Dr. D

Listening to that last meeting, it sounded like most had a shot of IDGAF.

Well, I know that I, for one, can go to bed tonight and rest peacefully knowing that no coaches, assistant coaches, handlers or other representatives of any Florida high school football program will reach out to any of these players or their families to 'discuss their options.'   
 

Burden of proof will continue to be an issue especially when the language has never been updated to include social media.  Have evidence, REPORT IT!
FHSAA Improper Contact
Allegation Form

You are correct.  But here's the point that I think is being made.    'Back then' the teams in the metro areas were, in theory, constrained by district boundaries.   A kid could only go to Central if they lived in the Central district (again, in theory).   So, Central's talent pool was limited to the kids who lived in the Central district.   Just like Pahokee's talent pool was limited to the kids who lived in Pahokee's district.   Now, with school choice, and as a practical matter, Pahokee's talent pool (and the talent pool of all the other rural schools) is essentially still limited to the kids who live in that relatively-sparse geographic area.  Contrast that with Central, who now has the ability to legally pull in any kid from Dade County.  Yes, they are competing against other schools, like Northwestern, for that top talent, but recent history seems to suggest that only a small handful of teams are going to end up with the vast majority of the top talent. 
To oversimplify, if one rural high school football team has a thousand kids to pick from (including gamers, trombone players, theater buffs, etc.) and a metro high school football team has a hundred thousand kids to pick from (because district lines really don't matter any more), which team is more likely to end up with a group of thirty talented football players?  Now, it wouldn't surprise me at all if a rural team, like Pahokee, could beat the bottom-feeder teams in the metro area, because all the talented kids from those metro teams ended up at the super-power de jure.  But when it comes time for playoffs, the rural team likely won't stand a chance against the metro power. 
And, yes, there will be exceptions along the way, but for the most part, the numbers won't lie. 

Those talking about an "OPEN DIVISION" comprised of 24-32 teams are overlooking reality.  As I have previously stated, it is my view that the top 10% FL HS teams (roughly 50 teams) tend to follow the rules with a few exceptions.  However, when we zero in on the top 1% (roughly 6-8 teams) of FL HS teams they most certainly "RECRUIT".  Thus, I fully agree with your take on an open division comprised of only those 8 teams, as only one of them would win the championship each and every year leaving the other 40 odd excellent programs to continually be second fiddles despite doing everything right.  Also fully support having districts comprised of a minimum of 5-6 teams with fewer classifications. 

And yeah maybe metro suburban could have been done better but at the very least we already know what title games we got with the current system under the current state climate
We already know It because we saw it for a decade and it was blowout after blowout
I would rather test out a few ideas and experiment with a new plan then stick to a plan that has failed for a decade 
I don't see how anything they changed for this upcoming season is an improvement especially when open division is clearly not gonna get passed 

Here you go again.  No one from Polk County sat on the FHSAA BOD or was involved in the Metro/Suburban decision making from its inception down to going from most populated counties to most densely populated counties.  Again, why would Polk (especially Lakeland) run from metro schools they were beating anyway?
FHSAA Metro/Suburb/Rural plan
FHSAA Meeting minutes (notice the absence of Polk representation)

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.)
 
 

Yup. Looks like they were able to force Mainland's hand to keep the rivalry alive. Mainland agreed to move their game against Deland from week 1 to week 7 lol. Deland should have the offense running smooth by then. They are also scheduled to play Eau Gallie as well, who has been begging for a game with Cocoa lol

I think he's trying to set a trap. 
Seriously, my guess is that he's had/having a hard time getting teams to schedule Deland because of their recent success (and likely because teams don't want to play against Darlington-style offenses unless and until they have to).  So, he's taking a page out of playbook of former Georgia coach, Vince Dooley, who was notorious for talking down his team's chances of success.  In short, he's trying to entice potential opponents to catch Deland while they're down, knowing that they're not that down and knowing that they need games. 

Eventually, there will be an elite tier set apart from the rest for the purposes you state. Currently, people are in denial about where the game is/is headed.
In regards to the way that will happen, there are some concerns about how best to determine who belongs in the elite tier. There are far too many variables impacting team quality from year to year to use a historically informed model. The 2024 playoffs should feature the best teams from 2024. Not teams who were good in previous seasons or who will likely be good in the future. With transferring being so easy and so common, literally ANY school can go from a nobody to a somebody overnight. For all we know, the private Christian schools in heavily Christian Lakeland, Florida will continue to grow and supplant Lakeland High as the power(s) in the county. If the coaching staff suddenly fell out of favor with parents and the community, Lakeland could be 0-10 real quick. Victory and LCS already are LOADED with Lakeland High legacies who chose to go to the private Christian school over the public school. Some variation of the same story could happen anywhere, any time. 

Cherry picking players from the surrounding area schools proves what, that you can beat student-body teams with your all star team?  What's the point?  It's not cheating but nor is it fair and nor is it in the spirit of high school football.   Yes, we can argue this until the cows come home so no point in doing so as we won't change in each other's minds on this topic.

