A SHOT CLOCK, FLAG FOOTBALL & MORE | UIL announces major decisions, changes in various sports

Anyone who follows high school sports here in Texas – and that’s just about all of us, at some point – can expect some pretty big changes in the next couple of years.

The University Interscholastic League, the governing body of extracurricular activities in Texas high schools (not just athletics), made a few heavy decisions, important decisions that touch several sports.

• Boys and girls basketball will have a 35-second shot clock. If you’re unfamiliar with the shot clock concept, it means teams have 35 seconds from the time their possession begins to take a shot. There is currently no shot clock in place. The UIL worded this item as “to begin no earlier than the 2028-29 (school year) for varsity games.” Classes 6A and 5A will begin utilizing a shot clock by 2028-29. Classes 4A and 3A, no earlier than 2030-31, and classes 2A and 1A, no earlier than 2032-33.

That will, of course, mean that schools have to have time to install the equipment necessary to carry through with the ruling.

This implementation of a shot clock should effectively end the strategy of holding the ball and stalling to let time expire.

• Flag football for girls will be tested. The UIL referred to this as a “pilot” program to begin no earlier than the 2028-29 school year. There was no clarification on what time of the school year that flag football would be played.
• In the UIL proposal for this trial of girls flag football, it was noted that 25 states are expected to have some sort of sanctioned flag football for girls by the start of the next school year. Roughly 165 high schools in Texas have already begun giving it a try, the league noted.
• The UIL announced that for all classifications in football, there will no longer be neutral sites for first-round playoff games. It will be home-field advantage for the higher-seeded team, and that will begin not this fall, but next (in the 2027-28 school year).
• Also for football, the UIL approved a proposal to allow TV broadcasts of Friday night games, when both participating schools agree.
• Girls cross country distance was changed by the UIL. The distance for cross country for girls is currently two miles. It’ll increase in Class 4A to a 5K (about 3.1 miles) beginning with the 2028-29 school year. For some reason, the distance will remain two miles for girls in classifications 1A, 2A and 3A.
• Beginning with next school year, tennis programs at 1A and 2A schools will be allowed to “play up” at the 4A level, much like smaller-school soccer programs have done, playing larger-classification teams. It’s primarily done because so many small schools don’t have tennis or soccer, would have to travel great distances to face schools their own size.