In yet another attempt to improve its debatable playoff process the Florida High School Athletic Association will consider reducing the number of state championships when its board of directors meets Monday to consider football reclassification, among other topics, at its Gainesville headquarters.
FHSAA executive director Craig Damon has pitched a plan that would divide roughly 580 football teams into six classifications, down from the eight that are now in play for football, basketball, baseball, softball and girls volleyball.
The format Damon and his staff composed after surveying coaches and administrators in October would keep the Rural class and have 1A, 2A, 3A, 4A and 5A classifications. Currently the classes are 1A through 7A and Rural.
With the advent of an eight-team Open Division for elite teams, set to begin next Fall, there would be seven state champions in those major sports.
The second seismic change in the proposal would eliminate mandatory district games, which were not required in the early years of football championships but have been a fixture for decades. Instead, district tournaments with four teams in each would be contested in the final two weeks of what is now regular season play.
Damon introduced the concept to board members on Wednesday with a Zoom online workshop. He said the big problem with having seven classes, each with 16 districts and 64 or 65 teams (above Rural), is that it spawned 12 football districts this year with only two teams. That meant a team could go 1-9 and make the playoffs as a district champion. Another 21 districts had only three teams.
The new target, Damon said, is to have six to eight teams in each district. The top four, based on power rankings, would advance to the district tournament. Teams that don’t make the cut could schedule available opponents in Week 10 and 11 to complete a traditional 10 game season — a task that could be easier said than done.
That issue is one of a number of criticisms coaches have expressed since the FHSAA game plan went public. A concern voiced by many is that the recommendation doesn’t do anything to solve the lack of parity within classifications — a paramount issue since school choice policies opened the doors for rampant transfers.
Damon acknowledged that problem and said the Open Division will “help a lot” by pulling super powers that have dominated playoffs out of traditional classes.
Not since 2018 have sports outside of football required teams to schedule regular season games vs. district opponents. Damon said schools appreciate that move because they don’t have to book unnecessary road trips and can build a schedule that fits their talent and success level.
But the majority of football coaches, particularly those that say the FHSAA ranking system has flaws, want to have district championships decided on the field of play. Damon, a former football head coach, said the four-team tournaments would meet that need and bring the sport in line with all the others that have district tournaments or meets.
“We’re trying to give autonomy back to our schools,” he said during the Zoom meeting.
FHSAA contemplates reducing state championships, adding invitationals
The blueprint board members saw Wednesday also ends the recent practice of putting an even number of teams in each class. Instead, the FHSAA outline estimated that 4A and 5A would have 136 teams with fewer in 3A (74 teams), 2A (55) and 1A (49). The smaller classes would have fewer districts.
The argument against evenly dividing teams is that it creates huge enrollment gaps in the smaller school divisions. Class 1A schools in 2024 ranged from 61 students to 643.
Over the years the FHSAA has toggled back and forth on whether to prioritize divisional equity or enrollment spreads. The 1A gap in 2010 was only 16 students to 161 with fewer schools than other classes had.
FHSAA football Metro-Suburban classification split causes concerns
If the FHSAA staff proposal is approved by the board, as is, it would expand the number of Orlando area teams in the large-school class that is now labeled 7A. That would likely include two of this season’s 6A district champions, Evans and South Lake. Other highly ranked 6A teams, like Seffner Armwood, Gainesville Buchholz and Jacksonville Mandarin, would probably also go to 5A.
Broward County powerhouse St. Thomas Aquinas could be on the bubble between 4A and 5A.
Edgewater, Jones and Bishop Moore could find themselves all in 4A, which could also have Miami Northwestern, Lakeland and Plantation American Heritage.
The First Academy could go to 3A along with Chaminade-Madonna and Cocoa; or could land in 2A as a heavy favorite.
The FHSAA expanded its classes from seven to eight in 2005. It’s been eight every year since with the exception of 2022 and 2023, when the association created separate brackets for metro and suburban schools and went to nine championship games.
FHSAA scraps Metro-Suburban but tables Open Division talk
Varsity content editor Buddy Collings can be contacted by email at bcollings@orlandosentinel.com.