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

My issue is that the metro proponents have been whining for 2 years that the enrollment spreads in the Metro classifications were unjustly impacting the fortunes of metro teams.  Now that they have gotten their wish with enrollment-based classification, I am curious as to which teams will see a change in fortune as a result.  My contention is Miami Central will still be Miami Central, and North Miami Beach (for example) will still be North Miami Beach, regardless of classification system.  So what is to be derived from changing the classification system, other than more blowouts in the playoffs?
As to your premise regarding the number of classes in general, I would agree that a playoff system in which more than 50% of the teams in a class make the playoffs suggests there are either too many classes or too many playoff spots awarded within a given class.
 

Would any of our metro posters be able to identify Metro teams which were handicapped by the old Metro-Suburban classification, but now will be able to make deep playoff runs under the new system?  For example, which formerly beaten down 2M teams will develop overnight into 2A or 3A contenders?  My contention is a 3-7 team in 2M will be a 3-7 team in 2A or 3A, but I'm ready to be proven wrong.  Or they may have to come up with other excuses now that things are more "fair". 

My issue is that the metro proponents have been whining for 2 years that the enrollment spreads in the Metro classifications were unjustly impacting the fortunes of metro teams.  Now that they have gotten their wish with enrollment-based classification, I am curious as to which teams will see a change in fortune as a result.  My contention is Miami Central will still be Miami Central, and North Miami Beach (for example) will still be North Miami Beach, regardless of classification system.  So what is to be derived from changing the classification system, other than more blowouts in the playoffs?
As to your premise regarding the number of classes in general, I would agree that a playoff system in which more than 50% of the teams in a class make the playoffs suggests there are either too many classes or too many playoff spots awarded within a given class.
 

My issue is that the metro proponents have been whining for 2 years that the enrollment spreads in the Metro classifications were unjustly impacting the fortunes of metro teams.  Now that they have gotten their wish with enrollment-based classification, I am curious as to which teams will see a change in fortune as a result.  My contention is Miami Central will still be Miami Central, and North Miami Beach (for example) will still be North Miami Beach, regardless of classification system.  So what is to be derived from changing the classification system, other than more blowouts in the playoffs?
As to your premise regarding the number of classes in general, I would agree that a playoff system in which more than 50% of the teams in a class make the playoffs suggests there are either too many classes or too many playoff spots awarded within a given class.
 

My issue is that the metro proponents have been whining for 2 years that the enrollment spreads in the Metro classifications were unjustly impacting the fortunes of metro teams.  Now that they have gotten their wish with enrollment-based classification, I am curious as to which teams will see a change in fortune as a result.  My contention is Miami Central will still be Miami Central, and North Miami Beach (for example) will still be North Miami Beach, regardless of classification system.  So what is to be derived from changing the classification system, other than more blowouts in the playoffs?
As to your premise regarding the number of classes in general, I would agree that a playoff system in which more than 50% of the teams in a class make the playoffs suggests there are either too many classes or too many playoff spots awarded within a given class.
 

Would any of our metro posters be able to identify Metro teams which were handicapped by the old Metro-Suburban classification, but now will be able to make deep playoff runs under the new system?  For example, which formerly beaten down 2M teams will develop overnight into 2A or 3A contenders?  My contention is a 3-7 team in 2M will be a 3-7 team in 2A or 3A, but I'm ready to be proven wrong.  Or they may have to come up with other excuses now that things are more "fair". 

Would any of our metro posters be able to identify Metro teams which were handicapped by the old Metro-Suburban classification, but now will be able to make deep playoff runs under the new system?  For example, which formerly beaten down 2M teams will develop overnight into 2A or 3A contenders?  My contention is a 3-7 team in 2M will be a 3-7 team in 2A or 3A, but I'm ready to be proven wrong.  Or they may have to come up with other excuses now that things are more "fair". 

I find it ironic that the photograph accompanying the FHSAA announcement is from the 2021 5A championship game between Central and Merritt Island -- the poster child for lopsided playoff mismatches common during the most recent enrollment-based era.  What goes around comes around, so prepare for more blowouts in the playoffs this year.  
https://fhsaa.com/news/2024/1/23/football-classifications-available-for-2024-25-2025-26.aspx

I find it ironic that the photograph accompanying the FHSAA announcement is from the 2021 5A championship game between Central and Merritt Island -- the poster child for lopsided playoff mismatches common during the most recent enrollment-based era.  What goes around comes around, so prepare for more blowouts in the playoffs this year.  
https://fhsaa.com/news/2024/1/23/football-classifications-available-for-2024-25-2025-26.aspx

Bingo Dr. D. You are soooo right. FHSAA will not care unless mass exodus. We can come up with a million reform ideas but enrollment based is easiest for the FHSAA and not going anywhere. 

My bad.  There were 484 teams after the "initial" FHSAA reclassification in December, and now there are 471 teams in the final reclassification.  So a net loss of 13 teams.  Not exactly a tidal wave of teams leaving the FHSAA, more of a trickle.  So either schools are happy with the current situation, don't see a viable alternative, or just don't care.  Doesn't seem like enough movement to gain the attention of the FHSAA.

That wouldn't by chance be a private school that recently hired the coach from Leesburg who did the same there the previous year?  Must just have the knack of "ATTRACTING" players.