2025-2026 Football Realignment

[Colonel 17]

Don't say this often but Ohio does it right.  Get rid of districts all together and let teams schedule on their own or join conferences if they want.  Playoffs are determined by computer ranking.  If you have a program that is 0-10, it allows you to schedule who you want and try to build a program.  If you schedule a weak schedule you have no shot at a playoff but you may be able to end the season 6-5 and get the community and kids excited and build from there.  If you think you have a team with a shot, schedule like it, get in the playoffs and prove it.  No one gains anything from the 10-0 #1 team beating a 0-10 #4 seed 60-0 in the playoffs, not good for the winning team or losing team.  Some districts today may have 3 or 4 teams in the top 10 in the state and because of district they get get eliminated early and teams from weak districts make region finals to get blown out because of weaker competition.  You can keep the state divided east and west to keep travel from being insane for the first few rounds and fix the RPI and roll on.  The RPI needs fixed on out of state games being worthless,  If you are in the middle of the state, scheduling is not a problem,  on the edges of the state you only have half the options to schedule because going out of state kills RPI.  The other is playing teams in a lower class killing RPI, I think they have tried to fix this part but it makes no sense that a school can go beat a team like Pikeville and get less credit than beating an 0-10 6A school makes no sense, and I'm sure makes it very hard for them to schedule.  Call Ohio get the blueprint from them and use it.  To me it fixes the majority of the problems we are having. 

[DanvilleFan]

14 minutes ago, Colonel 17 said:

Don't say this often but Ohio does it right.  Get rid of districts all together and let teams schedule on their own or join conferences if they want.  Playoffs are determined by computer ranking.  If you have a program that is 0-10, it allows you to schedule who you want and try to build a program.  If you schedule a weak schedule you have no shot at a playoff but you may be able to end the season 6-5 and get the community and kids excited and build from there.  If you think you have a team with a shot, schedule like it, get in the playoffs and prove it.  No one gains anything from the 10-0 #1 team beating a 0-10 #4 seed 60-0 in the playoffs, not good for the winning team or losing team.  Some districts today may have 3 or 4 teams in the top 10 in the state and because of district they get get eliminated early and teams from weak districts make region finals to get blown out because of weaker competition.  You can keep the state divided east and west to keep travel from being insane for the first few rounds and fix the RPI and roll on.  The RPI needs fixed on out of state games being worthless,  If you are in the middle of the state, scheduling is not a problem,  on the edges of the state you only have half the options to schedule because going out of state kills RPI.  The other is playing teams in a lower class killing RPI, I think they have tried to fix this part but it makes no sense that a school can go beat a team like Pikeville and get less credit than beating an 0-10 6A school makes no sense, and I'm sure makes it very hard for them to schedule.  Call Ohio get the blueprint from them and use it.  To me it fixes the majority of the problems we are having. 

I'd love this type of system.

[gridiron guy]

As long as your able to move around to duck certain teams it will always be issues. Warren Central and Barren County could be in a district with BG, South Warren, and Greenwood. Both played up and taking hour plus trips to avoid them. 

 

 

[DragonFire]

22 minutes ago, gridiron guy said:

As long as your able to move around to duck certain teams it will always be issues. Warren Central and Barren County could be in a district with BG, South Warren, and Greenwood. Both played up and taking hour plus trips to avoid them. 

 

 

Christian County did as well.

Despite my feeling that Warren Central (and frankly Barren County too) made the correct choice, I agree that ability to do that is part of the flaws in the KHSAA process.  They do hammer home that changes are only made for geographic concerns - I think that should include the ability to play up.  Though, I do feel if they ever refine the play up ability in that way, that they should allow teams to play down in certain circumstances if travel concerns dictate it.

[Ram]

11 hours ago, DragonFire said:

If only the RPI didn’t suck.

But for real, I could somewhat back this, but they’ve gotta figure out how to properly do out of state games before something so drastic could be undertaken. Taking a flat .500 value for those games is a killer. 

Agreed.  The OOS games have to have the same weight.  That needs to be fixed no matter what. 

