Hwy17

1. Armwood
2. Braden River
3. Jesuit
4.  IMG
5.  Plant City
6.  Manatee
7.  Venice
8.  Plant
9.  Tampa Catholic
10. Tampa Bay Tech

Southeast hired a coach with a proven track record.   I agree, they should be a force in a couple of years.  

Southeast is improving very quickly, they will be a playoff team this year and will really break out in the next few years

Pro's and con's of long standing rivals:  One hand it makes for great tradition, the stories, the history, and sense of community pride.  One the down side, fans and alums tend to put more emphasis on winning the rivalry games and accept being a regional power instead of striving to become a state power.  If your rivals aren't any good, now you have a weak schedule.  

Pro's and con's of long standing rivals:  One hand it makes for great tradition, the stories, the history, and sense of community pride.  One the down side, fans and alums tend to put more emphasis on winning the rivalry games and accept being a regional power instead of striving to become a state power.  If your rivals aren't any good, now you have a weak schedule.  

Over the weekend, Hardee High named Brian Kemp as its new head coach.  Kemp is a 2003 Hardee grad and 2007 grad from Wofford College.  Formerly Kemp was an assistant coach at Union County South Carolina

Over the weekend, Hardee High named Brian Kemp as its new head coach.  Kemp is a 2003 Hardee grad and 2007 grad from Wofford College.  Formerly Kemp was an assistant coach at Union County South Carolina.  

I would rather see Tampa Jesuit to play Bergen. 

HWY17,
 
You are right the 3 team districts are horrible but I blame the FHSAA for that. They are a reflection of 8 classes.
89 Schools in 8A, divided by 16 districts averages 5.5 teams a district. Some districts are going to have 4, some will have 7 depending on geography.
86 Schools in 7A, divided by 16 districts averages 5.3 teams a district. Some districts are going to have 4, some will have 7 depending on geography (2 3 team districts)
79 Schools in 6A, divided by 16 districts averages 4.9 teams a district. No 3 team districts
82 Schools in 5A, divided by 16 districts averages 5.1 teams a district. 3 3-team districts.
 
The pattern continues. The simple way to fix it if they don't want to shrink classifications is shrink districts down to 12. 
89/12 means that you average 7 teams a district. This would create 2 wildcard teams per region. 
-Set simple rules for wildcards, must have a winning district record and winning overall record. This makes it easier. 
-Allow coaches of non-playoff teams in region to anonymously vote on who gets in. Why non-playoff teams? They have no bone in this fight, playoff teams shouldn't choose who they get to face.
-Seeding rotates
Year 1
A. Champ of District 1 faces Wildcard #2,
B. Champ of District 2 faces Wildcard #1
C. Champ of 3 faces Runner-up from District 1
D. Runner up from District 2 faces Runner-up District 3
2nd Round
Winner of A plays Winner D
Winner of B plays Winner C
 
Year 2
A. Champ of District 2 faces Wildcard #2, 
B. Champ of District 3 faces Wildcard #1
C. Champ of District 1 faces Runner-up from District 2
D. Runner up from District 3 faces Runner-up District 1
2nd Round
Winner of A plays Winner D
Winner of B plays Winner C
 
Year 3
A. Champ of District 3 faces Wildcard #2, 
B. Champ of District 1 faces Wildcard #1
C. Champ of District 2 faces Runner-up from District 3
D. Runner up from District 1 faces Runner-up District 2
2nd Round
Winner of A plays Winner D
Winner of B plays Winner C
This ensure that no team faces the runner-up from their own district until the finals.
It also ensures that each district has a chance of the easiest schedule once. 

Again the easiest answer is to shrink the classifications and then use a weighting system on past performance to move teams up or down. 

Maybe a simpler solution would be just adding up your opponents records like they did in the previous wild card days.
 
I am all for seeding purposes. Lets truly try to get the top four teams in the Final Four and do our best to have the two best teams settle it out at the state finals.    

