![Homestead and St. Thomas Aquinas (Fort Lauderdale) team captains meet at midfield prior to the Class 3M State Championship game on Sat, Dec. 9, 2023 at Ken Riley Field at Bragg Memorial Stadium in Tallahassee, Fla. [Joshua Wilson/FloridaHSFootball.com]](https://i0.wp.com/floridahsfootball.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/SURVEY-SAYS-Part-II-Featured.jpg?fit=1920%2C1080&ssl=1)
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – As part of our Coaches Survey we allowed coaches to speak their minds regarding the changes the FHSAA Board of Directors made back on December 12, 2023, to the classifications for the 2024 and 2025 seasons.
In Part I our Survey Says series, which you can read by clicking here, you can get a detailed breakdown of all the data from the coaches that graciously answered the questions we put on the survey.
Here we offer you some of the best of the best in comments we received from coaches who completed the survey. Some permitted us to put their names with their comments, while others chose to remain anonymous. A few coaches also provided us with comments and while we would like to share them, they asked us not to share them and we will respect their wishes not to post those comments.
As you will see these comments range from everything with disappointment with the FHSAA to why the Florida Athletic Coaches Association was not involved in the process and everything in between including comments in support of the changes.
We have made minor edits to the comments we have posted for grammatical and clarification purposes only.
“FACA should be heavily involved in every decision that has an impact on our state’s coaches and athletes. Leaving them out of Tuesday’s meeting must have been on purpose and in my mind, that alone raises many concerns. The data did not support dropping the Metro/Suburban system. We need to re-evaluate everything much more thoroughly before changing. I feel that we should be focused on making improvements to the Metro/Suburban system and not changing completely again. Mandatory District games also needs to remain the norm. I don’t see a reason to not have mandatory district competition. Lastly, any formulas that go into decision-making should always be shared publicly. Transparency should always be a priority.” – Robert Kazmier, Nature Coast (Brooksville) Head Coach
For the record the @FHSAA did not include our office in Class discussions. Below is what we submitted to be read but that never happened. We never received any surveys either. If we wanted info we had to ask as it was not freely shared. @FlaHSFootball pic.twitter.com/vv1ttbAvEK
— FACA (@FACACoach) December 13, 2023
“There needs to be more structure in the board. The meeting was not clear on what they thought they were doing. It was not clear on the plans of the proposals. It’s was not clear on how everything would be effected. Proposals need to be meticulously put together with plans in place for how everything will be run, including a clear way of ranking, and then it should be presented for a vote. It also should include the input of all coaches, not just ADs that said that they talked to coaches. We cannot vote to enact a proposal with a “figure the rest out later” approach. It’s irresponsible.” – Anonymous Class 4S Head Coach
“I am ok with the classification change. However, I do believe the tri-county model during covid was ideal to help with the issues of competitiveness. I believe setting up a gold, silver, and bronze playoff bracket would allow teams to be paired properly in the playoffs. This would allow the state to reseed teams that qualify for the playoffs and create a more competitive games. Also, it would allow more teams to compete in the playoffs and give more teams motivation to compete at the end of the season. In turn, this would reduce the number of transfers because players would have an opportunity to win at the school they are assigned. I am still in favor of a private and public bracket also because private schools, at least in Broward County, have a major unfair advantage.” – Anonymous Class 3M Head Coach
“The way I understand it the system was changed two years ago to achieve competitive balance and based off the data that was shared the metro / suburban model achieved that goal. The reality that is not being talked about is with the transfer portal in college being normalized that has trickled down to the high school level especially with our state being school choice. Metro schools draw from a much larger population than suburban schools so just by sheer numbers that is why traditionally the powerhouse metro schools are more talented than the powerhouse suburban schools. I would have liked to seen one week added to the season where the champions of the metro division played the champions of the suburban division. This would have allowed every school in the state the opportunity to compete for championships against schools that are playing with similar circumstances as well as give the metro schools the opportunity to say they are the overall state champions if they won. The one thing they did get right was settling district championships on the field. The computer should never dictate who gets to play for district titles.” – Jordan Ingman, Port Charlotte Head Coach
“I feel like the last two seasons were the most competitive seasons we have had in a while. With the new changes, there will be teams playing other teams that they have no reason sharing a field with. It is going to make running clock games more prevalent which isn’t good for anyone. Also mandating teams to play their district games will hurt our strength of schedule in some instances.” – Anonymous Class 2S Head Coach
“I want to know what’s going to happen in 1-2 years if they don’t like this scenario. Are they going to go in a different direction AGAIN? Also, what are we supposed to do with our week 10 and 11 schedule? I know they want to have the top teams playing for the district title but what if you’re not one of the top teams? You don’t play? Who do you play? Lots of questions!” – Chuck Kenyon, Royal Palm Beach Head Coach
“I wish the state would get the coaches more involved.” – Anonymous Class 2S Head Coach
“This process was a disappointment for our state. We finally had a system that created equitable playoff brackets in the days of open enrollment and mass transfers. Just because parts of our state don’t like having to play each other in the playoffs with their all-star teams, doesn’t mean the system needed a complete overhaul. A tweak of the Metro/Suburban system is what should’ve happened.” – Brian Braddock, St. Augustine Head Coach
“I feel as though the primary issue is private vs public. There are plenty of other states that do not have private and public play each other and they have competitive games with record attendance, Texas for example.
