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Simple Solution: Class 6A: Top 32 ranked teams (over the past 4 years according to MaxPreps) Class 5A: Next 32 ranked teams Teams must play 7 games (or 70%, whichever is lower) against teams in their classification. All 32 teams make the playoffs, seeded by the FHSAA. This allows teams to play a national schedule or just a couple of local moneymakers/rivalry games. Class 4A and 3A Next 64 and the Next 64 after that (Max Preps rank over 4 years) Put them in 8 districts of 8 teams, play 7 district games, and let the top 4 teams in each district advance to the playoffs. Class 2A and 1A (128 teams each, with 1A getting any teams beyond 128). 16 districts of 8 teams, top 1 or 2 (make the playoffs). Rural remains unchanged, but the FHSAA can put really bad large rural teams in. ___________________ Every two years, the worst 4 teams from 6A and 5A move down, the worst 8 teams from 4A and 3A move down, and the 16 teams from 2A move down. (4-year running average). Every two years, the best 4 teams from 5A and 4A move up, the best 8 teams from 3A and 2A move up, and the best 16 teams from 1A. _________________ This ensures a fair schedule for schools by playing teams of similar achievement level. It allows teams to develop into better teams and play teams at a higher level. It doesn't punish teams for one good season by making them move, but having multiple good seasons to move up. Teams can play other teams pursuing football in the same manner as they do. If you are the transfer portal school, you still get to be that school. If you are a school just trying to get the kids to line up correctly, then guess what, you will play similar schools. Coaches at these lower schools won't feel frustrated that the kids they developed, transfer, and play against them next season. I will acknowledge the largest logistical drawback to this would be when a Panhandle school makes it to 5A or 6A as finding 7 games will be hard.

This was discussed at length on the old FlaVarsity Board. The idea is that IMG is replicated, but it will be created in every state. Eventually, the STA, MNW, Cocoa, and Venice can't compete with that.

Dude, I usually post the average salaries per county on this board so that all coaches have accurate information. I also speak to my local teachers association's executive board and school board members about the pay of teachers, sponsors, and coaches on a regular basis. Also, as I pointed out when the article was originally posted, there is a teacher shortage in this state. There does not seem to be a coaching shortage. Coaches leaving for Georgia isn't the same as not being able to find a qualified replacement, which is found in many teaching positions in Florida. So, school boards are going to try to prioritize teacher pay first. A mandate from the Florida Department of Education will upset school boards as it will be another unfunded mandate from the state to do something. Governor DeSantis and the legislature promised that teachers would start at $47.5K, but for many school districts, they didn't provide enough money to make that happen (even after 4 years of it). If you begin mandating the numbers suggested by the article without providing additional pay (which is why you would need a bill), that money must come from somewhere. The school district will have to use money geared toward teacher pay/raises to pay for the mandate, which means you are telling the nice little kindergarten teacher she gets less of a raise so the football coach can get a 14K raise. See how well that will play in the communities as a whole.

I just wanted to bring this post back because of all the talk of the "Florida Coaches Coalition." Not a single bill was introduced to mandate higher coach pay (especially by Representative Adam Anderson, who was mentioned in the original article). But a bill about Hearing Aids and Sovereign Wealth Fund, we can get those from that mentioned State Representative.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if the FHSAA set up a system that would encourage outstanding teams to play other outstanding teams and bad teams to play bad teams? If only someone could think of a system that did exactly that.

My annual reminder: 6A - 32 teams (top 32 teams in state, no districts, all teams make playoffs, must play 7 other 6A teams) 5A - 32 teams (next 32 teams in state, no districts, all teams make playoffs, must play 7 other 5A teams) 4A - 64 teams (next 64 teams in state, 8 districts of 8, top 4 district records make the playoffs) 3A - 64 teams (next 64 teams in state, 8 districts of 8, top 4 district records make the playoffs) 2A - 128 teams (next 128 teams in state, 16 districts of 8, either only district champion (if you want to split championship weekend over two weeks or champ and runner-up) 1A - 140 teams (last 140 teams in state, 16 districts of 8 or 9, either only district champion (if you want to split championship weekend over two weekends or champ and runner-up). Teams are divided by the previous 4 years of MaxPrep rankings. Good teams play similar teams, bad teams play similar teams. Teams feel like they have a chance to be competitive. Every two years, we re-classify based on MaxPreps rankings (average ranking of the previous 4 years) For 6A - bottom 4 teams drop, receive top 4 teams from 5A For 5A - top 4 teams move up, bottom 8 teams drop, receive top 8 teams from 4A For 4A - top 8 teams move up, bottom 8 teams drop, receive top 8 teams from 3A For 3A - top 8 teams move up, bottom 16 teams drop, receive top 16 teams from 2A For 2A - top 16 teams move up, bottom 16 teams drop, receive top 16 teams from 1A For 1A - top 16 teams move up. We don't have a problem calling a Division 2 football in college a national champion, we can do the same for 1A and state championships. Long term the goal is get more fans in the stands and more kids on the field.

