All A Classic - Getting Away From It's Roots?

Each year the field for the All A Classic seems to grow bigger and bigger.

Well get this. I read in a local paper that with the change in enrollment requirements, EVERY SINGLE team in the 15th Region, except for JOHNSON CENTRAL will be in the All A Tournament.

Do you think this is taking away from the "small" school status and the whole reason of having the tournament?

Do you have a link to the article, EKYR? I'd like to read that. Are saying AA schools like Pike Central, Shelby Valley, East Ridge and Belfry will be in the All A? That's interesting.

It was in the Paintsville Herald, Jan 17th edition, I am pretty sure.

I'll search, but I believe they have updated the website, and the archives are not up to date.

Did anyone else read this?

all the schools mentioned by watusi are pike county schools. pike county schools are losing students at an incredible rate therefore making them eligible for the class a tourney. i know shelby valley is going to play in the class a next year and they are very close to competing in class a football. as for east ridge,pike central, and belfry i do not know their status but i do know that sv is the smallest of the 4 schools.

When they named it the All-A Classic they didn't name it the All-Class 1A in Football Classic.

So yes a lot more teams are eligible than if the schools were divided into 4 classes with an equal number of teams in each class.

So yes ever since it went state-wide it has kind of gotten away from its roots which was to have a tourney for teams that had little hope of winning their region and basically no chance of winning the Sweet 16.

But it comes down to $$$ and there would not be an All-A anything if you took the larger schools out.

Remember anyone can start their own tourney. You can start the Bluegrass All- Medium Classic and invite teams not in the All-A and not named Trinity or St. X or Male. Hold it in January and play it at Memorial Col. in Lexington. Maybe the semis would come down to Mason Co. versus Lexcath and Highlands versus Eastern. Sound like fun?

But when the All "A" was started they used the exact numbers the KHSAA used for Class A teams in football.

The football numbers have changed several times since then but the All "A" Classic has made no adjustments. The All "A" still uses enrollment numbers for grades 10-12, which is part of the problem.

If the All "A" Classic would adjust its numbers to 500 or fewer students in grades 9-12 it would end get the tournament back to its roots.

good point HDE and who knows maybe one day they will fix it. If i am not mistaken the first ever all a tournament was held in northern ky. in 1984 that consisted of 32 teams that were invited to play. i participated in this as a player at virgie hs and we were defeated by spencer county at ludlows gym. just a bit of info. i thought would be interesting.

Guys the All-A was started by Stan Steidel of Dayton High school in NKY. He thought there should be some sort of tournament for small school teams that never get invited to tourneys like the AIT or LIT. The first few years the format changed a few times but it was basically small NKY teams and some invited small schools from downstate. That format was fun but really started getting expensive and did not produce a true small school champion because it depended on who was invited.

The dream was expanded in the early 90s to a format that resembled the Sweet 16. Each region would hold a regional tournament and send a champion onward (Boys only at first.) In order for each region to have enough teams to have a tournament that could sustain itself the size of enrollment was established at a number that would allow more than the Class 1A football size schools to participate.

I do not think you will see any kind reduction in the numbers of teams because it will not work financially. In short, eliminate the larger schools from the All-A and it all falls apart and then you have the whole basketball classification problem to deal with.

"In order for each region to have enough teams to have a tournament that could sustain itself the size of enrollment was established at a number that would allow more than the Class 1A football size schools to participate."

What numbers are you looking at?

The KHSAA Handbook for 1990 lists the enrollment cutoff for Class A football as 424 students or less in grades 10-12.

The All "A" Classic guidelines set in 1990 (according to the All "A" Classic program from that season) allowed schools with less than 425 students in grades 10-12 to compete.

Those numbers allowed around 120 to 130 teams statewide to compete in 1990. I don't see why the tournament couldn't survive with that many teams now.

Well it can't. Go region by region and take out the larger teams and the regional tourney becomes a financial drain and the state tourney becomes a drain. Some regions only have a few teams now as it is.

Here in the 9th region since the tourney went state wide only St. Henry, Holy Cross, and NewCath have won the 9th with only NewCath and Holy Cross being A football size. Those are three of the larger schools along with Lloyd and Newport. Take those 5 out and there goes all the money.

You can have a true small school tourney but it would last one or two years and then you would have nothing.

And if you are correct in your KHSAA 1990 numbers (I don't think you are, I think it was 424 students in 9-12) all the above teams would be Class A in football.

Where's the drain? One school hosts, they pay tournament expenses out of the money generated through the gate, ads, & concession and divide the profit among the schools. If they are going to call it All "A" it should be an All "A" tournament.

Originally posted by Mr. Reality

Where's the drain? One school hosts, they pay tournament expenses out of the money generated through the gate, ads, & concession and divide the profit among the schools. If they are going to call it All "A" it should be an All "A" tournament.

Exactly. Exclude the phrase "All A" if it isn't going to be one!

Originally posted by Mr. Reality

Where's the drain? One school hosts, they pay tournament expenses out of the money generated through the gate, ads, & concession and divide the profit among the schools. If they are going to call it All "A" it should be an All "A" tournament.

First point: What makes up an A school in basketball? Since it is undefined why must they use the Football breakdown of 4 classes instead of the Track breakdown which is 3 classes?

Second point: There would be no profits if certain teams are excluded. I actually counted the 42 people in attendance at a 9th region game involving two of the smaller schools in the 9th region. Now compare that to the full house for the first game of the semifinals between two parochial schools while fans of the third parochial school had to wait until that game was over to be seated. Now excluded those three larger enrollment teams (which have won every 9th region title) along with LLoyd and Newport and it would be SEE YA ALL-A.

BTW, it is the same on the girls side.

Originally posted by password

BTW, it is the same on the girls side.

If not a bit worse.

Originally posted by password

[And if you are correct in your KHSAA 1990 numbers (I don't think you are, I think it was 424 students in 9-12) all the above teams would be Class A in football. [/b]

It would be pretty bad if a guy from southeastern Kentucky knew more about All "A" history than someone from right there in the 9th Region where it started. Why don't you call Stan Steidel and ask him, then tell us what he says.

It worked fine in the early 90s with true Class A schools. I was there.