You can’t expect public schools to compete with private when they dominant the state championship every year. They also have more to offer kids in terms of educational benefits that public can’t compete with.” – Anonymous Class 4M Head Coach
“The classifications should be based on enrollment numbers. However, the number should not be the total enrollment number. The number used should be the male enrollment figure of the school for male sports and the female enrollment figure of the school for the female sports.” – Jorge Zagales, Archbishop Carroll (Miami) Head Coach
“The FHSAA is not doing what is best for the state as a whole. The FHSAA should be ashamed of how that meeting went down. People aren’t informed of what changes are being proposed, and not enough ideas are [being] brought to the table. We need a new structure for doing things, especially with how we come about classifications. All we need to do is look 1 state north of us and follow! We need a multiplier in effect for out-of-zone students and schools bumped up classifications for so many out-of-the-zone to try and control the transfer problems that occur in Fl. We can’t control state legislators but we can put things in place to combat it.” – Andrew Thomas, Union County Head Coach
“I think as many do, that Private Schools belong in there own Division. I also know this will never happen. I personally do not stress about things I can not control, so I do not worry/complain about Classifications. I do think districts or some form of a conference is important (The ability to win a District Championship is a source of pride for the Players & therefore important)” – Anonymous Class 4M Head Coach
“Disappointed in the lack of organization on this issue and lack of getting information out to coaches to get their opinions.” – Danny Williams, Lakeland Christian Head Coach
“There is no perfect system, so I wish they would stop searching for one. Unfortunately, there are always going to be unique scenarios where someone feels snubbed. They need to have more organization to what they are doing and discussing; there seemed to be a good amount of confusion amongst the board members. We, unfortunately, live in a day and age where the transfer portal is popular and accepted at all levels. Until all of this student movement is curbed, the densely populated areas have a significant advantage with transfers, and essentially are playing by different rules. I am all for competition and needing to beat the best to win something special and be the best; however, there are significant unfair hurdles standing in the way in our current set up. With that, I believe M/S created greater competition and more interesting playoff brackets.” – Anonymous Class 2S Head Coach
“For smaller schools, until they institute a multiplier for the major private schools, you’re going to continue to have mismatches like we saw with Chaminade-Madonna this year. The open division would be better if it were 32 of the top teams in the state. 8 will shuffle too much. Also, for the district playoff structure, our current district only has 3 teams. So, what happens then if the proposal needs 4 teams to a district. Just lots that would need to change, effecting scheduling even further.” – Anonymous Class 4S Head Coach
“1. I don’t agree with the change to scrap Metro/Suburban. Not necessarily because I like it or agree with it but because it is yet another change of what seems to be an ever changing cycle of an inconsistent system. The decision was made and it appeared to be working for most teams to improve competitive balance which I believe was the intent??
2. I like mandated district games versus the proposal of the tournament. I think a lot of teams would have had to scramble at the end to schedule games. Some may potentially lose a home game and money. Not getting 10 full games scheduled is also a possibility. Additionally, I think to be a true district champion, you should have to play all of the teams in your district.
