Interesting article from OWH regarding classifications
- Thread starter Alum-Ni
- Start date
What's your take, Alum-Ni? I agree with Stu that 4 classes would be pretty radical; don't know if we're ready for that yet. On the other hand, do we want to go to five classes now with the probability of reducing to 4 in less than 10 years if (when?) our schools keep dying/co-oping?
But we definitely need to have fewer than 6 classes.
I don't really like Class B only having 24 or 26 teams, but I do understand the issues surrounding those sized schools.
I am a Class C guy and I like the 5 classes, Option B. Would we still have two classes of 8-man or would we go to just one?
But we definitely need to have fewer than 6 classes.
I don't really like Class B only having 24 or 26 teams, but I do understand the issues surrounding those sized schools.
I am a Class C guy and I like the 5 classes, Option B. Would we still have two classes of 8-man or would we go to just one?
Agree with Stu...... 4 class or 5 class plan B. Problem is the money hungry NSAA...will not let it happen. They would like to go back to the way of the 1920s-30s when everyone could go to state. That way they can get all of us "out state" Nebraskans to spend money in Lincoln on hotel rooms and food. Change the classes and also take the state football championships back to home sites.
I do think the biggest issue involves Class B. Using the example Pospisil used (boy's basketball), the largest B school (Pius) has 50 more students than the next largest school (Elkhorn South) and 150 more than the 4th largest school (Ralston). Given the number of schools at the top, it might be best to expand A and contract B.
If there was interest in reducing the number of classes, I think most of the C1 and C2 schools should merge into a single class, and then leave a class (or two) for schools below 100 enrollment (or somewhere in that ballpark).
Having said all that, I believe this is easier to look at from almost any sport outside of football. The fact that we do have 11-man, 8-man, and 6-man does make the football classifications a little more difficult to find a solution.
If there was interest in reducing the number of classes, I think most of the C1 and C2 schools should merge into a single class, and then leave a class (or two) for schools below 100 enrollment (or somewhere in that ballpark).
Having said all that, I believe this is easier to look at from almost any sport outside of football. The fact that we do have 11-man, 8-man, and 6-man does make the football classifications a little more difficult to find a solution.
Down the road, it will probably be a necessity to reduce the number of classes due to school consolidations/closures.......a sad and unfortunate byproduct of the times we live in.
As far as Classes A and B go, leave things as is and you have a large disparity between the top and bottom of Class B in enrollment size. Expand Class A and contract B and you just shift that issue from B to A.
As far as Classes A and B go, leave things as is and you have a large disparity between the top and bottom of Class B in enrollment size. Expand Class A and contract B and you just shift that issue from B to A.
Something needs to change for sure. Say there were 32 teams in Class A. According to the NSAA classifications page this is how it would look.
Class A:
Omaha Central (1,889)
Millard North
Millard West
Omaha South
Grand Island
Omaha Burke
Lincoln Southeast
Creighton Prep
Millard South
Omaha Westside
Lincoln North Star
Lincoln Southwest
Omaha North
Omaha Bryan
Papillion La Vista
Papillion La Vista-South
Bellevue East
Bellevue West
Lincoln High
Lincoln Northeast
Lincoln East
Kearney
Omaha Marian*
Omaha Northwest
Fremont
Norfolk
South Sioux City
North Platte
Columbus
Lincoln Pius X
Omaha Benson
Elkhorn South
Hastings (745)
Class B:
Ralston (691)
Gretna
Scottsbluff
Elkhorn
Omaha Mercy*
Lexington
GI Northwest
Blair
Omaha Skutt
Norris
Beatrice
Gering
Omaha Duchesne*
Waverly
Crete
Plattsmouth
Seward
McCook
Alliance