I know rural championship is at The Villages. Any rumors on the location of the rest?

And if that same newsletter asked the Osceola County Sheriff Department, what do you think the response would be? If you asked, members of the Chamber of Commerce? (Essentially a union of businesses) If you asked a group of nurses? If you asked a group of lawyers? Also a union cares about the working conditions of their members, but the working conditions of teachers are the learning conditions of students as well. People are attracted to careers because of the values that come with those careers. Political Parties attract people based on their values. So it shouldn't be surprising that certain professions attract certain people in certain careers. You act as if the principal's first question when we have a 5,000+ teachers shortage in this state is "who do you vote for? And are you a member of the union?"

Curious, but do you support police and fire unions, or is your disdain only for teachers union?

Belen Jesuit (Miami) - Nick Oyarzun (Twitter) Gateway (Fort Myers) - Charles Powell (Article) Gulf Breeze - Jim Stomps (Twitter) Newsome (Lithia) - Jeff Turner (Twitter)

Hiring: Mainland - Jerrime Bell Zephyerhills Christian Academy - Mike Smith Jr (Article) Gulf Coast (Naples) - Manny Evans (Twitter) Wharton (Tampa) - Abner Smith III (Twitter) Opening: Atlantic (Port Orange) - Due to Jerrime Bell leaving for Mainland Bronson - Per FHSAA Classifieds

https://www.usatoday.com/story/graphics/2024/03/19/teacher-shortage-crisis-explained/72958393007/ 1st) Florida is a right to work to state, unions (most importantly for this conversation the Florida Education Association) have very little power. If they have so little power, what in the world are they controlling? I can give you countless examples of how the unions have done everything they could to try and stop bad educational/teacher policy, but still failed. And despite having little success, I can also point out to where the state legislature consistently only targets teachers' unions, where the exact same logic of their anti-union laws should apply to police, fire, and correction officer unions, but somehow they are always exempted. 2) Florida has more vacancies than any other state (see article). So yes, when the choice is raising pay for the special education teacher (which we lack) or the head football coach, I am going to continually say the special education teacher, this is basic business sense. If you get a qualified engineer for your business, you raise the pay until you get one. When certain people complain that government isn't run like a business, why is this not part of the conversation? 3) I am posting on a high school football site, I often post the openings/hirings of positions, and have numerous times posted the salaries of all coaches throughout Florida. I understand the value of a coach/club sponsor more than you can ever understand, but I also can understand that given the choice of putting the extra money towards a coach vs the math teacher, I would prefer the math teacher, because schools require math, not sports, despite the very important soft skills that extracurricular activities develop.