3. Unlikely to improve competitive balance so it is to be seen, but until stricter rules/enforced penalties about transferring, school choice and private school privilege get addressed, we will have competitive disparity. Players being able to leave mid year and go play for other schools is insane. NIL for HS players (which will get passed) is INSANE. What are we doing?” – Darren Nelson, Estero Head Coach
“We had the most competitive state championship football games to date, one of them being a major upset. Why change it now?” – Anonymous Class 2S Head Coach
“I don’t think your a true champion unless you play everyone in said classification. Metro-Suburban doesn’t allow that to happen.” – Anonymous Class 4S Head Coach
“I think the Metro/Suburban classifications created some balance, at least seemed to over these past 2 years. Getting rid of it after 2 years seems too quick of a change to get a true value of the classification system.
As far as mandated district play, not many other sports do it; however, they have a district tournament to determine a district champion. If district games are mandated, then they should have value. I know there is more to the formula for the rankings/at-large bids than just district record, but I believe if the district play is mandated, then they need to hold a higher value.” – Anonymous Class 2S Head Coach
“I would like to see the FHSAA use the Georgia Playoff model. The regions that are the strongest wouldn’t play each other until the State Semifinals or Finals.” – Robby Pruitt, Williston Head Coach
“The FHSAA is broken at the administrative level. We have gone backwards. They are clueless as to the best interests of all schools and finding new ways to keep schools from leaving the FHSAA. It seems like they do not care about anything but the top 5% of schools. This was a great day for the SSAA, they will grow as a result.” – Anonymous SSAA Head Coach
“I think that the [new] classification only benefits the more densely populated areas of the state. The Panhandle of Florida faces different challenges in scheduling and participation. The urban, suburban, and rural classifications helped to address some of these concerns.” – Anonymous Class 3S Head Coach
“In my opinion, the vote was rushed and was not given the importance that it deserved. I do not believe that the members of the board truly understood what they were voting on and they also did not seem engaged (one was driving while voting). The empirical data over the last two years has shown evidence that the Metro/Suburban model has largely accomplished what it set out to do; why not give it two more years to see if that data continues to hold true?. A more prudent approach would have been to fix problems with it (rankings transparency) or add something of value (Open 8 format).” – Ariel Cribeiro, Goleman (Miami) Head Coach
“I feel the changes that were made in the last cycle have been positive for football in our state. For us to abolish that and move back to the previous system with no discussion was odd. There seemed to be an agenda and things were rushed for some reason.” – Anonymous Class 2S Head Coach
“After viewing the FHSAA BOD meeting livestreamed on YouTube, the meeting came across as disjointed and unorganized specifically by breaking apart the initial proposal and voting on separate pieces as well as tabling playoffs for a later date. Essentially reverting back to the system previously used felt a step backwards in terms of competitive equity. Whereas metro/suburban may not have been the right fix, I do not believe it was given enough time to justify changing it.” – Luke Hutchinson, Mount Dora Head Coach
“I was originally not in favor of metro/ suburban. However after seeing the competitive playoff series the classifications created, I can agree that this way is more in favor of competitive balance because of the following..
In this state there is huge disparity between the private and public institutions in the smaller classifications. Programs public or non public are forced to compete vs programs that can recruit or have “open enrollment ” if these schools are forced to compete together in the postseason then something needs to be done to bring balance.
One idea I have seen floating around is to add multipliers to non traditional students, similar to how other states do. Also there just are not enough classifications for how many programs are apart of the FHSAA. The metro/suburban while it did not solve those issues it at least made an effort to group together programs of similar population makeup.
People much smarter and more experienced than me have made similar claims. And it appears as the FHSAA did not refer to those experienced, knowledgeable people before making a decision that affects all of us. I’m not sure why the decision makers do not think they should rely heavily on the opinions of the coaches and athletic directors when it is time to make decisions like this.
