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Realignment Classifications

I saw that and would guess that it has no effect on the meeting. It's not like they can wait forever for the investigation to be done before making decisions.

Classifications should be released today or tomorrow. 5A will happen either this cycle or next depending on how the BOC votes today. My hunch is 5A will be shelved until next cycle so they can both kick the can a little more and also have more time to decide the best way to make it happen. I've been hearing that if/when 5A is created, the teams in 5A will be determined using a free and reduced multiplier and the multiplier would not be used for other classes.
Do you think the multiplier would impact 3A schools, such as Solon or Xavier, and move them up to 4a?
 
Do you think the multiplier would impact 3A schools, such as Solon or Xavier, and move them up to 4a?
If they used it for all classes, then absolutely. However, I'm hearing that if it's used it would only be to set the 5A schools.
 
I saw that and would guess that it has no effect on the meeting. It's not like they can wait forever for the investigation to be done before making decisions.

Classifications should be released today or tomorrow. 5A will happen either this cycle or next depending on how the BOC votes today. My hunch is 5A will be shelved until next cycle so they can both kick the can a little more and also have more time to decide the best way to make it happen. I've been hearing that if/when 5A is created, the teams in 5A will be determined using a free and reduced multiplier and the multiplier would not be used for other classes.
They would never be able to use a multiplier for some schools or classes and not all. If they are going to use it it will have to benefit all the schools. Im pretty confident that the 5A rumor will not happen this cycle to give them more time to figure out what impact changes to the classifications makes. Remember these new classification rules will effect all sports not just football.
 
If they used it for all classes, then absolutely. However, I'm hearing that if it's used it would only be to set the 5A schools.

I mean, the multiplier would naturally affect 4A, as far as which schools get left out of 5A. For example, say use of the multiplier moves Liberty, say, out of 4A (where for the sake of example their BEDS puts them) and up to 5A. That means a school of 5A size gets moved into 4A, so the multiplier also has a direct impact on 4A as well.

If that multiplier had enough of an effect to move, say, Xavier up to 5A, now it’s impacting 3A as well.

I get your point - the state may not be using the economic multiplier outside of determining 5A - but it definitely comes into play for
who’s in 4A, and perhaps 3A, too (I admit that’s unlikely, but who knows?).
 
First off never question Texas when it comes to high school football, they are second to none when it comes to high school football.

Secondly if we are planning on going with 16 teams for 4A and 32 for the other classes to me it makes the most sense to go with 40 teams for 4A and then 56 for 3A, 2A, 1A, the remaining schools for A and then have your 8 man class. With that have 8 districts per class. I don't know in 4A if I would go with 8- 5 team districts or 5-8 team districts.

Let’s take a look at how those splits might end up. I’m using the 2019-20 BEDS numbers, and for this I’m not really looking at how combined programs would change things ...

  • The number 40 school in that list is Iowa City Liberty. Mason City, Des Moines Hoover, and Burlington could be in 3A.
  • The next 56 ends with a tie (in the 2019-20 numbers) between Solon and Davenport Assumption, with one of them being #96 and in 3A, and the other #97 and in 2A. Vinton-Shellsburg is a few students below those two.
  • West Lyon is the next cutoff, as the bottom of 2A. Panorama, Emmetsburg, Osage, and Louisa-Muscatine are right there behind West Lyon.
  • Alta-Aurelia and Danville have the same 2019-20 BEDS as the last of the next 56 for 1A, with Tri-Center, Regina, North Linn, and Central Lyon right above them and Hinton, Central Springs, and Pekin right below.
 
I can't say I like just using it for some schools and not others, I understand having a trial, but to me small schools would be effected more by these issues.
 
Jeff Johnson
@jeje66

Just communicated with Chris Cuellar of IHSAA. Board of Control meeting has finished with nothing decided about prep football (playoff qualifiers, number of classes, etc.). This will be hashed out sometime in February, apparently. #iahsfb
1:42 PM · Jan 23, 2020

This is frustrating, most of these things should of been decided far before now, Texas for example decides classes for the next cycle during the previous season and that is dealing with over 1200 schools. The jokers in Boone need to go.
 
Jeff Johnson
@jeje66

Just communicated with Chris Cuellar of IHSAA. Board of Control meeting has finished with nothing decided about prep football (playoff qualifiers, number of classes, etc.). This will be hashed out sometime in February, apparently. #iahsfb
1:42 PM · Jan 23, 2020

This is frustrating, most of these things should of been decided far before now, Texas for example decides classes for the next cycle during the previous season and that is dealing with over 1200 schools. The jokers in Boone need to go.
You gotta be f******* kidding me! That's BS, this needs to be decided now or just leave it the way it is.
 
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Sounds like there must be some significant disagreements to be sorted out yet.