[gridiron guy]

7 hours ago, DragonFire said:

Christian County did as well.

Despite my feeling that Warren Central (and frankly Barren County too) made the correct choice, I agree that ability to do that is part of the flaws in the KHSAA process.  They do hammer home that changes are only made for geographic concerns - I think that should include the ability to play up.  Though, I do feel if they ever refine the play up ability in that way, that they should allow teams to play down in certain circumstances if travel concerns dictate it.

From a win/loss standpoint Barren and Warren Central made the best choice. 

[Jumper_Dad]

6 hours ago, Colonel 17 said:

Don't say this often but Ohio does it right.  Get rid of districts all together and let teams schedule on their own or join conferences if they want.  Playoffs are determined by computer ranking.  If you have a program that is 0-10, it allows you to schedule who you want and try to build a program.  If you schedule a weak schedule you have no shot at a playoff but you may be able to end the season 6-5 and get the community and kids excited and build from there.  If you think you have a team with a shot, schedule like it, get in the playoffs and prove it.  No one gains anything from the 10-0 #1 team beating a 0-10 #4 seed 60-0 in the playoffs, not good for the winning team or losing team.  Some districts today may have 3 or 4 teams in the top 10 in the state and because of district they get get eliminated early and teams from weak districts make region finals to get blown out because of weaker competition.  You can keep the state divided east and west to keep travel from being insane for the first few rounds and fix the RPI and roll on.  The RPI needs fixed on out of state games being worthless,  If you are in the middle of the state, scheduling is not a problem,  on the edges of the state you only have half the options to schedule because going out of state kills RPI.  The other is playing teams in a lower class killing RPI, I think they have tried to fix this part but it makes no sense that a school can go beat a team like Pikeville and get less credit than beating an 0-10 6A school makes no sense, and I'm sure makes it very hard for them to schedule.  Call Ohio get the blueprint from them and use it.  To me it fixes the majority of the problems we are having. 

Ohio had 448 teams make the playoffs last year. Their blueprint works if you have nearly 600 teams across 7 divisions. I'm not sure what is so broken about Kentucky high school football that we all think it needs to be totally reworked.

Kentucky's biggest issue is geography and the fact that a lot of neighboring schools have vastly different enrollments. That makes constructing districts in different classes difficult to align without some schools invariably have some long commutes.

[Ram]

1 hour ago, Jumper_Dad said:

Ohio had 448 teams make the playoffs last year. Their blueprint works if you have nearly 600 teams across 7 divisions. I'm not sure what is so broken about Kentucky high school football that we all think it needs to be totally reworked.

Kentucky's biggest issue is geography and the fact that a lot of neighboring schools have vastly different enrollments. That makes constructing districts in different classes difficult to align without some schools invariably have some long commutes.

The difference is in Ohio, and in Kentucky a while ago, there are community schools.  When Kentucky had community schools, the size of the schools were more equitable, when Kentucky decided to make County Schools and many of those community schools were consolidated into one school, the school sizes changed.  

Look back in history, there were many smaller schools that were dominate in football.  Those small, but dominate, schools were consolidated into one school for the county; or one big school for the county and one or two smaller schools remained with the large county school.  You would think if two, three or four dominate smaller schools combined that you would have a dominate large school, but that never happened.  For proof, look at how many county schools win state championships each year.  

Ohio has community schools still and has dominate football programs.  The community "buy in" is extraordinary.  You still see that in Kentucky with the independent and private schools, but, not to be too stereotypical, you don't see that with the county school system.  In fact, you see the opposite, a lot of the county schools don't want the independent and private schools at all. 

I don't think it will ever happen, but go back to community schools and you will see more schools of similar size and you will see more schools competitive in football.  

Just my two cents, take it or leave it. 