There will be programs who are public and do things the right way and they will still be highly competitive. However it feels like this decision making done for this period was not done in the best interest of competitive balance for the majority of programs.” – Anonymous Class 3S Head Coach
Here’s an idea that we shared before S/M was ever approved by @Fhsaa For us it’s not about S/M. It’s about finding a fair system that addresses our current climate in Florida. We are not sure if this is the right way forward but we have offered solutions. @FlaHSFootball pic.twitter.com/4QXxTdzWha
— FACA (@FACACoach) December 14, 2023
“The voting that took place on 12/12/23 is very good idea and a good platform for us moving forward. I also believe it helps us in having a better opportunity to actually win a national championship. However, it creates fairness among all programs. For example, all the top private schools should all play each other yearly regular season and playoffs, just like Central, Northwestern, Carol City, and the other teams in that division.” – Eddie Brown, Coral Springs Head Coach
“After seeing competitive state title games, I believe the metro/suburban classifications worked. I also didn’t have a issue with the 7 classifications as we play the same people either way.” – Anonymous Class 3M Head Coach
“The metro/suburban split to me provided a more realistic picture of similar teams in classifications. When each county has open enrollment you are no longer pulling kids from your “school zone” for enrollment. Metro suburban addresses this split. I feel like the open division would address a few of those schools that get a very high number of transfers. The major difference is a metro school has their entire county to pull athletes from. And a suburban school does not have anywhere near the same volume of students. True parity wasn’t achieved but I feel that the open division would have brought us closer.” – Anonymous Class 2S Head Coach
“Our governing body has once again let us down. It seems every 2 years changes are made without any real communication taking place with the football coaches. It seems most of changes are made just for the sake of making changes, without any real focus on making the system better. It is a very sad time for high school athletics in the State of Florida…” – Jeremy Brown, Bay (Panama City) Head Coach
“Meeting was par for the course and typical of how these meetings go. To change the plan of the meeting right at the end in regard to what was being voted on was confusing to myself and all other coaches I have talked to. Forcing mandated district games but not enforcing the same rules across the board, meaning leaving transfer rules up to individual counties and sometimes individual schools within counties is flat out silly. Team should be permitted to make there own schedules.” – Anonymous Class 4S Head Coach
“If the FHSAA is going to go back to overall classes why don’t they just go 1-8 and rural. There is no need for an open 8 team bracket that takes the place of an additional classification. Also, I think metro suburban really helped the competitive outcomes over the last 2 years. No reason whatsoever to end it. The same issues that caused us to have metro suburban 2 years ago still exist today. Possibly even worse. The FHSAA board of directors screws it up again. Why aren’t the people responsible for making the decisions about football actual coaches. Better yet why didn’t coaches get to vote on several options. Of course that can’t happen but we took a step back yesterday [12/23/2023].” – Andy Price, Spruce Creek (Port Orange) Head Coach
“I believe the FHSAA has no plan and just do it off the fly. When they adopted open enrollment, they knew recruiting would take place on a larger scale and had no plan for it. They need to look at multiple models and allow coaches access to and vote on them. The FHSAA has forgotten what high school football is about.” – Anonymous SSAA Head Coach
“There is very clear statistical evidence for the Metro/Suburban split creating more competitiveness. Where is the evidence to support abandoning this split?” – Chuck Bell, Buchholz (Gainesville) Head Coach
“Mandatory district games? I don’t think they even discussed not having them like other sports and base it similarly from MaxPreps, etc., but just voted on it. I would opt in for the playoffs knowing full well that we are not in a position to compete and would not make them currently while we rebuild the program. Thus SSAA makes the most sense.” – Bob Dare, Bishop McLaughlin (Spring Hill) Head Coach
“Be more transparent in seeding process. If schools drop games after the season start don’t allow them in the state series competition. Keep Metro/ Suburban and Rural and teams that dropout of FHSAA in one sports must do in all sports.