Then their meeting shouldn't of been over, I'm sorry but states with many more schools then Iowa get their information out in November or December with their districts being released in early February (Texas releases their districts for all 1200+ UIL schools the day after the Super Bowl).
 
Football announcements on hold
The biennial release of football classifications, districts, and schedules is being delayed from its usual January drop. The Board of Control spent time Thursday discussing the football advisory committee’s recommendations from last month regarding the number of regular season games and playoff qualifiers, as well as ideas shared in a meeting of Class 4A athletic directors at the IHSAA offices on January 16.

The board previously considered and tabled a playoff and scheduling recommendation from the advisory committee and Iowa Football Coaches Association – eight regular season games and 32 playoff qualifiers per class, not including Class 4A – and did not vote on the topic Thursday.

In working with the IHSAA’s Classification Committee and Class 4A athletic directors, executive director Tom Keating and assistant director Jared Chizek shared with the board possible scheduling models to address competitive equity concerns. The IHSAA will seek feedback on the models, and the Board of Control set February 5 as the deadline date for an IHSAA recommendation regarding football districts.

This is from their release. Sounds like they are back tracking a bit. I hope the information we all want is released February 5th.
 
Non-district requests are due soon, they will have to decide sooner than later.
How can Non-District requested be due soon... There are no Districts set yet and that usually isn't ever set until mid Feb anyways.
 
I can't say I like just using it for some schools and not others, I understand having a trial, but to me small schools would be effected more by these issues.
I can't disagree with you more, and this is coming from a small school guy. The disparity between Des Moines public schools and the WDM/DM suburb schools is incredible. Same goes for Davenport. Those schools will never have a chance to compete even though their populations are some of the highest in the state. And I'm not even talking about competing for playoffs/championships, I'm talking about competing for a winning record. I mean 92-0??

Now you can argue about Regina's advantages and whatnot, but they don't have THAT much of an advantage.
 
I 100% agree with what you said, I guess I didn't explain what I meant. If you are a 1A school with a enrollment 10-12 of 175 but 60% of your students are free and reduced or what ever they want to use that is a huge disparity compared to a school with also an enrollment of 175 but that has a percentage of 15%. I am not sure that I like just using free and reduced because there are different levels of poverty that isn't always seen with just free and reduced.

But yes the difference between DSM public schools and the suburbs is extreme. But if we are being honest there are also differences in the 5 DSM schools as well.
 
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People always point to 'free and reduced lunch' as some kind of indicator that kids wouldn't be athletically talented.
I understand that could be an indicator of fewer resources/opportunities for additional training, travel ball, etc.
But, it has no bearing on hard work, genetics and talent.
Seems like many of the professional athletes I watch on tv have a similar story about coming from poverty and that it made them work harder to succeed.
 
People always point to 'free and reduced lunch' as some kind of indicator that kids wouldn't be athletically talented.
I understand that could be an indicator of fewer resources/opportunities for additional training, travel ball, etc.
But, it has no bearing on hard work, genetics and talent.
Seems like many of the professional athletes I watch on tv have a similar story about coming from poverty and that it made them work harder to succeed.
A lot to unpack here.

First, poverty isn't the same everywhere. Poverty in rural districts is different than poverty in cities. Poverty in northern states is different than poverty in southern states. Poverty is different even from town to town and city to city. Poverty is different for different cultures (country of origin, religious, occupational, etc.). Did you know that many, if not most, farm kids are eligible for F&R lunch because it is based on income, and government subsidies don't count towards that?

Second, and I know it's not all, but MANY of the high-end athletes who grow up in city poverty wind up in private, or magnet schools and don't attend their home district school, therefore, enjoying the benefits these better, wealthier schools and cultures offer. Some make it, many don't.

Even in Iowa's cities, the best talent, for the most part, isn't going to the city public schools. How many of Dowling's 1200+ students are native to the district? The answer is zero. How many good athletes leave the metro schools to open enroll at suburb schools? How many good athletes move INTO the metro schools? So, basically the metros are playing what would be mostly their JV teams had their best athletes stuck around.

Lastly, and Pine this isn't directed at you personally, but anybody from a higher SES school. If you were to spend a week at any low-income school big or small I think you would be amazed at what you see, the stories you hear, and the situations that many of those kids have to live through and try to succeed through. Oh and then maybe find some time to focus on sports. Maybe.
 
Let’s be honest and quit ignoring the elephant in the corner. As it pertains to 4A ( because those are the schools I’m mostly familiar with), there are realistically less than a dozen programs statewide which are consistently competitive year in and out. Sure, every now and then a random school will have a class or two which just has a concentration of athletes in it by chance but by and large these dozen-ish schools have an organized, top down system in place, which usually starts with a stable head coach who implemented (or continued) a winning culture in the schools FB program (not going to touch the “recruiting” issue here). Point is, FB is somewhat unique in its complexity and sheer number of variables involved to be successful (as compared to say BB, track etc., so using multipliers etc., “might” move a school down a class but that doesn’t necessarily make it competitive. And how do you make 4A more competitive when certain schools who have significant enrollment or personnel flexibility advantages, have no where to move up?
 
