Across the nation, states comparable to Colorado in total population or number of schools use a common method for classifying the football teams. And every state has its own variation on the process, a tweak here or there, with the same result: No system pleases everybody.
“I don’t know about y’all’s state, but classifying the schools becomes one of the most controversial things we do,” said Gene Menees, the assistant executive director of the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association.
Colorado is populated by 4.6 million people, and 276 high schools divided into seven classifications for football, including 8- and 6-man.
The Colorado High School Activities Association uses a formula every two years that spreads roughly the same number of schools into each classification, according to assistant commissioner Bert Borgmann.
South Carolina also reclassifies its schools every two years, starting with 48 schools in 4A, the highest class, 48 schools each in 3A and 2A, and the rest in 1A.
“It is one nightmare process,” said Roger Hazel, assistant to the executive director of the South Carolina School League. “The membership puts (the reclassification) on us because we don’t have a vested interest about who goes where. But we meet opposition from our schools.”
With an enrollment spread of nearly 2,000 students (similar to Colorado), the smallest schools in South Carolina’s largest class have a hard time competing against the biggest schools. So the state board talked about adding a fifth classification, but voted against the idea. Instead, the state has two state titles in 4A, one called the Big 16 for the largest 16 schools and another for the remaining 32 teams.
“Every year the cream rises to the top. The state championships are not watered down,” Hazel said. “We tried to have two champions in 1A, too, but it didn’t pass.”
In Alabama, which has 100 more schools but a nearly identical population to Colorado, reclassification is done every two years and starts with the smallest schools and goes up. Classes 1A to 5A get 64 schools each, and 6A is filled with whatever is left over, leaving another large enrollment gap at the top (more than 900 students).
In Iowa, the largest classification encompasses schools with enrollments from 700 to nearly 1,900, but private schools with only 300 or so students can play up if desired. The remaining five classes are separated by an average enrollment of just 123 people.
Colorado’s average difference in enrollment from 4A on down is 442.
“We had some rumblings two years ago. … But our coaches association polled each head football coach and by a large majority, 61 or 62 percent, they voted that they wanted it to remain the same,” said Rick Wulko, executive director of the Iowa High School Athletic Association.
The classification system in Tennessee, which has 1.3 million more people than Colorado but a similar number of schools and classes, readjusts every four years. But schools with enrollment changes of more than 20 percent after two years are moved up or down a class.
“That’s pretty rare. It usually happens with a brand-new school,” Menees said. “Doing it every four years helps keep some continuity in the leagues. You get used to playing the same people every four years.”
But, like everywhere, teams on the cusp of the cutoff from one class to the next rarely are happy.
“That’s always going to be the case – a big school in a small class or a small school in a big class,” Menees said. “If you have 1,000 (students) and we have 1,002, we might be in different classifications. It’s the luck, or the unluck, of the draw.”
Niwot, a few miles northeast of Boulder, is one of those schools. The Cougars played in 3A from 2000-01, 4A from 2002-03 and 3A again from 2004-05. They most likely will be back in 4A for the next two-year cycle.
“We are a classic example of a school on the cusp,” said Ron Tesone, football coach at Niwot. “Either way, we are a big 3A school or a small 4A school. … We’ve played in both and had some success in both, but there certainly is an advantage being a bigger school in 3A.”
Minnesota has more schools and more people than Colorado, but fewer football classifications. Still, the breakdown is about the same, with an approximately equal number of schools in each class and an adjustment every two years.
“Our system is designed so no school plays a school twice its size,” said Kevin Merkle, associate director of the Minnesota State High School League. “But there is a constant change for fans and media. Once you think you have it figured out, it changes.
“There is no perfect system.”