REDI stipulations should carry more wait than school population do. The way schools are able to report or move students around within county to allow one school to stay under 600 but take advantage of using athletes to play at any school within the district is unfair. True rural areas have a hard time getting athletes on the field compared to other areas that may qualify because they can manipulate the numbers.” – Anonymous Class 1R Head Coach
“I do not know if doing away with or keeping Metro/Suburban will improve competitiveness. We should only have one state champion per classification though. No one is addressing the real problem of competitiveness; that there are the new rules allowing athletes to go anywhere, which enhanced illegal recruiting that is not disciplined by the FHSAA.” – Anonymous Class 4S Head Coach
“Part of the more competitive state championships are because of re-seeding in the final 4. I don’t think you’re a state champion if you don’t have to play teams in the talent rich Metros. I think most Metro coaches disagree with the split, while most suburban coaches probably agree with it.” – Lawrence Johnson, Ed White (Jacksonville) Head Coach
“Everything felt rushed and uninformed….it seemed the agenda was to incorporate some flexibility into the Metro/Suburban and just enhance or tweak that system but went completely away from that. The open Weeks 10/11 for District Tourney play would’ve been a disaster from a scheduling standpoint for the teams that didn’t qualify & end up forcing dozens of teams to only play 8 or 9 games. Also would’ve prevented schools from scheduling Senior Nights etc.” – Anonymous Class 4M Head Coach
“I’m not convinced that any system is completely going to work. The last two years had really good competitive games at the end. I don’t think changing it will be any better. I do believe to win the district, you should definitely have to play everybody in that district.” – Willis May, South Fort Myers Head Coach
“Shocked and appalled that we reverted back to a system that everyone was in agreement needed fixed. The district tournament would have created excitement for those involved, but cause headache for those looking for a game/games. That was the major issue I feel. Finding 8 to 10 games is tough for sure, but can be done.” – Anonymous Class 4S Head Coach
“Put all of the Private Schools and Charter Schools in their own conferences. It’s never going to be an even playing field. Because of their resources, and they don’t have to adhere to the same rules as Public Schools have to.” – Anonymous Class 3M Head Coach
“Public and private should be split. This is an age old complaint of the masses and the FHSAA seems to never listen. We are the only major football state that is constantly changing the formula of how we address districts and playoffs.” – Keith Chattin, Spoto (Riverview) Head Coach
“The only thing I think should be addressed are the sidelines. I think roster size should be taken into consideration. We should have to submit our last 2 -3 years to make teams competitive and comparable. Only going off of school population does not mean that number will equate to roster size. If we struggle to field a JV team, but have to compete against teams with 65 varsity and 40 JV, is that a competitive balance?” – Anonymous Class 2M Head Coach
“I wouldn’t care if we went away from metro/suburban IF there were a multiplier in place for any student not zoned for a specific school.
Mandate district games (even in 1R). It helps coaches find 4ish games. It can also help keep rivalries intact because some coaches care more about their win/loss record rather than playing history rivalry games. This also ensures that playoffs get decided on the field, rather than relying on someone/something off the field (look what happened to FSU).
Format the playoffs like GHSA to get the best teams in. 4 teams from each region go to 4 different quadrants. This year, Hawthorne, Madison County, Williston, & Newberry were arguably the best teams in 1R, but only 2 of the 4 made it to the final 4. Instead of running clocks in the semi finals, we could’ve had 2 much more competitive games.
I share the same point of view with many coaches in the area. I understand the counter arguments to everything but this is what is best for high school football overall in the state of Florida.” – Anonymous Class 1R Head Coach
“You could tell on the video conference they were all confused and throwing things around. Did not seem like they were organized nor willing to discuss further the last motion. They took forever talking about the task force’s proposal and out of nowhere one of the members proposed to go back to basically where we were 3 years ago. So I guess the answer was to step backwards and make a possible open division. Wish they seemed more organized in the discussion piece at least.” – Anonymous Class 4S Head Coach
“We should have vote on a system as a whole not in pieces. We still don’t know what the playoffs will be. We don’t know how they are setting of the Districts and how many. It should have been that your had two are three complete systems and voted on one of them. Why wasn’t the Director of the FACA not involved? He is our voice.” – Marty Lee, First Coast (Jacksonville) Head Coach
