The FHSAA Board of Directors Monday passed a proposal -- barely, by a 9-7 margin -- to change the way high school football teams are classified and how the post-season is conducted.
The vote clears the way to put a plan in place authored by Dunellon High School Football Coach Price Harris. The plan splits football programs into Metro and Suburban divisions of four classes each (1A to 4A) based on enrollment. Four state champions would be crowned in both the divisions.
The plan is meant to restore some competitive balance to the high school football playoffs.
The Metro class would consist of the eight largest counties in Florida (Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, Hillsborough, Orange, Duval, Pinellas and Seminole); while the Suburban division will consist of the other 59 counties, which includes Osceola.
The divisions would have roughly the same number of schools, and Harris and others believe it will level the playing field by allowing schools from suburban counties more of a chance to win a state championship. During the last 11 years, schools that would be defined as Metro have won 88 percent of available football championships (68 of 77) in the last 11 years.
Harris said in an age where transfers of high school athletes are common his plan would eliminate the advantage Metro schools have gained with school choice. In large Metro areas where several high schools may be located within minutes of each other, it is easier for students to transfer to a different program, which Harris believes has created a need for the new system.
Although the new system has passed, it was far from unanimous. In addition to the split Board of Directors vote, Athletic Directors from schools on the Suburban List favored the new system 95-11, but schools in the Metro list were against the change, 105-38. FHSAA Executive Director George Tomyn recommended against passing the rule; while many others have questioned the timing of it.
“In principal, I’m not against the proposal, I’m just not in favor of the timing of it,” Osceola County Athletic Director Ryan Adams said. “The biggest problem is that football decisions drive practically everything in the fall. They knew for months they were going to consider this plan and if it passed they should have been able to announce the classifications and districts at the same time.”
Part of Adams main concern centers around scheduling. By mid-January, high schools have upcoming schedules completed. The FHSAA has already warned schools not to expect new districts to be announced for at least 30 days – leaving little time for coaches and athletic directors to work out final scheduling.
“Once you know your districts, you have to schedule those games and then build your non-district games around them. There are so many other issues surrounding this, like Homecoming,” Adams said. “Now they are telling us we won’t even know what the districts will look like for another month — it’s really putting a time-bind on the athletic directors and coaches to come up with their schedules.”
Under a preliminary proposal, Osceola, Celebration, Poinciana, and Tohopekaliga would play in the same Suburban Class 4A district; St. Cloud and Harmony would be in a different Suburban 4A district; Gateway and Liberty would be play in a Suburban 3A district. But the new districts were not announced and several factors could lead to significant change. Last year, Liberty and Poinciana competed as independents.
Poinciana coach Randy Beeken says the plan makes little difference to him as the Eagles are planning to remain an independent. “The fact remains this plan solves nothing so Poinciana we will play as independent,” Beeken says. “Because of our enrollment we would be in 4A and placed in a division we have no chance to be competitive in.”
Under the new plan, Osceola would avoid Orange County powers like Apopka, Dr. Phillips or West Orange in the postseason. They'd likely compete most with Polk County schools or east coast teams like Vero Beach and others north of Palm Beach County.
Osceola coach Eric Pinellas had mixed reaction to the news. “I fully understand what the Price Plan is trying to accomplish. Schools in large Metro Areas do have an advantage. I know a school in Miami accepted 19 transfers. When a school has five other schools located a bike ride away, the transfer process does create an unfair advantage for some schools. But, does this new plan really solve that problem? I don’t know the answer to that.”
Pinellas added the perception that the new proposal would make it easier to win a state championship was nonsense. “In the Suburban division you are still going to have Vero Beach, Lakeland, Palmetto, Manatee, really good teams,” he said. “I don’t think a state title in the Metro is any more prestigious than winning one in the Suburban. I would have to wait for the districts to be announced before deciding whether it is a good thing or a bad thing for us. We don’t want to be in a district where we have to play two or three non-competitive programs. That isn’t good for either side.”
Back in January, Harmony Coach Don Simon said he was and remains opposed to the switch. “First of all, this is not going to create the desired goal. The same problems are going to exist whether it is on the Metro or Suburban side.” Simon said. “What it is going to do is create a mess with scheduling, especially for this year. If they have 68 teams in Suburban 4A and to make 16 districts, it’s going to create some four team districts and some five team districts and as of today Harmony does not know how many teams will be in our district. Until we know that, I can’t even schedule non-conference games because I don’t know how many we can play or on what weeks we can play them on.”
