Major changes coming to high school football

A trio of changes for high school football were adopted by the Oklahoma Secondary Schools Activities Association board of directors in the spring.

Two of the changes will take effect this fall while another won’t begin until the 2024 season.

That one is splitting into two divisions the two smallest classifications of 11-man – 2A and A. Class B, the largest of two eight-man classes, will also be split.

The split will be determined by average daily membership (ADM), which is a school’s enrollment.

“We’ve been trying for years to figure out a way to better classify everyone,” said Cashion head coach Lynn Shackelford, who was a major proponent of getting the changes passed.

“Just the sheer numbers in A and 2A, with them being the two smallest classes, it never made any sense to me other than ‘that’s just the way we’ve always done it’ to classify it the way we have.”

Currently, Classes 5A, 4A and 3A are comprised of 32 teams apiece.

Class 2A consists of 64 teams and Class A has 62 (Class B includes 48 teams).

Class 6A used to have the 32 largest schools, but itself was split into two divisions beginning with the 2014 season. It now has 6A-I and 6A-II, both of which have 16 schools.

Shackelford said he studied the football classifications of surrounding states, excluding Texas (“that’s a different beast,” he said).

“It was really random as to how each state did their own classifications, but we were the only one with a class that had more than 60 teams in it,” he said. “And we’ve got two of them right now.”

Shackelford said the disparity between the largest and smallest teams in those classes creates quite an advantage.

(Note: Currently Purcell is the largest 2A school with an ADM of 366.24 and Rejoice Christian the smallest at 214 according to figures that were used for the 2020 and 2021 two-year cycle. In Class A, Caney Valley was the largest at 210.95 and Ringling the smallest at 115.55.)

“It makes it tough for schools to grow their programs,” Shackelford said of the disparity in size.

He cited the 6A split as an example.

“Even though people hated the split and still do – and I’m one of them – look at what that split did for schools like Stillwater, Bixby and Sand Springs,” he said. “They have legitimate programs now.”

Bixby has benefited the most. The Spartans have won all but one of the 6A-II state titles in the eight years since the split.

Although competitive, the program didn’t own a football title before 2014.

The Spartans are moving up to 6A-I beginning with the 2022 season.

“Ten years ago, Bixby had no shot at winning 6A considering they’d be middle of the road in ADM,” Shackelford said. “Now they’re going to be one of the favorites to win it.”

The split will locally affect Cashion and Crescent in Class A and Hennessey in Class 2A.

By using the ADMs from the previous cycle, Cashion would be in A-I (the larger of the two) and Crescent in A-II. Hennessey would fall into 2A-II. (Note: Classifications for 2024 and 2025 will be made a year from now using ADMs from this school year, so those classes could very well change depending on growth of schools.)

“I’m not sure where we’re going to fall by then,” said Hennessey head football coach Paul Hix. “I think competing in the upper part of 2A could be very difficult, but at the end of the day, we’re going to play whoever they tell us.”

The changes to the classifications will reduce A, 2A and B from 15 games (10 regular season games, 5 playoff games) to 14 and will be in line with all classes except the two 6As.

Another change approved by the board was increasing the number of 6A teams in each district that make the playoffs from four to six with the top two seeds in each district getting a first-round bye. That takes effect this season.

The changes to those brackets, coupled with those in the other classes means Oklahoma will have 12 football state champions and all will be played on the same weekend beginning in 2024.

The third change adopted dealt with the third-round playoff games. Currently the game is played at one of the participants’ home fields, which is determined by a set of criteria.

The change, which also takes effect this season, allows for the game to be played on a neutral site if both teams agree.

The changes were first approved by and proposed by the Oklahoma Football Coaches Association. They then went to the Oklahoma Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association, who also gave them a thumbs up.

The changes to the 6A brackets as well as splitting the 2A, A and B classes had been previously proposed by the OFBCA and athletic directors, but didn’t get board approval as OSSAA staff recommended against them.

At this year’s meeting, OSSAA staff again recommended against the changes.

However, a vote to not pass the changes failed 9-5.

A new motion was made to adopt them and it passed 9-5.

Hennessey Superintendent Jason Sternberger is on the OSSAA board is among those who voted in favor of making the changes.

He suggested splitting the different items into separate votes, but since they were lumped together into one agenda item, it wasn’t possible.

“They probably should have been voted on separately to see how they would have fared on their own individual merits,” he said. “But that’s not something we were able to do because of how it was placed on the agenda.”

One expressed concern is “watering down” of the football classes by having so many. Another concern was that if football splits even more classes, then other sports are going to want to follow suit.

Shackelford said he spoke to a wide variety of people leading up to the April board meeting, from OSSAA board members to football coaches to athletic directors statewide.

“I had one AD who was against it; otherwise, I had zero feedback about the changes that was negative,” he said. “If everyone that’s associated with football wants it and they think it’s good for the sport, why are we not going to do it? Because we’re afraid volleyball is going to want to add another class?”

What if the coaches in volleyball or baseball or basketball decide they want similar changes?

Shackelford said they’re welcome to do the leg work associated with it.

“If other sports as organized as football was about this, if their coaches are unified and the ADs are unified and everyone want it, then the board should look at it,” Shackelford said.

“If the people with boots on the ground are fighting for it and if that is what they want, then why are we not going to do it?”