He was turning Mulberry around the last time he was there and had gotten Auburndale turned around.  Good move for Mulberry.

Small town football was killed by the FHSAA.  Before the Mid-2000's it was small towns that were the dominate teams in Florida:  Live Oak Suwanee, Union County/Lake Butler, Frostproof, Avon Park, Bartow, Starke, Jefferson County, Eustis, Pahokee, Belle Glade, ....all now a thing of the past.  

Small town football was killed by the FHSAA.  Before the Mid-2000's it was small towns that were the dominate teams in Florida:  Live Oak Suwanee, Union County/Lake Butler, Frostproof, Avon Park, Bartow, Starke, Jefferson County, Eustis, Pahokee, Belle Glade, ....all now a thing of the past.  

Small town football was killed by the FHSAA.  Before the Mid-2000's it was small towns that were the dominate teams in Florida:  Live Oak Suwanee, Union County/Lake Butler, Frostproof, Avon Park, Bartow, Starke, Jefferson County, Eustis, Pahokee, Belle Glade, ....all now a thing of the past.  

columbia in the 90s would be a example of those "90s teams winning for hometown" we were the SMALLEST team in the 6A in 1997, it was supposed to be IMPOSSIBLE for us to compete with the "big boys" we go 14-1 and came 3 points from beating the nations number 1 team, and really we had a touchdown taken from the officals so we should have won that game, so yeah, and on the topic of the FHSAA, idk if its their fault or not but they should be removed, we didnt need them in the old days, we dont need them now, if theirs a issue that every school is complaining bout, then they can intervene, but we dont need them looking for issues, they like the ncaa, they worry about picky nonsense because they bored of their "real" job

I agree that legislature getting involved is going to do more harm than good, no matter how well the intention.  
 
I have some issues with FHSAA, namely that it has become a bureaucracy that is more concerned with making money to pay high salaries than serving the members who created it.   The FHSAA likes to point out that is has been named and recognized in Florida Statute as the governing board for high school athletics, ignoring the historical fact that it was created voluntarily by a small group of public schools.  That said, public school districts are local government, just as a city or a county and therefore are granted home-rule powers by the state constitution.  Among those powers are to enter into agreements and contracts with whomever they want.  So by using their home rule powers, the public school districts could do away with FHSAA if they wanted.  
 
Now back to topic:  Here's how I would handle the transfers:  Require transfers to be enrolled at the school a minimum 6 months prior to the start of the sport the student wishes to compete in.  In addition, for football, limit the number of players a school can have on its roster by classification.  Class 4A and under limit to 45,  Class 5a/6a limit to 60.  Class 7a/8a limit to 70.  
 
The idea I'm using here comes from (1) NCAA which limits the number of scholarships a program can have by division, and (2) a school starts getting a bunch of transfers all of a sudden, somebody is going to get cut.  Better enroll soon and hope you are as good as you think.   
 
My own personal observation:  This year Jesuit (5a) and Bishop Moore (5a) both had 80+ players on their roster yet I can't find a public 5a team with that many players, in fact most seem to have about 50 or so.  I also remember how in 2006 Lakeland won the state title and was getting last minute transfers right up to the start of the season.  In 2011, Armwood had the same thing and I think we all remember the drama surrounding that.  

i mean what i get from this is that they want to make the playing field as fair as possible and if THATS ALL IT IS i'm on board with it to many athelets are teaming up to make super teams instead of working for success. just look at FT.LAUDERDALE the only high school down here who has had any type of consistent success is ST THOMAS THEN AMERICAN HERITAGE both private schools both recruite HEAVY.!!!! flanagan FLANAGAN JUST WASNT SOME CINDERELLA DARLING WHO WON THE CHAMPIONSHIP this year they had PLENTY TRANSFERS and im sure some recruites as well. in MY OPINION WHEREVER Your district say you should go is where you should go. unless your safety is a concern. But not because this school is a 5 win team and you want to go where basically you have a free ride.
 
