5A-8A
- Thread starter BD1982
- Start date
fewer classifications makes it tougher to get to state. BUt then SOME people will be mad that everyone doesn't get a trophy
"everyone does NOT deserve a trophy"...Great TV commercial about this, "giving Johnny a trophy for jus playing"...
It would make it tougher but you would get some damn good heavyweight match ups in the early rounds all the way through the finals
I'm ok with the number of classes. I think there should be a minimum 4 teams in a district and they should have 3 district per region with the district champs getting in and 5 at large teams. I don't think its right to have a 3 team district where a team can get in the playoffs with a 1-9 record meanwhile a 7-3 or 8-2 team in a large district sits out. I also think the brackets should be seeded 1-8 rather than district vs district in the early rounds because we are seeing great early round match-ups and one side of a bracket that strong while the other side is weak. I know why they do it, for travel.
Hwy, I completely agree with you that would be an awesome scenario. I think GA does their's something similar.
The only way I ever see us going to less classifications would be to do a public private split. 4 Public divisions and 2 Private (big small). That would probably cause a ton of Private schools to go independant and Trinity/Sta/American Heritage (both) would own the titles for here on out in that division... Maybe they can add IMG at that point lol
The only way I ever see us going to less classifications would be to do a public private split. 4 Public divisions and 2 Private (big small). That would probably cause a ton of Private schools to go independant and Trinity/Sta/American Heritage (both) would own the titles for here on out in that division... Maybe they can add IMG at that point lol
From my research, a lot of states do it that way. At least with seeding teams. Actually 5 public and 3 private classes in Florida wouldn't be hard now because we almost have that now. Class 3A is nearly all private, so is class 2A, and class 1A is nearly all public. There are only a couple of exceptions and I believe those were done because schools elected to play a different class due to travel. Then most of the independents who play in conferences are mostly all small private schools. Move the few privates in 4a down with 3a, take the larger private schools, 5a and up along with IMG, and district them in class 8a with the large public schools.
That would only work if all those private schools commit to coming back into the FHSAA otherwise that small private division will not have enough teams.
Also Florida is one of the only states where the highest classification isn't necessarily where you will find the best teams. One can argue that the top teams in 3A on up will compete with anyone at any level.
Playing and competing with anyone in a single game is one thing, playing in a larger class week in and week out is another.
I believe the small privates who play independent formed conferences and have a mini-playoff of their own. They number about 70 schools. If the integrity of that class could be maintained, I would call this class P1a. Currently class 2a is nearly all private, so it would be class P2a. There are only a few privates in what's now 4a (Bolles, Bishop Verot, off the top of my head). Putting them in what's now 3a I don't feel like would be a real radical move. This would be class P3a.
So whats now 1a remains the same. Class 4a would be all public and renumbered 2a. 5a would be all public and renumbered 3a, and so would 6a, renumbered 4a. That would make 8a (changed to 5a, the only mixed public/private class). Tampa Jesuit, Bishop Moore, STA, IMG, Belen, Pensacola Catholic and a few more would be in this class.
Your thoughts?
As someone who has been in 7A, 5A, 3A, 2A and Independents something I didn't realize til playing in the lower A's was the disparity % wise between the top and bottom of classes. The difference between the top and bottom of 3A school population wise has been as great as 300%. That is huge difference.
RR my point exactly I just have not coached down there yet! 8A can be rough too but still its only a 100% jump from biggest to smallest 5,6,7 its almost a non issue.
I absolutely love this topic and several years ago was probably close to being banned for being so vocal about it. But the fact remains: Since I began tracking Florida High School Football back in the 90's, there have been literally thousands of inter-classification games in the regular season. Fact: Schools from "smaller" classifications have beaten schools from "larger" classifications over 45% of the time. School size has very little bearing on the strength of football programs. If anyone wants the data, I do have it. Furthermore, in the grand scheme of things, it doesn't matter if it's private or public. In fact this year, 1A (all public) was significantly better than 2A (mostly private). The bottom line: We have way too many classifications. Here's a look at my 2015 power rankings by classification and a breakdown of public and private schools in each class:
Class>Average Power>Median Power>#Public>#Private
8A>114.76>114.19>87>2
7A>113.09>114.93>85>1
6A>115.55>115.92>79>0
5A>108.37>107.99>77>5
4A>107.13>107.15>34>6
3A>109.63>109.31>5>23
2A>>92.95>>93.20>4>29
1A>100.40>>95.76>40>0
Ind>>80.75>>81.39>12>69
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I had no idea there were such few schools in the lower classes. I knew half the districts, just have never actually seen the numbers. Thanks for sharing.
Also, if you don't mind (and I'm sure you have it handy if you have all these stats already), what are all the private schools from 4A-8A? Thanks in advance.
Agree MrC, I too didn't realize 4A and below was 40 teams or less to be a state Champion. Da, one less round, it makes sense.
Those are small schools with limited budgets. Many are the only school in the county. FHSAA did the right thing by keeping the classes small and limiting their requirement to travel.
8A
Belen Jesuit (Miami)
Christopher Columbus (Miami)
7A
St. Thomas Aquinas (Fort Lauderdale)
5A
American Heritage (Plantation)
Bishop Kenny (Jacksonville)
Bishop Moore (Orlando)
Cardinal Gibbons (Fort Lauderdale)
Jesuit (Tampa)
4A
Bishop Verot (Fort Myers)
Bolles (Jacksonville)
Gulliver Prep (Pinecrest)
Lake Highland Prep (Orlando)
Monsignor Pace (Miami)
University School (Davie)
Great Numbers LAZL thanks for sharing, I'm new to the land of small schools. It has been quite a shift in culture.
So I go to fhsaa.org and look at the current assignments. There are 78 independents: I counted 7 public, 70 privates and IMG. I'm familiar with some of these schools. They are very small and some can't field a team year-to-year. The majority of them have formed conferences. Rather than keeping them outside of the FHSAA playoff system, allow them to keep the current system, with a playoff system among themselves: another class made of the smallest of the small schools which is what these schools are.
In class 2a and 3a there are only one public school, Moore Haven and Taylor County. Both would fit fine in class 1a which is all public schools.
In class 4a, there are 7 private schools. Moving them down to 3a with the other privates I don't think is too radical.
In class 5a I counted 5 private schools; None in 6a; 7a had 2 privates and 8a had 2. I don't think moving all them into the largest class is radical either.
So the top class would be the only mixed public/private class which under current count would have 96 teams: 8 privates 88 public.
There would be 5 all public classes and 3 all private classes; the bottom one is really just the independents but allowing them to have a playoff.
In class 2a and 3a there are only one public school, Moore Haven and Taylor County. Both would fit fine in class 1a which is all public schools.
In class 4a, there are 7 private schools. Moving them down to 3a with the other privates I don't think is too radical.
In class 5a I counted 5 private schools; None in 6a; 7a had 2 privates and 8a had 2. I don't think moving all them into the largest class is radical either.
So the top class would be the only mixed public/private class which under current count would have 96 teams: 8 privates 88 public.
There would be 5 all public classes and 3 all private classes; the bottom one is really just the independents but allowing them to have a playoff.
That way could definitely work. Too bad the FHSAA is not into providing a good product. I would still limit it to 6 total classes tho.
28 teams in a class hardly represents the state to be called a "state champ". Even though the 3A champ is probably one of the top 3 teams in the state all classes.
There are far too many classes.
