Will split conf. be done away with next alignment?
- Thread starter Eastcoastman1957
- Start date
Split conferences are fine, they give the smaller teams a chance for good seeding. I would hope they aren't done away with because it's great for conferences and travel, gate money. There will be a 5A which should help if they go with 20% across the board. I'd hate to lose the subdividing because I personally love to see all the championship games. If they do away with that then I'd just go 6A as well and subdivide 6A and 1A, still eight championship games.
They hurt the smaller schools especially 1A in split conferences. The MVAC is a prime example. It might not show in football all the time but the 1A schools usually have a hard time competing with Ashe and Central in most sports. There are many times the MVAC only gets one team into the playoffs from the 1A side in some sports. Splits are one of the worst things ever. Let's not forget South Caldwell can beat McDowell in football every year and earn a football playoff spot.
When the initial alignments were out out with removing split conferences being remove the complaints were huge that rivalries were lost, gate money would be lost, and travel would increase. When they reverted back to split conferences the complaints from the smaller schools that the enrollment imbalances made it unfair fir them. Funny thing many of the schools that complained about not having split conferences also complained about them once the alignment started.
thunder is completely correct---split conferences for small 1A schools are very difficult for such as most will be just trying to survive much less compete.
One of my issues with split conferences has been the MVAC only gets one automatic qualifier for 1A and 2A in sports unless 2 1A teams finish 1st or 2nd and vise vers. That rarely happens, but a conference of 5 gets 2 automatic qualifiers. So a 1A team in the MVAC can be the 2nd 1A team but finish 3rd or 4th and not make it into the playoffs. And while we are at it, a 2A team can finish behind a 1A team and get into the playoffs since there are more schools, but a 1A team might get left out.
I guess that depends on the conference in the 2A/1A WHC it's not been a issue but it might be the exception not the rule.
The biggest problem will always be travel , school administrators and with good reason don't want thier kids traveling any further then they have to and some schools are just to far away from other schools thier size to play in a one classification conference.
There is probably ways to reduce split conferences but probably not eliminate them all together.
To me the whole purpose should be to get the smallest schools and the largest schools into a tighter grouping of teams. That is why I support 12.5% of the schools in 1A and 5A. If going 20% across the board will end subdividing I would probably support it.
It's always a tough thing dealing with split conferences come playoff time. Those in the split conference are upset that they don't get more representation. Those not in split conferences get upset when the top 1A team in the split conference gets a "1 seed" despite finishing 2nd or 3rd. There have been plenty of times when top seeds from splits get placed on the "1 seed" line even thought they might have been 2nd or 3rd in their conference with a losing record while better teams from deeper conferences get seeded lower and have to travel. There is no perfect system that everyone will agree on and somebody is always going to be upset. I think the state should try to avoid them if at all possible, but there are some areas of the state where geographically that just isn't feasible and you need to have splits to avoid ridiculous travel.
Why not split all schools into regions. Let schools play whoever they want within their region. Take the best records out of each region until you have enough to make x amount of playoff brackets then split based upon ADMs?
They need a separate division for private and charters like Tennessee has
My post from the other thread.
Based off 2018 ADM there were 13 schools between 470 and 520. Ten between 400-469. 18 between 300 and 399. Seven below 300.
48 schools total. 16 make the playoffs which is 33%. Four rounds. Same with 5A. Finish the week before 2A-4A. 95 teams in 2A-4A. 32 make the playoffs. 33% make the playoffs. Five rounds. More teams in 2A-4A but they are closer in enrollment. Five state champions. As a caveat due to the size differential (number and percentage) allow the 1A and 5A to have 32 teams and five rounds. Same weekend.
A 1A schools enrollments of less than 400 would result in 28 football playing schools. That is like the 1970's into the early 1980's when there were less than 28 teams and the playoffs were three rounds. Not too interested in that concept.
Based off 2018 ADM there were 13 schools between 470 and 520. Ten between 400-469. 18 between 300 and 399. Seven below 300.
48 schools total. 16 make the playoffs which is 33%. Four rounds. Same with 5A. Finish the week before 2A-4A. 95 teams in 2A-4A. 32 make the playoffs. 33% make the playoffs. Five rounds. More teams in 2A-4A but they are closer in enrollment. Five state champions. As a caveat due to the size differential (number and percentage) allow the 1A and 5A to have 32 teams and five rounds. Same weekend.
A 1A schools enrollments of less than 400 would result in 28 football playing schools. That is like the 1970's into the early 1980's when there were less than 28 teams and the playoffs were three rounds. Not too interested in that concept.
If there was a football only alignment (and a separate for all other sports) it would be much easier. You could go to six classifications. The issue is that there would be a lot of split conferences.
Once again, they would need to make 1A and 6A smaller. If they went across the board with an even split of 16% of the schools in 1A and 6A (2A-5A basically 17%) would leave 60 schools in that 1A classification moving the cutoff up to about 570 students.
Once again, they would need to make 1A and 6A smaller. If they went across the board with an even split of 16% of the schools in 1A and 6A (2A-5A basically 17%) would leave 60 schools in that 1A classification moving the cutoff up to about 570 students.
How does that add to the disparity? Currently 1A has 72 football playing schools. Five classes with 1A/5A at 12.5% drops it to 48 football playing schools.
What do you suggest?
Tennessee’s DII is for private schools that give financial aid to athletes. Charters and other privates are in with public schools. Not really better than our setup, just a lot less charter schools in Tennessee.
I stand corrected, TN got rid of the financial aid distinction for their split this year and now make all privates play DII. But they still allow magnets and charters in DI. So they basically have what we would have if NCHSAA and NCISAA were under the same leadership.
It stinks to be in 1a work your tail off and then go to play an all star team in the regionals. It hasn’t effected football as bad, but it will eventually. Basketball is a joke. These schools like bishop McGinnis or Winston Salem prep need their own playoffs or put em in 4a
It is not just charters and the Parochial. 1A schools that allow students from outside the district boundary to play sports is an issue. Would like to see some changes for that in all sports.
It's cost a bunch of teams girls and boys basketball titles and the non traditionals dominate volleyball now too, along with all the country club sports. The only thing it hasn't infiltrated yet is football and that's just a matter of time. Mountain Island came damn close in 2016, of course they had to have a kid that may well play in the NFL one day to do it though.
Pitt county will always be split 3A/4A. Just dont have the schools with 4A numbers. Even projections with a 5A has the Eastern Carolina split. It does make it better adding Jacksonville and Havelock in some projections. Better competition in conference if nothing else.