What happend to the men from the 90's who relished on building up there home school and didnt wantthe easy way out.

Gatorman -  Back in 2000 when there was 2 wildcard spots my team (Hardee) went 7-3 but was kept out of the playoffs by the point system because we were tied with Lake Gibson who was also 7-3.  We had lost an early season game  so we were 3rd place even though we had a better win/loss record than the team that was runner-up (Bayshore) in our district.  The other district sent 4 teams to the playoffs. Lake Gibson got the tie-breaker because they played a slightly tougher schedule.  I had no complaints with this system and still think its fair.  Fast forward to what Cory has proposed and apply to the same situation and maybe we would have gotten in instead of the runner-up?  Back then there were only 3 districts so the districts were larger and it allowed for 2 wildcards.  Cory's proposal would allow for 4 wildcards so I can't answer for sure how it would have played out.  But seeing what Cory has above, it looks like an improvement to me.

Or in a three team district only the district champion should be allowed in the playoffs.

Three team districts are just wrong.  Defeats why runner-ups were allowed to be in the playoffs in the first place.  Should be 4 team minimum in a district; 5 or would be better.  Never thought teams with losing records deserve to be in the playoffs; even my own when we got in. 

If memory serves me right, in the late 90's/early 2000's when there was a wildcard system, there was only 3 districts per region with champs & runner-ups automatically in and 2 wildcards per region.  So the districts were larger.  

i think their was serval 7-3 teams that missed the playoffs this year, but a 1-9 eastside team made the playoffs, thats a problem, that should not happen, that part of system needs to be fixed

I dont like it, Anytime you have a committee decide anything personal agendas will set the tone, You ether play in a district and win or you don't,  Lets settle it on the field and keep politics from deciding the seeding.  

I like most of it and think its a move in the right direction.  Like you said, its not a perfect solution, however some of those items proposed have been around before.  I like the idea of 4 district champs and 4 wildcards and we had something similar to this in the early 2000s.  I don't think its right when a 3 team district has a 1-9 team as runner-up automatically getting in the playoffs while a good 7-3 team in a 6 team district sits out.  I think a district should have 4 teams minimum.  Looking at some regions, I don't understand why some small and large districts are back-to-back.  
 
Playoff pairings and brackets:  I don't like the system of district vs district in the early rounds.  I get it that its done for travel, but I've seen one-sided brackets were a 10-0 team plays an 9-1 or 8-2 team in the first round while in the other side of the bracket has a 5-5 team playing that 1-9 team referenced above, so what happens is the 3rd round match-up is a joke.  
 
Point system for strength-of-schedule:  First off, I think points should be awarded for how many games your opponent won, followed by a factor for class; fraction of a point.  As proposed, no class 8a team will want to play down.  Likewise, If i was in a small class, I'm scheduling a weak team from a large class because its easy points,  why would I play a power from another small class?  
 
Again,  I like most of it but some of the details I feel deserve needed debate. 

Here's how I'd do it:
 
1a - Public schools -    0-500
2a - Private Schools -  0-500
3a - Private Schools -  501-1000
4a - Public Schools -   501 - 1000
5a - Public Schools -   1001 - 1500
6a - Public Schools -   1501 - 2000
7a - Public Schools -   2001 - 2500
8a - Public/Private  -   2500 and over Public Schools and Privates over 1000
 
This would take the few private schools currently in 5a-8a and put them in the largest classification.  In my opinion, they would have no problem competing there.  Secondly, it takes the few private schools in 4a down to what is currently 3a.  Class 2a is mostly private anyhow.  
 
Independents and Conferences:  By voluntary election; let them form a bowl game or playoff system and govern themselves.   Regular season non-district games between public and private schools or between independent and playoff eligible teams is fine.  
 
IMG - remain independent, but I'm not so sure they would have advanced past the 3rd round in class 5a-8a this year anyhow.