[Tigerpride94]

8 hours ago, Colonel 17 said:

Don't say this often but Ohio does it right.  Get rid of districts all together and let teams schedule on their own or join conferences if they want.  Playoffs are determined by computer ranking.  If you have a program that is 0-10, it allows you to schedule who you want and try to build a program.  If you schedule a weak schedule you have no shot at a playoff but you may be able to end the season 6-5 and get the community and kids excited and build from there.  If you think you have a team with a shot, schedule like it, get in the playoffs and prove it.  No one gains anything from the 10-0 #1 team beating a 0-10 #4 seed 60-0 in the playoffs, not good for the winning team or losing team.  Some districts today may have 3 or 4 teams in the top 10 in the state and because of district they get get eliminated early and teams from weak districts make region finals to get blown out because of weaker competition.  You can keep the state divided east and west to keep travel from being insane for the first few rounds and fix the RPI and roll on.  The RPI needs fixed on out of state games being worthless,  If you are in the middle of the state, scheduling is not a problem,  on the edges of the state you only have half the options to schedule because going out of state kills RPI.  The other is playing teams in a lower class killing RPI, I think they have tried to fix this part but it makes no sense that a school can go beat a team like Pikeville and get less credit than beating an 0-10 6A school makes no sense, and I'm sure makes it very hard for them to schedule.  Call Ohio get the blueprint from them and use it.  To me it fixes the majority of the problems we are having. 

💯%

[Tkinslow]

19 hours ago, gridiron guy said:

From a win/loss standpoint Barren and Warren Central made the best choice. 

I know for Barren Co being this close to BG has been a nightmare getting your brains beat out in football and never anyone having a chance to go to the state tournament in basketball gets old and I guess they are just sick of it.

[BIG BLACK JACK]

22 hours ago, gridiron guy said:

From a win/loss standpoint Barren and Warren Central made the best choice. 

Warren Central’s travel for district games is now better than it was 15 years ago. 🤷🏻‍♂️

[Ram]

I always thought it was funny that we only talk about travel distance in football.  So many Kentucky high school baseball teams travel to South Carolina or Florida every year for tournaments.   Likewise, many Kentucky boys and girls basketball teams travel crazy distances for Holiday Tournaments every December.  But, when we make new football alignments, travel distance is important.  

[BIG BLACK JACK]

21 minutes ago, Ram said:

I always thought it was funny that we only talk about travel distance in football.  So many Kentucky high school baseball teams travel to South Carolina or Florida every year for tournaments.   Likewise, many Kentucky boys and girls basketball teams travel crazy distances for Holiday Tournaments every December.  But, when we make new football alignments, travel distance is important.  

Different logistics for moving 75-100 kids v 15-20. Especially in a time where there’s a bus driver shortage in many areas. 

[gridiron guy]

2 hours ago, BIG BLACK JACK said:

Different logistics for moving 75-100 kids v 15-20. Especially in a time where there’s a bus driver shortage in many areas. 

Generally travel in football tames multiple buses, and usually a separate equipment trailer as well. 
 

 

[LoneRanger]

Travel is an aspect in football but for different reasons. 1st how it’s funded. 

Some Districts give sports a travel budget and once that is exceeded it is up the the school/team/club to make up the difference.  Many other places the cost of travel is charged directly to the school and then to the team. 

 

In football an above average sized team plays 15 games and you assume a maximum of 8 of those to be on the road: 

2 Busses plus an Equipment Bus or Trailer would be 24 “road trips”.  Throw in a handful of Freshman and JV games per season and likely looking at a total of 30 or so road trips. 

 

In baseball and basketball most of the time the teams travel together with a few JV or Freshman trips thrown in.  They most likely average only taking one bus per trip but perhaps two. We will say one for arguments sake here. 

If a team makes it to the Region tourney that’s approx 20 “road trips” and throw in a few tourneys in season and Freshman JV games and we are more than likely very close to 30 or so total road trips again.  

 

All in all, the travel aspect of the major sports is probably overblown in acting as if there is a big difference. 

The difference comes in mileage to the various trips and again that will vary GREATLY by school.  

Sure your District games in Baseball and Basketball are reasonably close. But the extra trips will likely make up the difference in mileage as well. 

Travel Budgets are a concern for all sports. Not just Football.