The merit based system....

[VolunteerGeneral]

I have heard most all arguments for changing the current system. The biggest complaint is that it is unfair for public schools because privates have a larger area to obtain students.

 

Here is my plan. I`ll call it "The Merit Based System".

I believe it to be fair and it addresses the concerns of that have been brought up by my fellow public school supporters. Plus it allows to keep the competiton alive between public and private.

 

When a school wins a state championship you`d simply add 50 students (please bear with me...these numbers are arbitrary. I just use the figures to express the general idea. Other numbers may certainly work out better than the ones I am using..thanx)to their current roster count. If they are runnerup, add say 25. A semi finalist would get 10 or 15 added.

What this does is address what some people call teams being dominant. After a period of success, they would eventually play themselves up to the next level.This is based on merit rather than an across the board multiplier. Any multiplier will unfairly punish some private schools that may not be good and also may not elevate some good private schools to the level that they should compete.

Football is football. both private and public get dressed the same. There is no reason that they should not compete against each other. The TSSAA currently uses the best and most obvious system of classifying by sorting them out according to student population. I believe adding this in would tweek the system enough to make each class more evenly divided based on level of competition. If there is a school that continues to play at the top of one division, then they would eventually play themselves up a class. This would keep each class at the most optimum level of fairness.

I`ve decided to start this thread because I want one to specifically talk about this idea.There have been other threads for other ideas, so please keep comments and opinions on topic. If you like it, then say so. If you don`t think it is fair then say why. I really believe that there are people on here who just simply don`t like private schools, but that is no reason for publics not having to play them. If any change is made, it needs to be based on fairness to all schools. I think this idea addresses that.

[Edited by VolunteerGeneral on 6/29/02 7:59A]

[swamp]

One question.. what about Riverdale? They are already dominating the state's largest class. Maybe if MBA and Maryville were added, that might change, but, if they kept beating MBA and Maryville and everybody else, then what.

 

Also, then you're going to eventually have a 1A division with RBS and CAK dominating it.

[VolunteerGeneral]

Swamp...In regard to Riverdale,I think under any system they would be at the top(at least by recent history. You can`t penalize a team that plays in the toughest class and dominates it. However, you could make teams that dominate lower classes move up to more equal competition. You just have to live with teams like Riverdale under any system.

 

As far as teams like RBS dominating, that would only happen if they earned it. When a team from say 1A moves up, one of the smaller teams from 2AA would move down to 1A. There will always be teams in any class that won`t be much competition. I think this system though would allow for the best division in terms of level of competition.

[just1np]

I don't think we'll have to worry about Riverdale dominating in the years to come. I think THEY had far more of an unfair advantage in 5A the last several years than any private school anywhere. Why? Look at the TSSAA web site. Their enrollment was more than a thousand students larger than the smallest team in the class! They had at least twice as many atheletes feeding into their system as the average 5A school. But now the is Blackman and that new school next year, so things will be more equal.

VolGen-your idea is not bad, but there are too many factors that would make this a huge headache. What about everytime a new school opens? THat takes students from the schools around it, public and private. So a team that had been promoted a class in years prior may not have the same pool from which to draw, and be stuck in an unfair classification.

[ie3]

I think this is the most interesting scheme I've heard to date. It reminds me in a way of the NFL draft scheme, wherein the last place team drafts first..etc. It only makes sense to move teams up a classification if they dominate the one they are in. What about a council of coaches to evaluate the programs at years end to make that decision?

[VolunteerGeneral]

just1np...If a situation arose where a team`s school zone was split up, then most likely they would move down in class. JCM is being split up and will soon be moving from 5A to 4A. Most certainly if they lose students, they would fall back into the class that is appropriate.

[silverpie]

If a school is split, the only way to handle that is to divide its 'extra' enrollment in the same proportion as the actual enrollment.

 

Also, I would suggest that if a school misses playoffs, its extras should decay over time, so that a school is not penalized for past glory long after its day is over.

[pujo]

You need to consider all sports such as Baseball, Softball,and Basketball.Dont really matter about cow pasture pool and Tennis and stuff like that.

[VolunteerGeneral]

Silverpie....I agree. I had given thought to that but failed to mention it in my post. I think all schools should be in the class where they are most competitive. I`m not sure how to apply the negative points though. My first thought would be that you would apply a minimal point say a minus 5 only to those who have had numbers added. In other words let`s take John Doe Academy (or high school) Let`s say that previous years of winning big at the 1A level had forced their student count to 20 students above the 2AA minimum. If they couldn`t make the playoffs in 2AA it would take about 4 years to get back down to 1A. (Can you follow that?? I hope I`m making it clear enough to understand) That way they wouldn`t be forced to play in 2AA forever. I wouldn`t deduct any for schools who have not had anything added to their total. In other words say Red Boling springs continues year after year to not make the playoffs, they would retain their normal student body count. No school would ever go below their normal count.

[TheEgoHasLanded]

I like the idea...but what about a team that goes from 1A to 3A after winning a few state championships...where is it supposed to find teams to play if there are no 3A teams in that area? Is it that hypothetical? What about just bear with me if a team like Tennessee High had to move down to 3A or 2A...who is it going to play for 10 weeks out of the year?

 

Also...to the best of my knowledge Memphis has no 1A teams in football, but they definitely would if you went to a merit based system (many schools just aren't that good) Let's say hypothetically TEAM X has an enrollment of 900 kids in Memphis, but must play 1A (This isn't really hypothetical many Memphis teams would have this problem) who is it going to play? Are they going to have to go to Jackson or Fayette County to play teams?

[silverpie]

Remember, this plan would bring the D2 schools back in. There are plenty of those in Shelby County of small size.

 

As for other sports, I think you'd have to do this for each sport independently. Which brings me to the next part of my thoughts.

 

Traditionally, Tennessee, like many states, has structured its competitions based on the idea that the number of qualifiers per region should be fixed (and equal), and accommodated shifts in the schools by redrawing the regions. How about turning that on its head--keeping the regions fixed, and allocating qualifiers to each based on equity? (Our own Division II is a partial example of this.)

[swamp]

There aren't any 3A schools near Grundy County right now. It's a long way from GCHS to Howard! It's also a good haul from Sparta to Manchester or Wilson Cent. (or Rhea County if they moved east).

[Edited by swamp on 6/29/02 9:39P]