NC high school sports ejections spike. Why NCHSAA officials are alarmed

Que Tucker, commissioner of the North Carolina High School Athletic Association, said she knew there was a growing problem with the number of athletes being ejected from games and matches in the state.

But a recent report was a clincher, she said.

“We’ve had three ejections from track meets,” Tucker said. “We’ve never had that before. There was one ejection in the stands, and two kids were ejected near the shot put pit.”

The biggest increase, state officials said in the recently released report, is not in football or basketball — but in boys’ soccer.

The rising problem with the behavior of student-athletes, coaches and fans at sports events was a topic of discussion during both days of last week’s annual NCHSAA spring meeting in Chapel Hill.

NCHSAA ejections, by the numbers

It’s not just an anecdotal situation. There are numbers to back up the worries:

▪ Through April 22, the date of the most recent report, there had been 993 ejections of athletes and coaches from sporting events since the start of the athletic/academic year last Aug. 1. That compares with 877 for all of the 2023-24 school year, and 727 two years ago.

And the number is even higher. Tucker said she was told last Wednesday that the total had climbed to 1,030 for this school year, as of April 28.

That’s a 42% increase over the past two years.

▪ Coaches are behaving better, with the number of ejections dropping from 113 two years ago to 78 so far this year.

▪ Athletes are the source of the problem. As of April 22, there had been 915 ejections of competitors — up dramatically from 614 two years ago, and 787 last year.

▪ Perhaps surprisingly, the biggest number of ejections has come in boys’ soccer, with 249. That is nearly double the total of two years ago. And it compares to 26 ejections in girls’ soccer.

▪ Other sports with high numbers of ejections are varsity football (181), boys’ varsity basketball (153), girls’ varsity basketball (74) and junior varsity football (63).

“That’s simply too high,” said Bryan Tyson, athletics director for the Cabarrus County Schools and an NCHSAA board member. “We need to have a discussion with stakeholders about the penalty not being severe enough.”

In this case, “stakeholders” means state legislators and the state school board.

What changed?

Until a few years ago, the NCHSAA could mandate multi-game suspensions against athletes and teams, and the association could fine schools for large numbers of ejections.

The NCHSAA took strong action in 2019, banning Anson County High from the football playoffs after Bearcats players became involved in a fight with Richmond Senior.

Several state legislators then launched an investigation into the workings of the NCHSAA, and the probe resulted in the N.C. State Board of Education taking control of how behavior problems by athletes and coaches are handled.

An ejection currently results in a one-game suspension — half the previous penalty.

“I wonder if this (rise in ejections) isn’t because the penalty isn’t tough enough,” Tucker said last week. “It’s time to have a discussion with the state board.”

‘More and more concerned’

Stephen Gainey, superintendent of the Randolph County Schools and president of the NCHSAA board, said the increase in ejections has him worried.

“I’m more and more concerned that someone is going to get hurt,” he said. “This is way too many. We need to get this under control.”

Two types of behavior are behind most of the ejections, according to the most recent figures released by the NCHSAA:

▪ Profanity — 322 ejections (32%)

▪ Fighting — 314 ejections (32%)

Other leading reasons are leaving the bench area or coming onto the playing area (100) and showing disrespectful behavior to game officials (63).

“I’ve seen some programs that allow unbelievably bad language from student-athletes,” said Mark Dreibelbis, interim director of officiating for the NCHSAA.

“I’m really concerned about where we’re going with all of this,” Gainey said.