It used to be very clear DRAWING OPTIONS - SYSTEM OPTIONS, set the system options up and if you wanted to update a drawing RESET TO SYSTEM.
... and then they introduced PROJECT OPTIONS, and things seemed to get really hazy. I expected to be able to RESET a DRAWING to PROJECT OPTIONS and RESET a PROJECT or a DRAWING back to SYSTEM OPTIONS, but it doesn't seem to work that simply.
I have occasionally opened a project and found that it contains the "HATED" SPHAND font and that even occasionally the system options have seemed to reset back to SPHAND for certain items. Not sure why. I do know I haven't come across it for a while though.
Just make sure that your SYSTEM OPTIONS are how you want them, and maybe you'll get to the stage where all the new projects open as they should. The problem may be opening old projects where the settings weren't set properly to begin with ... although my SYSTEM OPTIONS haven't included SPHAND for over 10 years and it started to be an issue when PROJECT OPTIONS were introduced. Just stick with putting it right and hopefully it will correct itself permanently.