High school shot clock proposal suffers setback

The move for adding a shot clock to high school basketball took a setback, but Layne Fowler still hopes it gets done in the future.

The Byrnes boys’ basketball coach’s proposal was voted down, 40-8, by Class 5A athletics directors Tuesday in a straw poll taken on the final day of the S.C. Athletic Administrators Conference. No other classification voted on the matter.



Seven of the eight votes in favor came from schools in Fowler’s Region 3-5A.

“I was a little discouraged,” Fowler said. “I didn’t expect it to be an overwhelming yes, but I didn’t expect it to be an overwhelming no. I respected the different opinions, but I thought we didn’t get fair representation on the matter at the meeting.

“Hopefully, as we continue growing our great sport in SC, we will show all the positives a shot clock will bring to our game.”

Under Fowler’s proposal, the shot clock would be 40 seconds, 10 seconds longer than a college shot clock, and be used in boys and girls games on varsity, junior varsity and freshman games. Cost for a shot clock is estimated at $3,700 plus installation and money paid to someone to run it for each game.

Currently, eight states have a shot clock in high school basketball – Maryland, Massachusetts, California, Rhode Island, Washington, North and South Dakota and New York.

Fowler thinks money would be the biggest stumbling block to get the proposal more traction . Plus, he said he needs to do a better job of getting more high school basketball coaches around the state on board.

Fowler said about 60 or 65 percent of the coaches are on board and wants to increase that number to more than 80 percent. In addition to the coaches, he needs to get the ADs of those coaches behind it, because they are the ones voting.

Still, Fowler said he won’t stop wanting to get the shot clock in South Carolina. He said a shot clock will be used at a summer event held at Byrnes, Dorman and Upward Stars Center in Spartanburg.

There also will be a shot clock at the Impact Sports tournament at Spartanburg Christian.

“We are going to keep it going,” Fowler said. “Let’s put it out there and let the coaches see what it is like. I believe it is going to happen. I just hope it is sooner rather than later.”

This story was originally published March 14, 2018 at 3:19 PM with the headline "High school shot clock proposal suffers setback."