If its only 4-5 in each district then definately it should only be 2 or 3. If 4 gets in then,essentialy a 1-9 team could get to the playoffs as long as that 1 win was a ditstrict win. I support this system but with fewer teams in each class there have to be fewer playoff seeds available for competitions sake. I understand a few upsets have happened but not many at all and this would give the teams more incentive to play harder.

 

 

Once again though football is the only sport in KY that every team does not make the playoffs. In the 6 class system almost everyone would make it, which means more revenue for your program, a chance for more student athlete to compete in the post season atomoshpere and just like in Basketball, anything can happen and you might get a few upsets. I personally am for it , because it is good for kids and KY football

Unless something is terribly wrong, change is best done incrementally.

KY HS football may be in it's best overall shape ever! and its seems to me that if change is to be made they should try 5 classes first.

 

I'm not against change per se, but I'm worried about breaking up long standing rivalries and schools landing in districts resulting in long travel.

We need to make sure and not threaten the financial aspect of this issue for the individual schools. Football typically supports much of a schools overall budget. Losing any rivalry games, longer travel costs, less fan support due to long distances and/or unknown teams(yes, new rivalries do happen), too many district(required) games don't leave room for other more desirable games, these are a few issues that could cripple programs.

 

I'm not trying to sling arrows, but often some peoples views from larger urban areas like Lex, Lou, N.KY don't seem to remember that all of us don't have lot's of competitive & financially beneficial games right around the corner:walk:

 

This banter about a certain championship being of less value than another is all relative.:confused: Years later if someone who won a 4A title in HS is talking to someone who won a 2A title, do they look down upon or feel superior to that other person because they allegedly played in a classification that had better competition? Do the 2A winners sit at their bank job feeling less than, or walk around feeling empty inside because their accomplishment isn't worth as much as anyone in a higher classification?:cry:

 

Lets consider how any changes will encourage more participation by our students "overall", not just whether it will help/hurt ones chance at a title, how it will strengthen programs across the state, not just those in certain locales. Sports can be an important component of a teenagers development, but it is not the most important reason for HS's existence;) Too many folks on here (and everywhere unfortunately) seem to forget that, or just don't know it - even years after they were supposed to leave HS. Yes, I'm suggesting that some folks act like thet're still in HS :creepy:

 

Cheers, Woody Jr

There just simply are not enough teams to have 6 classes. 4 is plenty.

 

BTW, it amuses me that in the basketball forum if you add a 2nd class people think it's the apocalypse and the small school state championship would be worthless. However in the football forum you can add two more classes to an already divided sport and the championships are still as meaningful. I'll spare the use of the 'H' word.

Once again though football is the only sport in KY that every team does not make the playoffs. In the 6 class system almost everyone would make it, which means more revenue for your program, a chance for more student athlete to compete in the post season atomoshpere and just like in Basketball, anything can happen and you might get a few upsets. I personally am for it , because it is good for kids and KY football

 

 

HR, but it doesn't take adding two more classes to accomplish your goal (assuming your goal is in fact good for kids and Ky football, which may be debatable, but for argument purposes, we'll assume it is). Just change the playoff rules to allow everyone in like Indiana does. I think it could be done if you cut out one reg season game and the bye week. Given the choices of 6 classes vs allowing everyone to make the playoffs and keeping 4 classes, I'll take the latter choice.

 

And you are right, there may be a few upsets if we allow everyone in, but I don't think you'll see them with the frequency that you do in bball, especially if you continue to seed the initial rounds of the playoffs. There will a few more blow outs for people to post about on here, some teams that were probably ready to pack it in at the end of the season will get another week of practice and that will be it, but that sure beats 6 classes.

 

And I won't use the word hypocritical, but I will say it is illogical that we can propose going to 6 classes in football using the logic that we believe it will result in more kids playing football, more kids will get to say they were state champs, the size differential is unfair in AAAA, the elite teams unfairly benefit under the current system by getting more practice time since they go deep into the playoffs each year (the "rich get richer" argument), etc., etc. But its illogical to think that those factors being used to justify more classes in football do not also apply to basketball. They definitely do apply. Some maybe not to the extent they apply in fball, but some maybe more so.