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They can't say they are worried about competitive equity concerns while they keep raising the BEDS number to allow bigger schools into 8 man. In that class numbers are everything. Start splitting BEDS into boys and girls and make your classes if you want to start seeing more equity.
 
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Using boys and girls numbers would seem to make things more equitable. Just makes sense really...Why wouldn't you use those numbers?
 
I have always wondered why they don't separate out boys enrollment and girls enrollment because especially in a smaller school you can have a class with very few of one gender which can really hurt a program. I think you could do combined for things like track where there is a coed meet, but separate for the rest.
 
With each gender having their own association(ridiculous) why would they count the other gender..... maybe because it’s easier and they can continue having thanksgiving week off and lying that ‘it’s all about the kid$’
 
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Honestly the IAHSAA for boys has to be one of the more embarrassing state groups in the entire country. it's pathetic, clean house and bring in new blood. They blow every opportunity imaginable because all they care about is $$$
 
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THE BOYS IN BOONE ARE A JOKE. release the districts. It's really not that hard. Also, I have never seen so much complaining from grown men about things being unfair. Nut up, get better, and win. It's not that hard. Quit asking the state for easy ways out because of disadvantages. Everyone plays the same game. Scheme better, coach better, be better.
 
THE BOYS IN BOONE ARE A JOKE. release the districts. It's really not that hard. Also, I have never seen so much complaining from grown men about things being unfair. Nut up, get better, and win. It's not that hard. Quit asking the state for easy ways out because of disadvantages. Everyone plays the same game. Scheme better, coach better, be better.

Never have I seen a more uninformed comment before in regards to the last part on your post... Some things are out of the coaches hands. If Tom Wilson went to DM North I'm pretty positive he wouldn't have the success he has had a Dowling.
 
Calm
THE BOYS IN BOONE ARE A JOKE. release the districts. It's really not that hard. Also, I have never seen so much complaining from grown men about things being unfair. Nut up, get better, and win. It's not that hard. Quit asking the state for easy ways out because of disadvantages. Everyone plays the same game. Scheme better, coach better, be better.

Calm down. If they were going do the same we would have them. Maybe their doing a lot of changes to the classes. Who knows. It will be most likely release today or tommrow.
 
THE BOYS IN BOONE ARE A JOKE. release the districts. It's really not that hard. Also, I have never seen so much complaining from grown men about things being unfair. Nut up, get better, and win. It's not that hard. Quit asking the state for easy ways out because of disadvantages. Everyone plays the same game. Scheme better, coach better, be better.

I've heard this much complaining before, and it was by you back in November complaining that St. Albert should be in the playoffs and that they had a really tough non district schedule and that RPI wasn't fair....etc, etc
 
Never have I seen a more uninformed comment before in regards to the last part on your post... Some things are out of the coaches hands. If Tom Wilson went to DM North I'm pretty positive he wouldn't have the success he has had a Dowling.

Understand who the comment is from. West Sioux is the best recruiting team in the state. just look at their basketball and wrestling teams this winter. two starters in basketball new to district. wrestlers from sheldon, sioux city, akron, orange city, and a few from hawarden. Easy for West Sioux fans to say scheme better, coach better be better but should add recruit better.
 
Understand who the comment is from. West Sioux is the best recruiting team in the state. just look at their basketball and wrestling teams this winter. two starters in basketball new to district. wrestlers from sheldon, sioux city, akron, orange city, and a few from hawarden. Easy for West Sioux fans to say scheme better, coach better be better but should add recruit better.
The guy is a st albert fan, which makes it more head spinning. You can pick any coach and plug him into that situation in st albert and you are competitive. But you cannot have that coach pick any other school and have the same success as st albert has had.
 
The IHSAA Board of Control will be meeting at 1:30 PM to approve the final classifications and assignments for football.

Two major items will be discussed and approved.

1) The number of schools in Class 4A (40 or 42) and what districts the schools will be placed in (if 40 schools) or what pools the schools will be placed in (if 42 schools). 4A will have a 9 game schedule with 16 post season qualifiers.

2) Whether Class 3A through 8 Player will have an 8 game regular season with 32 qualifiers, or a 9 game

These approved assignments will be placed on our website at approximately 4 PM this afternoon.

The information on the website will show the following information:

1) Number of schools in each classification
2) In Classes 3A through 8 Player, you will see your classification based on the BEDs numbers and the schools in your class.
 
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