SAN ANTONIO -- The UIL held its annual press conference on Sunday morning at the Texas High School Coaches Association (THSCA) Convention and touched on a number of wide-ranging topics pertaining to athletics in the State of Texas as the 2024-2025 school year approaches.

• Joe Martin, the Executive Director of the THSCA, expressed the organization’s displeasure with Division I football conferences scheduling Friday night games during the Texas High School Football regular season. In particular, he made mention of the Big 12 scheduling TCU and Houston to play each other on Friday October 4. “We are asking all conference commissioners to refrain from scheduling Friday night games during the 11-week Texas High School Football regular season. We feel Friday nights should be about the communities involved with Texas High School Football,” Martin said.
• UIL Athletic Director Ray Zepeda, along with Martin from the THSCA, said that their No. 1 concern heading into the new academic year is the heat and keeping athletes safe. “We felt like last year we didn’t do a good enough job with the record heat preparing our coaches and giving them the tools to be successful, so we are making it a point of emphasis with our coaches here,” Zepeda said. Zepeda credited the coaches and athletic trainers with their work last year as there were no catastrophic heat related issues at UIL schools a year ago.
• The THSCA and UIL are actively working with TASO to try and address the officiating shortage through the new Texas Way initiative with Stephen Mackey and 2 Words Character Development. The Texas Way initiative focuses on sportsmanship among players, coaches, fans and officials. In addition, Zepeda highlighted the 17 school districts across the state who are offering sports officiating classes.
• UIL Deputy Director Dr. Jamey Harrison did not dismiss the possibility of adding a Class 7A in the future, but he added the math doesn’t quite work at the moment. However, the addition of a post-season division has alleviated some of the concerns of enrollment disparities within classifications.
• Dr. Harrison did confirm that that the 2024 UIL football state championship games would be held once again at AT&T Stadium.
• The UIL did make mention of the THSCA having some concerns about student athlete transfers and that process and Dr. Harrison confirmed that the UIL was looking at improving and modifying the current PAPF (Previous Athletic Participation Form) process.