Dr. D

Okay, how about that STA vs. Ida Baker matchup in your first round? Does your analogy extend to South Florida slappies? My opinion is simply that no one (except CoachGraham, apparently) would be interested in the 1 vs. 512, 2 vs. 511, and 200 other mismatches such a format would produce, regardless of geography. But I could be wrong. And now I'm thinking I should have skipped college.

And that first round matchup between Chaminade and Franklin County would be compelling.

The possibility of adding an "open" or "championship" bracket with the 8 highest ranked teams will be discussed at the upcoming FHSAA Board of Directors meeting. The twist here is the proposal includes a double-elimination component. Seems overly complicated to me, although it does open up the possibility for additional revenue from additional games. The item is listed as a "discussion" item (as opposed to an "action" item), but it will be interesting to see where this leads. The entire item can be reviewed here: https://fhsaa.com/documents/2024/4/12/76_78.pdf

As Joshua Wilson's article reported, a first draft of an FHSAA NIL policy has been published. The next step is a FHSAA Board of Directors' workshop on April 21 regarding the NIL policy. How long it will take this process to come up with an actual NIL policy is anyone's guess. The FHSAA would seemingly want to develop its own policy before the Florida state legislature gets involved. Since the legislature does not meet again until March 2025 (barring a special session called by the governor), the FHSAA has almost a year to work with. One other possibility is an NIL lawsuit being brought by a student-athlete (and his lawyer/agent) against the FHSAA (similar to past lawsuits against the NCAA). Again, an incentive for the FHSAA to develop a policy in a timely manner (with all the good and bad aspects it will likely bring). https://floridahsfootball.com/2024/02/26/fhsaa-board-of-directors-drafted-nil-language-discussed-while-rural-classification-sees-more-changes/

Not to mention how competitive Class 1A will be. Yeah, definitely no need for an Open Division playoff bracket.

Or the check your athletic department cashed?

The same argument for teachers/coaches can be made for nurses, law enforcement, and other first responders, etc. None of them are paid what they are "worth". From an economic standpoint, no one would willingly pay someone more to do a job when someone will do the same job for less (i.e. supply and demand). As long as enough people are willing to work for current wages in these fields, in many cases out of the goodness of their heart or at significant personal financial sacrifice, the government and corporations see no need to raise wages. Unfortunately, the nonmonetary, societal benefit that individuals in these fields provide is often not recognized (coming from the spouse of a 35+ year educator). When we wake up one day and have a drastic shortage of workers in these fields, our society will be in big trouble, let alone high school football.

I do like the mention of adapting the Georgia model of cross-region bracketing and think it would be worth considering for all classifications. This would allow two teams from the same District/Region to meet in the state finals, rather than one team being eliminated in the Region finals. If AHP and Norland (now both in District 4A-15) happen to be the two best teams in 4A this year, it would seem more desirable to have them meet in the state finals, or at least the state semi-finals. The issue of travel has been pointed out as a deterrent to the Georgia model in Florida, but perhaps it could at least be utilized in a "North" and "South" bracket.

Saw this agenda item on the upcoming FHSAA Board of Directors meeting: https://fhsaa.com/documents/2024/2/20/68_72.pdf You've got to give an "A" for creativity. And we would get even more "champions"!

And here I thought those were the values that high school athletics were supposed to impart on its participants....... aah, naivete.

With the FHSAA now married to the MaxPreps rankings for selection and seeding, teams will know exactly where they stand from week 1 until the end of the regular season. Someone asked what is to stop a team from losing intentionally to manipulate their postseason situation. How about integrity, character, sportsmanship?........ (silly me).

Not to single out Venice, as this situation applies to all public school systems and public high schools in Florida. But using Venice as an example in this case, a prospective student must first establish residence within the attendance zone for Venice High School with his/her parent(s), legal guardian, or other such people as defined by any order issued by a court of competent jurisdiction. Once residence (or clear intent) is established, the student and parent(s) can roll into the school and enroll. However, Venice currently is "at capacity" so it has no school choice availability in grades 10-12 (see bottom section of this attachment: https://www.sarasotacountyschools.net/site/handlers/filedownload.ashx?moduleinstanceid=2802&dataid=8464&FileName=24-25 Choice Capacity by School.pdf Which means Venice cannot (theoretically) accept school choice transfers from outside its attendance zone, either from within or from outside Sarasota County. So yes, a kid from Gaither (or anywhere outside the Venice attendance zone) would first have to establish residence within its attendance zone before being allowed to enroll at Venice. (As an aside, information on school choice availability in public schools is required by state law to be readily accessible on each county's public school system website; Sarasota County does a nice job.)

Love the bravado from DeLand. Seems like a heckuva coach to play for: Football Games Needed Spring, Weeks 3 and 4 Post Date: 02/05/2024 Sport: Football (11 man) County: Volusia School Name: DeLand Deland High School (FL) needs football games weeks 3,4 & spring. The transfer portal doesn’t come here, and all our best prospects don’t drive yet. Come get some! Please Call Rick Darlington.

Trust me, rhese are far from the worst case scenarios. Texas is definitely on the high end for schools/class. Florida and Georgia are in the middle of the Bell curve distribution for schools/class.

I'm no less happy for the effort, or the knowledge.