by steve34 » Wed Nov 18, 2009 11:22 pm
Okay, Playin, I'm going to embrace your theory of "hard enrollment" numbers. But you won't be happy with it.
For football, the cutoff is 500 boys. It seems like a solid grouping, and every school in that division will look like every other school in that division. They will all offer similar activities all school-year long, and they all come from similar towns. So, in summation, schools look the same, offerings look the same, towns look the same.
AAA--Bismarck, Minot, Mandan, Century, Red River, Central, West Fargo, North, South, Davies. 10 teams.
The next cutoff will be 135 boys. These schools do not look as similar, but very close. The communities do not look as similar, but very close. The offerings are very close.
AA--Dickinson, Williston, Jamestown, Wahpeton, Valley City, Belcourt, Devils Lake, Beulah, Central Cass, Grafton, St. Marys, Carrington. 12 teams.
The next cutoff will be 80 boys. Obviously, by now, the offerings, communities (either by stand-alone or coop), and schools will be very similar.
A: Region 1: Kindred, Lisbon, Griggs County, Fargo Oak Grove, Maple Valley-Enderlin, Milnor-North Sargent, Linton, LaMoure, Northern Cass, Oakes. (10 teams)
Region 2: May-Port, Rugby, Park River-Fordville/Lankin, Langdon/Munich, Hatton-Northwood, Larimore, North Prairie, Midway-Minto, Cavalier, Minnewauken-Leeds, (10 teams)
Region 3: Minot Ryan, Bottineau, Lewis and Clark-Our Redeemers, New Town-Mandaree, Garrison-Max, Williams County, Des Lacs-Burlington, Velva, Stanley, Harvey (final two opted up last time. Alternative below) (10 teams)
Region 4: Trinity, Beulah, Hazen, Watford City, Bowman, Belfield-South Heart, Standing Rock, Grant County-Flasher, New Salem-Glen Ullin, Killdeer. (10 teams)
9-man: The rest. Only change is Minnewauken-Leeds is out, someone from Region 5 moves to Region 4, and someone from Region 6 moves to Region 5, creating 6 seven-team districts.
If the four teams that opted up to A choose not to due to the new teams coming down, here's the breakdown:
A: Region 1: May-Port, Kindred, Lisbon, Fargo Oak Grove, Maple Valley-Enderlin, Milnor-North Sargent, Linton, LaMoure, Northern Cass, Oakes. (10 teams)
Region 2: Griggs-Barnes County, Rugby, Park River-Fordville/Lankin, Langdon/Munich, Hatton-Northwood, Larimore, Midway-Minto, Cavalier, North Prairie, Minnewauken-Leeds. (10 teams)
Region 3: Minot Ryan, Bottineau, Lewis and Clark-Our Redeemers, New Town-Mandaree, Garrison-Max, Williams County, Des Lacs-Burlington, Velva, Watford City. (9 teams)
Region 4: Trinity, Beulah, Hazen, Bowman, Belfield-South Heart, Standing Rock, Grant County-Flasher, New Salem-Glen Ullin, Killdeer. (9 teams):
Rationale for placement: With 10 team regions, there will be no conference games. It makes more sense to keep the two regions with 10 teams in one side of the state. That way, the other side can form a scheduling alliance for the non-conference game they would have, or simply agree to play 8 games.
9-man: The rest. Harvey joins Region 4, Stanley joins Region 5.
Under this plan the classes have hard enrollment values, the schools are grouped with similar schools with similar offerings, the competitive field is very even, and even scheduling is eased. I don't see a problem for high school athletes. But the numbers are not your numbers, and the top class has only 10 teams. So, I'm guessing you will reject this plan on it's face because the top classes just "don't have enough teams", even though this plan meets every single one of your requirements.
The point is, mandating the number of teams in a class does more than just ease travel. First, it addresses the objection of small classes. We could set the enrollment value at 650 and have five teams, or 600 and have seven. Second, it takes out the politics of just exactly where the line should be drawn. Your 349.5 is my 500, and I believe my enrollment values are far superior to yours.
I'm not suggesting this plan is workable. I'm doing it to illustrate why your enrollment number idea is no better, and perhaps worse, than what we already have.