We will always be problem solvers. Below is the agenda from a meeting back in 2018. It took the @FHSAA 5 years to create a Task Force. @FlaHSFootball pic.twitter.com/fwAQqN8XKO
— FACA (@FACACoach) December 14, 2023
“This did not benefit every team in the state. Only benefited a select few teams in the state.” – Anonymous Class 2S Head Coach
“Private schools need their own classifications. They can legally bring in anyone they want and the majority of public schools other than a handful of Miami/Dade schools cannot compete with that.” – Anonymous Class 3M Head Coach
“Other states do not have the spread in class size within classifications. Other states do not have the same transfer rules as Florida. The right thing to do will sometimes cause controversy but it’s still the right thing to do. It should be about the kids not the politics.” – Anonymous Class 1R Head Coach
“The Board needs better representation of people who are actually involved in the day to day. Or better yet maybe football needs it own board of directors because it’s so different and does not always fit into the same box as other sports.” – Cory Johns, Bartram Trail (St. Johns) Head Coach
“Metro/Suburban was not the answer. 7 of the 8 Metro champions were private. Metro schools did not have the representation on the committees as that proposal went through the process and it barely passed. There are schools that are considered “suburban” that are more “metro” than our school and many others. The most important issue to me moving forward in consistency. We need to pick a model and stick with it.” – Anonymous Class 4M Head Coach
“It’s absolutely maddening that we can’t alter and or improve what we have to make it better for all. Add a classification. Alter numbers. Speak to the coaches! Do right by all of us. 646 Crescent City deserves a competitive scenario and option.” – Robert Ripley, Crescent City Head Coach
“The whole thing felt rushed, and that was evident in the nature and confusion displayed in that board meeting. The stats they provided from their own survey showed 52% of the schools wanted to change from the metro/suburban. That means 48% didn’t or wasn’t sure/needed more information. They went ahead and held a vote anyway. A couple of things alarmed me. First, when the agenda was released it was not released as an action item (to be voted on), which has to be advertised. My county AD and a couple of others called to ask if what for discussion or a vote. Was this intentional or honest mistake. Second, the board all zoomed in, but if anyone wanted to speak on the issue, they had to be in person in Gainesville. Lastly, our county AD was the only person willing to take the trip to express our concerns. Everyone that I have spoken with since the meeting felt like that was an unorganized goat rope. I personally was embarrassed with the display that out there for everyone to watch, and the FHSAA should be embarrassed as well.” – Phil Tisa, South Walton (Santa Rosa Beach) Head Coach
“Once again the FHSAA proves they’re incapable of doing what’s best for the state. It just seems to me they bow down to the minority and disregard the majority.” – Anonymous Class 3S Head Coach
“Make all teams play a district and make them play teams in the district. For all schools with kids not in there zoned area they should go to a multiplier like Georgia. Every kid out of zone is times 3.” – Barry Gardner, Baker Head Coach
“1R needs to be mandated to play region games. It is very hard to schedule. The metro/suburban system should have been kept and just fine tuned. The scores of playoffs and state championship games were evidence that guess did the right thing. Then, they completely reverse everything they accomplished with the new system.” – Wes Summerford, Northview (Century) Head Coach
“Metro suburban wasn’t broke, so why fix it? A school like mine could legit push for a 3rd round game if we continue to build the right way. We don’t stand a chance vs the Miami powerhouses as currently constructed.” – Anonymous Class 2S Head Coach
“The small public schools that DO NOT recruit in the new plan are going to be Thrashed while ‘competing’’ in the state playoff series. ALL coaches are required by law to follow recruiting bylaws. Regrettably, this IS not happening by and large—Both Public AND Private. The HONEST are Being PUNISHED by way of having and unleveled playing field due to the proclivity of coaches recruiting. What is the message behind this? The general public says “well everyone does it!” Most are. Some aren’t! So the Coach who obeys the recruiting rules are often at odds with the stakeholders (school community) he/she serves as Coach. Often when a Coach refuses to disobey the rules many “good and normally honest” people will question if the Coach is really the right person for the job. Here are two possible options:
1. We need to have within each classification “a recruit” and “a non recruited” classification—how ever many classifications the state decides. We will submit rosters every two years and those with a number decided on by the state, say more than 3% (or another number of the State’s choosing) of kids on that roster that are OUT OF ZONE kids, compete in the recruitment class. Those that are less than 3% compete in the non recruited class! Please bring back honesty and integrity to what is the “‘NEW” state of high school athletics!