Unions want their members compensated. Districts are slow to compensate teachers and coaches, period. Because ultimately coaches/sponsors are extracurriculars, and not the primary focus of the district despite what some on this board would have you believe. Make it easy, ask your local principal how many teaching openings they have this year in their faculty, ask how much turnover will exist in their ranks this summer, and when they replace them, how many will be highly qualified teachers. Ask the AD how many of their coaches are not highly qualified. The problem from the district and unions' perspective is that there isn't a coaching shortage, somebody always wants to be a coach, but few want to be a math teacher or special education and have their career tied to a test that they have no control over. So just like in the business world, you should pay more to get a person to do the job if nobody is willing to do it. Now if you want to blame the unions, blame them and the districts for not being flexible in salaries for areas of critical needs/shortages. Despite their being a shortage, it isn't a universal shortage. Florida isn't struggling for social studies teachers, PE teachers, or elementary teachers, but secondary math, science, english, special ed (all levels), and world languages. Unions/districts have been reluctant to give extra pay to those subjects to entice people to enter the field, but notice, PE teacher isn't on that list. __________________ To give an idea of what will happen, let's use Madison County (since they were mentioned in an above post). Madison County has 30 head coaches and JV/assistant coaches (including cheerleading). The total amount of salaries that they put to those positions is %66,706. Madison County had a budget of $24 million, so .27% of their total budget. If the proposed bill passes, Madison County would spend 322,500, which represents 1.34% of their budget, about 4.8 times more than current. Now, if the state legislature would simple just add the $260,000 onto the budget, the unions wouldn't care other than making sure that all assistant/jv/and non mentioned coaches from the PB Post article are included. But that isn't what will happen, instead it will be a specific line in the budget from the state legislature, similar to technology or textbooks, money will be required to be spent on the salaries and the state will offer no additional funding (or they will only do it for 2 or 3 years, and when there are new priorities, they will still require it but provide no funding for it). Now, if they offer no additional funding, what happens is that money comes from somewhere in the budget. Considering that that this be part of "teacher salaries", that means it will be pulled from general instructional salaries portion of the budget, which means less money for teachers. So yes, teachers will be upset when the state legislature yet again promises something and then underdelivers (see making the starting salary $47,500).

Is there even a continuous supply of money to keep NIL deals for high schoolers going, even at well-funded programs? I mean most programs in Florida seem to be barely surviving as is, the cost of running a program (just talking the basics) seems to be increasing each year with requirements by the state and counties. Security, referees, costs of uniforms, helmets, medical gear, travel costs. We aren't seeing huge increases in attendance at these games. I can't imagine a well funded booster group turning around and saying, "well we got enough extra money to bring in a stud QB and 2 OL for 5K a piece." Instead of making sure that the basics and the just barely beyond basics are covered. Or maybe, I am just too broke to understand ever giving that much money away for anything that doesn't benefit me personally. Also when (not if) NIL becomes a reality, can the FHSAA finally admit that a promotion/relegation would lesson the blow of things like NIL/transfers?

Openings: Mainland (Story) North Marion (Citra) - Story Miami Beach - FHSAA Classifieds Hiring Fort Meade - Maurice Russell (Twitter)

Hiring Lake Worth - Eric Lee (Twitter)

I have said a million times that promotion/relegation system is the way to go, but I also understand that many communities/coaches don't understand the benefits of a system like that for the vast majority of programs. I feel like this is dipping their toe in the water of it to prove it is viable. One of my contentions is that pro/rel allows teams to be competitive against likewise teams (based on previous years). The "B" division essentially is that (except for that year). Now, would I call this specific group "state" champions, probably not, but that is the least of my concerns. If they are doing seeding, of course there is greater # of mismatches. That is why you are doing seeding, so that the #2 doesn't play the #1 seed in the first round. I don't think the goal is to get 64 teams per class into the playoffs, I think the goal is to show that we can make a competitive system based on MaxPreps rankings. Now, I do like the idea of taking the rural class as a whole and making it just the North and South and removing regions as a whole. That is something @DisabledAccount aka ColumbiaFan often promoted.

Hiring: DeSoto County - Cliff Lohrey (Story)

Cypress Creek (Orlando) - Ryan Mills (Twitter) Santa Fe Catholic (Lakeland) - Gabe Walker

Hiring: Oak Ridge (Orlando) - Anthony Smith Jr (per Team Twitter) Melbourne Central Catholic - Willie Tillman (per Space Coast Daily) Vierra (Melbourne) - Tony Gulla (per Space Coast Daily)

