only schools which are the only high school in their county? Had this thought after reading the Beechwood-Bracken Co. thread. It explained that the two schools have roughly the same male enrollment, but Beechwood has about 50 more football players than the Polar Bears. One explanation for this is the city school has all its boys living close to the school, not involved in farming which keeps some boys in rural communities from playing sports. Also some county schools have students which live 15-20 miles from school which could hinder them from playing. It is also easy for schools like Mayfield, which is the seat of the geographically huge Graves County, to draw from a much larger county population which might choose to go to the city school instead of the county school. If teams like Ballard Memorial, Butler County, Hancock County, Todd County, etc., could compete against similar schools which are the only school in the county, it would be a more level playing field. How many of the traditional football powerhouses at any level in Kentucky are county schools? Not very many.

I've heard arguments like this before. There is never a completely level playing field for any class. Male enrollment is about as fair as can be done.

only schools which are the only high school in their county? Had this thought after reading the Beechwood-Bracken Co. thread. It explained that the two schools have roughly the same male enrollment, but Beechwood has about 50 more football players than the Polar Bears. One explanation for this is the city school has all its boys living close to the school, not involved in farming which keeps some boys in rural communities from playing sports. Also some county schools have students which live 15-20 miles from school which could hinder them from playing. It is also easy for schools like Mayfield, which is the seat of the geographically huge Graves County, to draw from a much larger county population which might choose to go to the city school instead of the county school. If teams like Ballard Memorial, Butler County, Hancock County, Todd County, etc., could compete against similar schools which are the only school in the county, it would be a more level playing field. How many of the traditional football powerhouses at any level in Kentucky are county schools? Not very many.

 

So you'd want that Fulton County and Fulton City should be in 2A?

Also, teams like Henderson County, Meade County and (for now) Scott County would be rubbing elbows with your teams like Butler County.

I agree. It would be a tough proposition to use anything other than male enrollment. There are always going to be schools that have inherent advantages, the playing field will never be exactly level.

So you'd want that Fulton County and Fulton City should be in 2A?

 

After seeing Fulton City up close last night, that would not end well. Then again, those two might do as well against WKY 2A as they do against Mayfield and Russellville, I would presume.

So you'd want that Fulton County and Fulton City should be in 2A?

 

Good point. They should be in class 0A. A few years ago, I counted about 50 or 60 schools which were the only school in their county, that may have changed by now. If there are only going to be 30-something schools per class anyway, split these into 2 classes by enrollment, then make 4 classes out of the rest of the schools. Call it division one and division two like Tennessee, and the Fultons could still be class A division two.

Good point. They should be in class 0A. A few years ago, I counted about 50 or 60 schools which were the only school in their county, that may have changed by now. If there are only going to be 30-something schools per class anyway, split these into 2 classes by enrollment, then make 4 classes out of the rest of the schools. Call it division one and division two like Tennessee, and the Fultons could still be class A division two.

 

Of course, that solution would still have left the Fultons in the same class as Mayfield all those years, so it wouldn't be a perfect fix either.

Just what kentucky high school football needs more watered down classes

I've heard arguments like this before. There is never a completely level playing field for any class. Male enrollment is about as fair as can be done.

 

Male enrollment who play football would be better.

Male enrollment who play football would be better.

 

I completely disagree with this. What is the cutoff date? Like should play like. If you have the bodies bodies in the halls, whose fault is it that they don't play? I am guessing a mix of reasons keep them from committing. However to punish Beechwood and put them in with Scott Co or Male bc they have an extremely high percentage of boys who want to play is asinine.

How about take the worst 20-30 programs over the 4 year alignment period and put them in a class? Then divide the others among 4-5 classes. I can go with that.

 

In all reality these teams don't need to stay in the cellar forever. Cutting a week off of their season kills the program and the coach.

If this happened the Jefferson County would be tough to beat.

I like the idea of having the worse 30-40 teams make up the bottom class. However, I'm sure a lot of people would cry about it being watered down or such. Because it wouldn't be common knowledge that the team winning "Bad A" was just a bad team beating worse teams. Sometimes all a school seems to need is success to get the program going. Because to the general public, it doesn't matter who you beat, as long as you win.

 

But, nobody seems to really agree on how it should be done. I guess that's life, or something.

"If it ain't broke don't fix it"