Mt. Micheal
Schuyler
Omaha Gross
Nebraska City
York
Aurora
Bennington
Platteview
Omaha Roncalli
Sidney (255)
Class C:
Adams Central (235)
Holdrege
Ogallala
Gothenburg
Cozad
Concordia
Wahoo
Ashland-Greenwood
Wayne
Columbus Lakeview
Falls City
West Point-Beemer
Chadron
Columbus Scotus
DC West
Boys Town
Broken Bow
Fairbury
Syracuse
Auburn
Milford
O'Neill
Pierce
Ft. Calhoun
David City
Minden
Valentine
Central City
Boone Central
Ord
St. Paul
Kearney Catholic
Conestoga
Mitchell
Lincoln Christian
Bishop Neumann
Raymond Central
Madison
Grand Island CC
Arlington
Gordon-Rushville
Louisville
Lincoln Lutheran
Norfolk Catholic
Chase County
Johnson County Central
Wilber-Clatonia
North Bend Central
Tekamah-Herman
Centennial
Malcolm
Winnebago
Ainsworth
Stanton
Wisner-Pilger
Wood River
Battle Creek
Bridgeport
Fillmore Central
Gibbon
Hershey
Kimball
Logan View
Omaha Brownell-Talbot
Yutan
Aquinas
Doniphan-Trumbell
Centura
Twin River
Southern Valley
Superior
Hartington Cedar Catholic
Homer
Wakefield (101)
Class D: Everyone else
This post was edited on 10/9 8:51 AM by northeastNebraska
Class A:
Omaha Central (1,889)
Millard North
Millard West
Omaha South
Grand Island
Omaha Burke
Lincoln Southeast
Creighton Prep
Millard South
Omaha Westside
Lincoln North Star
Lincoln Southwest
Omaha North
Omaha Bryan
Papillion La Vista
Papillion La Vista-South
Bellevue East
Bellevue West
Lincoln High
Lincoln Northeast
Lincoln East
Kearney
Omaha Marian*
Omaha Northwest
Fremont
Norfolk
South Sioux City
North Platte
Columbus
Lincoln Pius X
Omaha Benson
Elkhorn South
Hastings (745)
Class B:
Ralston (691)
Gretna
Scottsbluff
Elkhorn
Omaha Mercy*
Lexington
GI Northwest
Blair
Omaha Skutt
Norris
Beatrice
Gering
Omaha Duchesne*
Waverly
Crete
Plattsmouth
Seward
McCook
Alliance
Mt. Micheal
Schuyler
Omaha Gross
Nebraska City
York
Aurora
Bennington
Platteview
Omaha Roncalli
Sidney (255)
Class C:
Adams Central (235)
Holdrege
Ogallala
Gothenburg
Cozad
Concordia
Wahoo
Ashland-Greenwood
Wayne
Columbus Lakeview
Falls City
West Point-Beemer
Chadron
Columbus Scotus
DC West
Boys Town
Broken Bow
Fairbury
Syracuse
Auburn
Milford
O'Neill
Pierce
Ft. Calhoun
David City
Minden
Valentine
Central City
Boone Central
Ord
St. Paul
Kearney Catholic
Conestoga
Mitchell
Lincoln Christian
Bishop Neumann
Raymond Central
Madison
Grand Island CC
Arlington
Gordon-Rushville
Louisville
Lincoln Lutheran
Norfolk Catholic
Chase County
Johnson County Central
Wilber-Clatonia
North Bend Central
Tekamah-Herman
Centennial
Malcolm
Winnebago
Ainsworth
Stanton
Wisner-Pilger
Wood River
Battle Creek
Bridgeport
Fillmore Central
Gibbon
Hershey
Kimball
Logan View
Omaha Brownell-Talbot
Yutan
Aquinas
Doniphan-Trumbell
Centura
Twin River
Southern Valley
Superior
Hartington Cedar Catholic
Homer
Wakefield (101)
Class D: Everyone else
This post was edited on 10/9 8:51 AM by northeastNebraska
I agree something needs to change at the top. And it would need to trickle down, too. Plan A is too radical. Plan B might work. But the NSAA already gave up 16 playoff game gates this year by cutting Class C1 and C2 back to 16 teams. They aren't going to give up any more money anytime soon.
Another problem is if you make Class C one class, shrinking it from 95 schools this year, to only 52 schools, and shove the other 43 schools down to D1, then how will you decide if D1 is 11 man or 8 man? You are going to force one group or the other to play a style of football that they don't want to play. Those former C2 schools are not going to want to give up playing 11 man and the current 8 man D1 schools may not have enough kids to play 11 man. The current rule does not allow schools that opt to play 8 man when their enrollment is too high to make the playoffs.
I don't see this working well for D1 for football under either plan. I think the plan would be great for VB and BB. It may need tweaking at the lower end for football. I think you would still need 6 classes in football until more of the smaller schools give up their independence and either consolidate or co-op for sports.