2. Or just REMOVE all recruiting rules and allow the playing field to be level for both the honest and those who will not (and have not) followed the rules to date. Especially with NIL on the horizon!! I will not recruit and disobey the laws/bylaws if the rules are against this. But if the recruiting rules were not in effect (removed), I would recruit with the best of them. BELIEVE IT!” – Richie Marsh, Frostproof Head Coach
“I just wish the FHSAA would adopt the model of Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee. Stick with something for 4 years then re-evaluate. There is too much inconsistency.” – Kolby Tackett, Mount Dora Christian Head Coach
“The FHSAA needs to adopt the system that Georgia and Texas use. Our current ranking system does not work and is not ever going to work. To account for a programs history has nothing to do with who is the best team in current year.” – Anonymous Class 4S Head Coach
“The SSAA would never have been organized if the FHSAA BOD had cared about small schools (enrollment numbers) and recruiting violations. Previous ridiculous playoff scenarios where a 0-9 team goes into the playoffs on a coin flip and making sure we have a rural classification goes against a true state playoff system. Bring back the days when Class 1A had an enrollment of around 200-250 or less. Enforce Recruiting Violations.” – Frank Andrea, Eagle’s View (Jacksonville) Head Coach
“We need to go back to the regional format, and have similar population numbers that we had a few years ago and do not mandate regional/district games!” – Anonymous Class 1M Coach
“The Panhandle is very unique, it is vastly different than the metro areas in FL. To make Panhandle communities compete with metro type of communities is unbalanced. Our system wasn’t broken, it simply needed to be adjusted as time went on. It did not need to flip back. Public vs private is obviously still is an elephant in the room.” – Shaun Arntz, Freeport Head Coach
“I have no objection to a school desiring the freedom to schedule their own 10 game schedule. We have an option for them to do it. It is the option to play an independent schedule.
I do not think that a school that chooses to avoid competing with their district opponents should be given an opportunity to qualify for the play-offs with those same schools at a higher seed. That option exists if we do not require all teams to play a district schedule.
A second concern is the use of MaxPreps ranking system. It currently uses the score differential as part of the rankings. I believe that will encourage schools to run up the score on their opponents.” – Anonymous Class 4S Head Coach
“I think the only way moving forward to get some type of parity in Florida, would be to add a multiplier of 3. No matter what classifications system we have Metro/Suburban or 1A-8A; it’s the transfer, recruiting, or “waivers” that needs to be addressed. Also Public/Private.
The meeting felt like the state was just amusing the peasants (coaches) and putting on a show. I would love to know what are the qualifications for being on the committee?
To be honest DeSantis doesn’t have the qualifications to be apart of this process either. Whether that is picking the committee or any decision towards Florida High School Athletics.” – Gregory Grant, Crestview Head Coach
“Secret of the formula, difference between what actually happened on the field, and rankings. Example – Yulee ranked over Baker Co. Baker County Beat them in regular season – Won Championship. If They use MaxPreps – They should disclose the formula so everyone knows it. If they won’t do that, then don’t use it.
Secret of FHSAA not disclosing the school enrollment – it needs to be out there and present to where anyone can look it up. I believe the Metro-Suburban Split has been the most even playing field, and given more opportunities to Suburban Schools. I do believe that if you use 1A-7A you have to put a multiplier for enrollment, just going on numbers is not fair. Example – private, charter, special schools, and transfers Teams building mega teams is unfair to teams in rural settings. If you do not start school as a 9th grader then you fall under the multiplier.
They do not talk about the real problem. And My biggest Issue is NON-FOOTBALL people are making FOOTBALL decisions. No feed back from the ADAC, FB Committee or the FACA.
The Meeting was out of compliance and disorganized.” – Anonymous Class 2S Head Coach
“Metro/Suburban was created to create competitive balance and the data from State Series games showed that was occurring. Adjustments were needed but the plan was getting the intended outcomes. 1A to 7A is a safe play, we know what that looks like, so I understand the BOD’s decision to move in that direction. Excited to have a resolution.” – Sean McIntyre, Creekside (St. Johns) Head Coach
“I believe FHSAA failed our student-athletes again. The meeting was a sham to drive their personal agenda down the throats of member schools. No coaches or administration were surveyed and the agenda was muddled and disorganized. Had they surveyed coaches they would have likely gotten numerous models from those of us that have coached in other states that have better models. They continue to bypass the real issue, school choice and how to solve the issue. Here is the model I would recommend as well as an adjustment of eligibility rules for public school student participation.
Model 1 – Public and Private 1A-6A Public (by enrollment) can further classify in October based on actual attendance and split the top 2/3 divisions for playoffs (1A-4A one state champ each, 5A and 5B by enrollment in October, 6A and 6B by enrollment in October). that would give 8 public state champions. Not splitting 5A and 6A would give 6 state Champions.
1P-4P Private by enrollment. One state champion per level.
