realignment thoughts

in talking with as a.d. this week he made a very good point that somehow eludes the nchsaa. he said that the nchsaa starts with the largest school and then goes down until they have 25% of the schools in 4a and then move down to 3a and so on. what he told me was that there are about 12 to 20 1a school who do not play football and 1 reason that 1a has such a hard time filling their bracket is that they have that many fewer teams. his thought was that they should start at the smallest football playing school and go up 25% for 1a and so on . the non-football schools would just be added to 1a afterward to fill out 1a in other sports.

 

I know they have a hard time with some things, but it seems that the NCHSAA couldn't find it's behind with both hands. Shelby is being stuck in a con. with Lincoln, Gaston, and Rutherford County schools. There are so many teams that Shelby wouldn't be able to sch. one of the Cleveland County schools. You also have South Point and Hunter Huss being moved and not playing in the same con. with the rest of the 3A schools in Gaston County.

I think there will be some changes.

 

I like this better

Impacted a lot of possible con.'s around here, but here it goes

4A
Alexander Central
Watauga
South Caldwell
AC Reynolds
TC Robserson
McDowell

3A 1
Hickory
St Stephens
Fred T Foard
Hibriten
Patton
Freedom
RS Central

3A 2
Hunter Huss
South Point
North Gaston
Ashbrook
Forestview
Crest
Kings Mountain
Burns

3A 3
North Buncombe
Asheville
Enka
Erwin
Franklin
Tuscola
East Henderson
West Henderson

2A 1
Shelby
Draughn
East Burke
West Caldwell
Maiden
Newton Conover
Bandys
Bunker Hill

2A 2
Smoky Mountain
Pisgah
Brevard
Owen
East Rutherford
Chase

1A/2A
Lincolnton
East Lincoln
West Lincoln
North Lincoln
South Iredell
Bessemer City
Cherryville
Highland Tech

Just a thought and only leaves one split con. with all those teams.

 

For a Northwestern 4A standpoint, I like that better than I do a 4A/3A split that the NCHSAA drafted. The NW4A had 6 teams when Crest was a member (Dropped Hickory & South Caldwell to gain Crest) and the conference did just fine. I dont see why this setup wouldnt work either except for hearing the Buncombe County folks whine and complain about travel time.

 

I think there has to be a way to limit the split con.'s. I know there are some places that you can't help it, but the fewer the better.

 

That would be some interesting travel times under your scenario, especially in 2A. Smoky Mountain to East Rutherford would be a bit much IMO. Instead I would place Mitchell, Avery and Mountain Heritage with Owen, East and Chase even though that would result in a split conference.

And another thing...I've had the opinion for a few years now that TC Roberson somehow got their numbers skewed last time around to avoid going up to 4A just for the simple reason that they would have to join the NW4A. Anybody who is a regular visitor to the Asheville area knows that Skyland is the fastest growing part of town. Infact if you talk to those behind the scenes...there are already inital stages of talks ready as to where a new school could be built in Southern Buncombe County to handle the increase in population.

 

smashmouth5
Fly Eagles Fly

Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Wrapped around their fingers
Posts: 2,906

I like this better

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Impacted a lot of possible con.'s around here, but here it goes

4A
Alexander Central
Watauga
South Caldwell
AC Reynolds
TC Robserson
McDowell

Milage for
Alexander Central as per Mapquest

Watauga =======48 miles one way
South Caldwell====28 miles one way
AC Reynolds======99 miles one way
TC Robserson=====102 miles one way
McDowell========69 miles one way

Total miles 346
Average====69.2
=================================================
New State proposed

Patton ======45 miles
Foard=======37 miles
Hickory======19 miles
Freedom=====38 miles
St Stephens===15 miles
Watauga=====48 miles
Hibriten =====24 miles
S. Caldwell===28 miles


Total miles== 254
Average ====31.7
If football was the only sport played it would not be too bad but with all the travel time and cost for all sports the new proposal makes more sense. Any one else like to calculate your teams travel.

 

So much for just the Buncombe County peeps whining about travel. But I think the idea smashmouth proposed was thought up of on the competition standpoint, not just travel. Also, split conferences give some big time scheduling snafus & shafts come playoff time. Don't believe me? Just ask the NW4A teams that could have went to state playoffs in all sports when Reynolds was the only team in a split conference. It pretty much assured Reynolds a state playoff berth in everything.

Still, its gonna mean doormat city in just about everything ACHS competes in, except for softball.

 

If they continue to have split con.'s then they need to find a better way to seed come playoff time. I don't understand a team with a losing record hosting a team with 2 defeats because they were the top team in their con. in their class, and as warden said, a competive balanced needs to be looked at as well.

Now the question comes, what happens in 4 years when the state has said that NC will more than likely go to a 5 or 6 class system?

 

Mooresville and Lake Norman will now be playing in a Mecklenburg Co. 4A conference along with....

W. Charlotte
N. Meck
Hopewell
Vance
Mallard Creek

...not that I personally have anything against these schools in particular but it will be a tough transition for us (particularly Mooresville.) Over the past 15 years or so we have been in conferences that have sent us all over the place. Then we finally settle into the NPC where rivalries, gates, and travel are good for everybody. I know the NCHSAA is wanting to break away from split conferences but I still see some in this part of the state. Why not us? We travel about as well as anybody and have outstanding home facilities. We have natural rivalries with teams from this area, good teams, schools that travel well and that gate/concessions help support all involved. This current scenario doesnt look good to me. Ther LAST thing I want to do is to be headed to Charlotte during the evening rush for anything and I can imagine those folks feel the same way about heading up I-77 for a game here. Growth sucks.

.....good grief Charlie Brown