It was becoming hard to remember all the hirings and openings when they were on so many different posts. I think I have all the hirings/openings correct now. Hirings American Heritage (Delray Beach) - Jonathan King Andrew Jackson (Jacksonville) - Bobby Ramsay Arnold (Panama City Beach) - Jason Griffin Auburndale - Antonio Thomas Baldwin - Don Velvet Blance Ely (Pompano Beach) - Terrance McFadden Braden River (Bradenton) - Eric Sanders Calvalry Christian (Clearwater) - Wes Safford Carol City (Miami) - George Stubbs Celebration - Jed Ebersole Chamberlain (Tampa) - James Wilder Jr. Chiefland - Adam Gore Citrus (Inverness) - John Capel Crystal River - Bill Vonada Cypress Creek (Orlando) - Ryan Mills DeSoto County - Cliff Lohrey Dr. Krop (Miami) - Vernon Wilder Dwyer (Palm Beach Gardens) - Willie Smith East River (Orlando) - Adam Chappell Eustis - Joe Burnett Fort Meade - Maurice Russell Freedom (Tampa) - Ron Perisee Glades Central (Belle Glade) - Omar Haugabook Godby (Tallahassee) - John Holston Golden Gate (Naples) - Nick Citro Graceville - Richard Koonce Hardee - Darren Bryan Hillard - Matt Yancy Innovation (Orlando) - Leroy Kinard Jackson (Miami) - Max Edwards Lake Howell (Winter Park) - Dazzie Morris Lake Placid - Jay Del Castillo Lake Region (Eagle Lake) - Jermaine King Lake Worth - Eric Lee Leesburg - Frank Scott Lemon Bay (Englewood) - Jason Mensing Leto (Tampa) - John Hurst Melbourne Central Catholic - Willie Tillman Northwestern (Miami) - Terry Bridgewater Oak Ridge (Orlando) - Anthony Smith Jr Pensacola - Wade Mckinney Pine Ridge (Deltona) - Greg Miller Plantation - Darell Strong Poinciana (Kissimmee) -Taron Mallard Ridgeview (Orange Park) - Marlin Smith Sandalwood (Jacksonville) - Brad Kessel Santa Fe Catholic (Lakeland) - Gabe Walker Sarasota - Anthony Campbell Southeast (Bradenton) - Curt Bradley Stanton Prep (Jacksonville) - Ryan Carter Tampa Catholic - Mike Gregory Taylor County - Jesse Braswell Vierra (Melbourne) - Tony Gulla Wesley Chapel - Bruce Patterson Wildwood - Lorenzo Fields Openings Belen Jesuit (Miami) Bozeman (Panama City) Celebration (Part 2) - Everglades Prep (Homestead) FAMU DRS (Tallahassee) Fernandina Beach Florida Christian (Miami) Gateway (Fort Myers) - Marlin Roberts? Maybe, I read the ad wrong and t was for middle school or assistants? Gulf Breeze Gulf Coast (Naples) Mainland (Daytona Beach) Miami Beach Newsome (Lithia) North Florida Christian (Tallahassee) North Marion Santa Fe (Alachua) South Miami University (Orlando) Wekiva (Apopka) Windermere Prep

Openings: Celebration High School (Again) Hirings: Braden River (Bradenton) - Eric Sanders (Article) East River (Orlando) - Adam Chappell (School Twitter) Eustis - Joe Burnett (Twitter) Glades Central (Belle Glade) - Omar Haugabook (Twitter) Godby - John Holston (Article) Leesburg - Frank Scott Article Leto (Tampa) - John Hurst (Twitter) Pine Ridge (Deltona) - Greg Miller (Article) Plantation - Darrell Strong (Twitter) Poinciana - Taron Mallard Sarasota - Anthony "Amp" Campbell (Article) Taylor County (Perry) - Jesse Braswell (Article)

Are there really? Of the top 32 teams heading into 2023 (I had made classifications sets after the 2022 season): 11 made the final 4 9 made the regional finals 7 made the regional semi-finals 2 made the regional quarter finals 3 didn't qualify for the playoffs. I mean how teams were you really surprised made it to the regional finals, state semis, state finals. We already know who is going to make it. Not because of some vast football conspiracy, but because building a team in football takes time, we can see it happening. We know what teams generally get transfers and what team lose transfers, so it shouldn't surprise us. While, I get your point on doing it by a year by year top 32, I would hate to be that school that has that magical run of 10-0 and then gets put into the "Open" Classification. At least if it is from the beginning of the season you know exactly what you are expecting to be able to accomplish and not accomplish. _______________

I don't disagree with this sentiment. Back in the days of FlaVarsity, I remember a poster thinking that the traditional high school would soon be gone and that IMG Academies of the World would be the future (he was not happy about it as he saw a purity in the game). But I ask again, if what you say is true, then why not go to a promotion/relegation pyramid system (similar to European Soccer) where good/great teams rise to the top and bad teams fall. We can do it so the 1st classes are set up based on how a school did over the past 4 years and then promote or relegate every year based on the same data (but we cycle in 1 new year and cycle out the oldest year). Would we care as much if Lakeland dominates Polk County with transfers as long as they then didn't turn around and use those transfers to play the schools they got the transfers from?

Opening: Fernandina Beach - Twitter