On January 24, Nick Stevens of HighSchoolOT.com released a report stating that the North Carolina High School Athletic Association has distributed ballots to all 418 member schools for two proposed changes to its by-laws.
Principals are designated voters on behalf of each member school and each school receives a singular vote. Any school who fails to submit a ballot will be counted as a “no” vote. In order to pass these amendments, each issue will require a three-fourths vote in the affirmative of the full membership to pass — 314 of the 418 member schools.
Principals have until January 27 to submit their ballots and the results will be announced at the NCHSAA Annual Meeting at the Dean E. Smith Center on April 30. The new realignment cycle is slated to begin at the start of the 2021-2022 academic year.
Proposal #1 would allow the NCHSAA Board of Directors to change the number of classifications from four to any number of classifications, which could have many ramifications. The ballot mentions five or six classifications, with the possibility of dropping back to three or four classifications in subsequent years if the board feels it is necessary.
For voting considerations on this amendment proposal, the Association is urging schools to consider a number of factors. Among them, the Association cites a new playoff system could possibly allow all teams participating in a sport to qualify for the playoffs and be seeded based on a ranking system. If this amendment were adopted, this action would effectively eliminate the regular season from consideration when it comes to the playoffs.
The NCHSAA also infers that changing to five or six classifications could result in significant increases in travel, which could also impact the amount of missed classroom time for student-athletes.
My take on this first proposal: What is the point of a regular season and a state championship if everyone is allowed to participate? The emphasis on regular season play is to determine who the best teams are and to weed out the inferior ones.
As I’ve stated in previous editions, no team with a sub-.500 record should be playing in a state tournament, unless they win their conference championship outright in the regular season, by regular season tiebreaker, or by tournament championship. Allowing all teams to compete for the state championship will virtually cause the state playoff system to lose meaning and purpose. The entire emphasis of regular season play is to determine who the better teams are and to separate them from those that didn’t have good seasons.
In previous editions, I’ve made the claim that engorging the state playoff system is a ploy to allow the Association to increase revenue. If this proposal passes, this will be confirmed. More teams means more games, and more games means more money.
The NCHSAA has needed to expand to 5A for approximately 10 to 15 years as the statewide boom of school construction continues. The expansion would allow the playoff system to return to more reasonable levels while featuring the best teams. To liberally expand or contract the classification system like an accordion, will do more damage than it will do for good.
The Association claims that an expansion to 5A (or even larger to 6A) will cause an increase in travel time, and cause student-athletes will miss additional class time. For state playoff purposes, this could be true as the number of class-specific schools will be more concentrated to certain locations. However, in normal, regular-season scenarios, not much class time will be missed or travel times will be affected, as many teams play within reasonable distances from their schools.
Another option the Association may wish to consider is staggering games in opposite locations. For example, junior varsity football is played on Thursday evenings in one location varsity football is played the next night in the opposite location. For basketball purposes, schools might wish to play girls basketball in one location while on the same night, boys will be in the opposite. The same rationale could be to play junior varsity in one location and varsity in the opposition. For spring sports, most games are in one location (Example, Cedar Ridge at Northern Durham / Orange at Vance County) for baseball, softball, and lacrosse (or women’s soccer). Under the same rationale, baseball and lacrosse could be in one location, while softball and women’s soccer could be at the opposite.
This suggestion would significantly decrease the amount of student-athletes participating in away games on school nights. Many schools in our area already do this – most notably, East Chapel Hill. I definitely see the point of the Wildcats to have only one or two games per night, and exiting the school at a reasonable hour, as opposed to playing three or four games in an evening and leaving at near midnight.
Proposal #2 would require the NCHSAA to realign on an annual basis for the state playoffs. This could result in schools having teams in different classifications in each sport, each year. It also means conferences and the regular season could be less dependent on school classification.
For this proposal, I have a mixed opinion.
First, schools should be designated as 1A, 2A, 3A, or 4A (5A or 6A, if implemented) on the basis of average daily membership (ADM) in ALL sports. This means if a school is 3A in football, they are 3A in every other sport. To reclassify a school per sport and per playoff is completely ridiculous and has no basis for implementation as it would create an undue amount of confusion on the part of the NCHSAA and the member schools.
Second, if a school has a significant increase or decrease in its ADM and needs to be reclassified, then yes, I would support this. This season, Hillside was promoted from 3A to 4A on the basis of an increased ADM, as was Vance County, who was promoted from 2A to 3A. As I previously reported about Waynesville Tuscola, a 3A team in western North Carolina, the Mountaineers were denied an appeal to be reclassified as a 2A team citing a drastic, ten percent reduction in ADM. 17 other schools had a higher ADM including their cross-town rival, Pisgah.
Prior to my arrival in Hillsborough, I announced for Christian schools participating in the North Carolina Christian School Association. As the enrolments of these schools can fluctuate year after year, the NCCSA evaluates each school’s enrolment yearly to determine which classification they will participate in. In addition, the evaluation also determines the district (the NCCSA version of a conference) the school will play in.
In essence, if schools are going to be realigned yearly, they need to be judged on the basis of ADM and participate (season and playoffs) in the assigned class.
While I am not Cedar Ridge principal Mitchell Stensland or Orange High principal Anne Purcell, but if I were, I would vote NO to both proposals as they are written. The first will not alleviate the bloated mess of four classifications while the second will cause an immense amount of confusion for all member schools.