Another problem is if you make Class C one class, shrinking it from 95 schools this year, to only 52 schools, and shove the other 43 schools down to D1, then how will you decide if D1 is 11 man or 8 man? You are going to force one group or the other to play a style of football that they don't want to play. Those former C2 schools are not going to want to give up playing 11 man and the current 8 man D1 schools may not have enough kids to play 11 man. The current rule does not allow schools that opt to play 8 man when their enrollment is too high to make the playoffs.
I don't see this working well for D1 for football under either plan. I think the plan would be great for VB and BB. It may need tweaking at the lower end for football. I think you would still need 6 classes in football until more of the smaller schools give up their independence and either consolidate or co-op for sports.
I thought it was a great article!! I have been screaming for four classes in basketball for a long time. I don't know how you fix the football thing, but I thought the article was great. I agree though, member schools will really have to push this. NSAA won't do it themselves.
Does anyone know how the Grand Island school district is growing? There enrollment is creeping up to one of the largest in the state and the city is slowly but surely growing. Can't imagine they would need another highschool for quite sometime but just curious what others who are more familiar with the area know. GINW is a complete different school district, correct or am I wrong?
I am surprised the schools in Wood River and Doniphan-Trumbell have not grown a little over the past few years. Just because they are both less than 15 miles from GI. Not like bunches of kids would leave, but it wouldn't surprise me if they grow a little more in the next few years.
From outside looking in, it does appear that the NSAA needs to reclassify sports, but it would cause more schools to coop and more schools to close. Option enrollment already causes students to transfer to schools because of sports. This would cause an even greater transfer of students. Causing more problems down the road. The larger schools are able to absorb the lost to
students because there is a larger pool of students/athletes to choose from. Smaller schools cannot afford to lose student/athletes. Look at Stu's D1 classification proposal. The enrollment numbers are too large of a gap for schools that have enrollment under 90 to complete with schools that have an enrollment of 150. Stay with me for a minute. Lets just say, that it is 50/50 split boys and girls and 50% participation in sports. Schools with enrollment around 150 will have 38 (about 10 per class) students out for sports. The larger schools can a have freshman, JV and Varsity teams. Schools with enrollments under 90 will have 22 (about 5 per class) students out for sports, JV and Varsity teams only. This makes it almost impossible to compete with the larger schools. So what happens?
Student transfer up or down to for a chance to be on a competitive team. Lets keep it the same, maybe tweak the
larger classes, but leave the lower classes alone
students because there is a larger pool of students/athletes to choose from. Smaller schools cannot afford to lose student/athletes. Look at Stu's D1 classification proposal. The enrollment numbers are too large of a gap for schools that have enrollment under 90 to complete with schools that have an enrollment of 150. Stay with me for a minute. Lets just say, that it is 50/50 split boys and girls and 50% participation in sports. Schools with enrollment around 150 will have 38 (about 10 per class) students out for sports. The larger schools can a have freshman, JV and Varsity teams. Schools with enrollments under 90 will have 22 (about 5 per class) students out for sports, JV and Varsity teams only. This makes it almost impossible to compete with the larger schools. So what happens?
Student transfer up or down to for a chance to be on a competitive team. Lets keep it the same, maybe tweak the
larger classes, but leave the lower classes alone
I think 8 man football should turn into 9 man football. Drop the tackles and play just like 11man. Same field, same rules, same game. The schools that bounce between C and D-1 could make the transition, and I doubt one player on the field is a make or break situation for anyone's program. You could keep the 6 man class for those very small rural schools who don't have the numbers to put 9 kids on the field at once.
I live Grand Island. Yes, Northwest is a separate district like Adams Central and Columbus Lakeview. However, the two schools (like in Columbus and Hastings) have never agreed on district boundaries. Nearly 80% of the Northwest enrollment is considered "option" kids because they go to school through junior high in the Grand Island district. It's quite odd, really. I live just a mile south of GINW.
As always the concern is for A and B and lets just make the lower classes follow suit. Stu's 1st proposal of 1 class C, with AC at 238 and Wakefield at 101 (with a +50% migrant population) is not competitive and might I say reckless when it comes to they safety of football players. I know for a fact that Wakefield, who opted down to 8 man, suited 23 kids for most of their games this year. Stu stick to covering class A and Class B and keep your opinions out of the small schools. Not like the world herald has ever cared about anything below B anyway.
