburn and Cox both said Center Grove has long had a reputation for playing loud music. Bradburn is a former assistant coach at Ben Davis. Carmel, Center Grove and Ben Davis all are members of the Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference.
"When I was at Ben Davis, we always told our (players) it was something you had to prepare for," Bradburn said.
Cox remembers Zwitt parking an old Volkswagen with high-powered speakers near the field when Carmel and Center Grove played in the past.
"You could hear that all the way back to Carmel," Cox said with a laugh.