Guidelines

OHSBCA Poll Voting Guidelines

2026 Poll Voter Application
Deadline September 30, 2025

OHSBCA Coaches Poll:

The purpose of the OHSBCA is to unify all baseball coaches in the state of Ohio, promote high school baseball, create an official line of communication with the Ohio High School Athletic Association (OHSAA), foster higher standards of professionalism and ethics, and maintain strong contact with national, state, and local coaches' organizations of baseball. 

The OHSBCA state poll recognizes the top 20 programs in each respective division on weekly basis, along with determing the All-Ohio teams. Head Coaches must join the OHSBCA by March 15th of each year to have the ability to nominate and promote their program to poll voters. 

Eligible Poll Voters have two voting responsibilities:

State Coaches Poll:  Member Teams are rated in each of the seven divisions nine times each spring. Poll champions are recognized at the state clinic. There are 20 voting coaches in each division.

All-Ohio Coaches Poll Team: The poll coaches in each division select an All-Ohio Team. All players, of member schools, are eligible (not just seniors). Each division selects a Player of the Year (POY) and a Coach of the Year (COY). They are recognized by the media and are awarded a plaque at the annual state clinic.

Weekly Poll Voting begins Friday, March 13-15, 2026 for the Pre-Season Poll and concludes May 15-17, 2026 for final Team Rankings. Poll Team All-Ohio voting begins May 22-24, 2026.

1. 20 Head Coaches vote in each division.
2. Head Coaches must be a member of the OHSBCA in order to vote, be ranked, or nominate for All-Ohio.
3. Head Coaches are selected by their district reps. upon completion of the application.
4. Any Head Coach who is interested in voting must complete an online application. Applications are available on line at www.ohsbca.org. starting June 1 and ending in September 30th each year. Current Voters must re-apply.
5. The number of coaches voting in a district will vary, determined by the number of coaches in their respective district. (Determined by member schools per District/Division).
6. Coaches selected to vote will be notified by their District Reps and their names /emails will be put on the website under their respective divisions.
7. The Poll will be conducted for 10 consecutive weeks. Ballots will be e-mailed to eligible poll voters and recorded between Thursday and Saturday of the indicated weeks. Results will be online on our website the following Monday.
   • Pre-Season Poll: 3/19 -3/22 
   • Week 1: 4/2 - 4/5
   • Week 2: 4/9 - 4/12 
   • Week 3: 4/16 - 4/19
   • Week 4: 4/23 -  4/26
   • Week 5: 4/30 - 5/3
   • Week 6: 5/7 - 5/10
   • Week 7: 5/14 - 5/17
   • Week 8: 5/21 - 5/24
   • All-Ohio: 5/28 - 6/2  *Extending Window
8. Electronic ballots to be sent to voters via email each Thursday at 12:00pm. Voting window opens on Friday at 12:00pm and closes 11:59PM on Sunday.
9. If your team deserves recognition, or if you have a player who should be considered All-State, be sure that the voters have the needed information before the start of the balloting by emailing them and updating team record in the weekly Google Sheet. 
10. Coaches who are eligible to vote will receive information on the voting procedure starting in early March and will receive their ballots via email prior to the voting window opening.
11. Coaches who do not vote in the coaches poll once will recieve a warning and a second time will be removed and replaced.
12. The Final Ballot 10th Ballot for All-Ohio will determine the 1st, 2nd and Honorable All-State players.

John Bakalar
Chagrin Falls High School
State Poll Director