Proposed rule change for districts – Instead of 4 districts with 4 teams per region, have 2 districts with 8 teams. This guarantees every team 7 games they don’t have to worry about scheduling which is increasingly difficult at many teams avoid scheduling opponents especially in county/region. District winners auto bid to playoffs. Next highest 6 in region by MaxPreps ranking are in. Could even do top 2 in each district and then at large 4 by region MaxPreps rankings. Weeks 1-3 are open and can schedule whoever you want. Weeks 4-11 are district weeks with one open week for a bye week or to schedule another opponent if you want a bye week in weeks 1-3.
Eligibility Rule Change – Students can school choice into whatever school they want entering 9th grade. After 9th grade if they choose to change schools they have to: 1. move to the school they are zoned for 2. Move into a new school zone and enroll in that school or 3. Sit out of all sports for 1 school year.
If school choice is designed for the academic benefit of a student, then it should not be an issue. this would limit students from playing at 4 different high schools in their 4 years of eligibility.” – Anonymous Class 4S Head Coach
“1. Being here in South Florida I didn’t agree with separating the teams pretty much North vs South with a few exceptions of Duval and Orlando. I feel teams like Venice, Lakeland, Cocoa, Deland, Vero, Treasure Coast and etc. can all compete with down South programs, it makes the competition tougher (a true state champion).
2. I think the real issue that we are “walking around” is the private schools ability to loaded up teams. That issue causes us here in the state of Florida to change the format every two years because of it. The complaining we get from High School Coaches/AD and others is because of the lopsided games with the private schools versus public. Yes public schools has choice programs and etc. but the private school ability to get players in throughout the state and the huge budget to hire 15 plus coaches, and the facilities. If we can attack the issues of the private versus public I think everything will sort itself out. Venice years back complained about Saint Thomas, Currently teams in South Florida complaining about Chaminade which I believe both have won state like 5-times in a row.” – Anonymous Class 4M Head Coach
“I would like the board to stop making decisions when we are already trying to put a schedule together. I really like the idea of having a super conference at the end of the year where the top 20 teams go for a state championship. I also really like the idea of having had week time and we 11 as displaying games kind of like college. Playing for Something at the end of the year to get into the playoffs is kind of a cool idea every other sport does it.” – Cody Montgomery, Osceola (Seminole) Head Coach
“I think we need to be careful as it pertains to the competitiveness of the championship games the last two years. The true nature of competition is allowing the best teams to compete for championships, not the best teams from certain areas. Metro suburban was nearly another region, but never accomplished a true state champion.” – Anonymous Class 1M Head Coach
![Addy Curry has helped lead second-year Tocoi Creek (St. Augustine) to the playoffs and will travel to Timber Creek for their first-round match. Class 4A Regional Quartefinals take place on Wednesday, April 29. [Joshua Wilson/FloridaHSFootball.com]](https://i0.wp.com/floridahsfootball.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2026-Class-4A-Regional-Quarterfinals-Playoff-Preview.jpg?fit=1920%2C1080&ssl=1)
![Ponte Vedra QB Izzy Murray will be one to keep an eye when the Class 3A Regional Quarterfinals take place on Wednesday, April 29. [Joshua Wilson/FloridaHSFootball.com]](https://i0.wp.com/floridahsfootball.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2026-3A-Regional-Quarterfinals-Playoff-Preview.jpg?fit=1920%2C1080&ssl=1)
![Robinson (Tampa) is chasing a 10th consecutive state championship -- and 11th overall as the Class 2A Regional Quarterfinals get underway on Tuesday, April 28. [Kyle Zedaker/Tampa Bay Buccaneers]](https://i0.wp.com/floridahsfootball.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2026-2A-Regional-Quarterfinals-Playoff-Preview.jpg?fit=1920%2C1080&ssl=1)
![Cocoa Head Coach Ryan Schneider and Bradford (Starke) Head Coach Jamie Rodgers shake hands prior to the Class 2S State Championship game on Fri. Dec. 8, 2023 at Ken Riley Field at Bragg Memorial Stadium in Tallahassee, Fla. [Joshua Wilson/FloridaHSFootball.com]](https://i0.wp.com/floridahsfootball.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/SURVEY-SAYS-Part-I-Featured.jpg?fit=1920%2C1080&ssl=1)
![Don Shula High School Coach of the Year logo. [NFL]](https://i0.wp.com/floridahsfootball.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Don-Shula-Coach-of-the-Year.png?fit=1920%2C1080&ssl=1)