 

And from what I read on here and been told by some "bball people" (one of which I admittedly am not), the level of play in Ky high school bball has fallen over the last few years and that we are not turning out the talented bball players that we used to. I know the fans of the Sweet 16 don't want to change it because they enjoy it and its a tradition for them. But that's kind of selfish isn't it? Again if what I've been told about the state of high school bball in Ky is true, we need to do something about it or risk it falling even further.

 

Indiana went away from their version of the Sweet 16 and lots of defenders of the Sweet 16 have posted on here how its ruined their tournament. Maybe so, but has it hurt the level of play in Indiana? Based on the recent all star games between Ky and Ind., I'd say not one iota. Maybe its just a cycle, but I used to remember when we were pretty successful against Indiana in hoops. Maybe I'm wrong (and I'm sure that if I am someone will point it out) but we've not had much success against them over the last several years. It it worth considering that maybe a reason of such is the fact they went to classes and in doing so, they improved bball in Indiana.

 

Ky on the other hand? The fans enjoy taking off the week, going to Lex for a mini vacation and enjoying the games and the pagentry (and I truly think that's great, I really do) and the KHSAA makes a lot of money. But we shouldn't allow what's best for the fans and what makes the most money for the KHSAA to dictate what's best for the kids and the sport in my opinion; that's the tail wagging the dog theory.

 

I really think we need to look at bball closely and determine if there are some things wrong with bball and then try to improve them. I think we need to look at classes in bball for all the same reasons that we think classes are good for football. To refuse to look at classes for bball just would be illogical in my opinion.

I would be all for this.

You would get rocked, no pun intended

^ doubtful

How many "Five A" and "Six A" schools would Kentucky have? And what would that do to shift the power from the AAAA?

What is a six class system?

^ doubtful

Take Dequeese May off you team and Male would have won that year in the snow!

He lives in Shelby Co!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Draw from a neighborhood like everyone else, and se how good you are

How many "Five A" and "Six A" schools would Kentucky have? And what would that do to shift the power from the AAAA?

 

Each class would have the same amount, around the high 40's or low to mid 50's schools for each class. It is based on an average of 2 year enrollment at each school.

So when or if are they going to bring this to a vote?

Take Dequeese May off you team and Male would have won that year in the snow!

Male did win State in the snow against us

This is a great debate. I've considered it a while before posting and I have finally come down on the side of more classes.

 

For me the deciding factor is the opportunity for more schools to be competitive. It is very difficult for a small school in a given class to compete with the larger ones, the issue of recruiting not withstanding. Its simply about numbers. If we still want small schools in our state (I believe school consolidation is a major factor in a lot of our educational and social deficiencies - but that is a separate debate), then they should have an opportunity to compete for a championship. Of course there are exceptions. I recall a Danville team in the 80's that won a 1A championship with 22 players (I don't know what the enrollment was then). However, it is unreasonable to expect a school with 300 kids to compete with a school with 599 kids. Year in, year out, it just won't happen.

 

I don't know what the proposal will do to the playoff format, but I would suggest that it allow for one less playoff week- two instead of 4 teams from each district. Then district games will mean something. With the extra week we could go back to a practice schedule that makes since. The extra time will make the early season games better. This would also eliminate the 1-9 teams that haven't earned the right to be in the playoffs while giving the solid teams a chance to advance and compete for a championship.

I think the addition of 1 more class, at most, would be enough!

Each class would have the same amount, around the high 40's or low to mid 50's schools for each class. It is based on an average of 2 year enrollment at each school.

 

By my count it would come to 4.5 teams per district, two districts per regions, 4 regions in the state for about 36 teams per class.

 

It looks like the draw back would be travel time. Has anyone looked at who would have difficult travel in there district. Are there any 6A schools in Eastern Kentucky?