Competitive equity key as FHSAA task force looks beyond enrollment to classify schools

LAKE WALES — There's no guarantee that the new suburban-metro split for high school football in Florida will continue after the 2023 season, but the immediate challenge for the FHSAA is how schools will be classified for the next cycle.

FHSAA executive director Craig Damon discussed these issues Thursday, when he was a surprise guest at the 863 Heartland High School Football Media Day at Ambassadors Christian. Damon was in Polk County at an athletic directors compliance clinic at Davenport High School, then dropped by at the media day event.

Damon said he created the 17-member task force to look over various ways schools could be classified and come up with a proposal to present to the board of directors this fall.

"The charge for them is to examine all the different systems that are out there and see what system they feel best as a member school representative that will be best for classification," Damon said.

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How schools are reclassified could determine the fate of football's suburban-metro setup. Damon didn't address the future of football's playoff system and instead focused on the challenges of reclassifying high schools for athletics.

The task force met online for the first time in June, then met again Tuesday in Gainesville. McKeel athletic director Chuck Smith, a member of the task force, said there are four meetings remaining.

"The goal is to have something to present to me that I can give to the Board of Directors in November, as far as classification system to use in Florida," Damon said. "For 100-plus years, the staff in the office have been the ones who decided on the classification system and take it each year without necessary input from our member schools. So this gave us an opportunity to hear from our member schools. It's not going to be perfect, but at least it's something our member schools collectively said let's see if this works."

The task force is comprised of school athletic directors, coaches and county athletic directors. Smith and former FHSAA board member Bobby Johns, the football coach at Wewahitchka who coached at Lake Region in the late 1990s, are among the members of the task force.

"We have a very diverse group of individuals to come together and collaborate and try to come up with the final product," said Damon, who added he is not participating in these sessions. "I want them to decide on their own."

Associate executive directors Justin Harrison and Scott Jamison organize the meetings and FHSAA staff members are in attendance to answer questions.

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Competition is key for FHSAA reclassification

Damon said the first meeting was thought to be just an introductory meeting, yet the task force already came up with multiple ideas by the end of the day. Everything is on the table, Smith said, including population, suburban-metro-rural situations, competitive balance and even socioeconomic situations.

"What we're trying to do is add a competitive balance component to the reclassifications, as opposed to just going strictly off of population so that things are more equitable," Smith said. "I was pushing for this. We're trying to come up with a system that avoids that type of a scenario so that you have competitive balance and competitive equity within each sport, just like what they did in football with metro-suburban. Unless I'm missing something, the whole purpose of that was to try to come up with some competitive equity."

A few years ago, a proposal was made to create power rankings in each sport, and teams were to be classified through those rankings rather than enrollment, which would have put smaller schools that were powers in their sport in classifications with larger schools. The proposal received some support, but it was voted down.

Although discussions that involve the varying needs of schools across a diverse state like Florida have often become heated, Smith said that hasn't been the case thus far.

"They've been fantastic," Smith said. "There's been disagreements but not contentious. We just have people throw up an idea and then we either run with it or pick it apart but in a very professional way. Nobody's raised a voice, nobody's been antagonistic."

The task force has reached out to other states to see how they create classifications.

"They are definitely researching and turning over every stone to try to come up with what is best," Damon said. "What's difficult for the state of Florida is we are so unique compared to other state associations throughout the country where other state associations are more restrictive in how kids attend the schools they're zoned for. There is not as much as school choice. In Florida, it's wide open. When you throw that dynamic in on school choice, it makes things a little difficult in terms of classification."

Damon said that enrollment could change dramatically from the time enrollment is tabulated for classification purposes and when it goes into effect.

"Classification in the state of Florida, there are so many different things that are huge factors that we have no control over that makes it pretty difficult to come up with a system that will work best for everyone," Damon said. "It's not going to be perfect, but at least folks can say we heard our membership."

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Legislative changes going into effect

Damon acknowledged that athlete transfers are a hot issue but also acknowledged that Florida is school choice by state law for academics, athletics and extracurricular activities.

The FHSAA has been holding compliance clinics with athletic directors around the state on House Bill 225, which allows any student who doesn't attend a school traditionally to play for any program: public, charter, or private. If a charter or public school doesn't offer a sport, a student can go to a public school in their district, or a private school, to play that sport. Capacity doesn't matter.

Damon has just competed his first year as executive director, a turbulent year politically. In addition to student eligibility, the make-up of the board of directors will soon change with the governor's office in charge of appointing eight board members and schools voting for four on a new 13-member board of directors. The Department of Education will appoint one member. Previously, 12 members of a 16-member board were elected.

"I control what I can control," Damon said. "The folks in Tallahassee, they have a job to do. Once they establish state law, I follow it like everyone else. Things I have control over is how we treat our member schools, how we treat our student-athletes, make sure that we're doing our best promoting student-athletes in make sure they can be the best they can be, make we educate our athletic directors and instill all the rules of our association."

Damon said he wants to make sure he always remembers what it felt like to be an assistant coach and a head coach. At Thursday's athletic director seminar, he said he encouraged member schools to reach out to the FHSAA with their concerns.

"If there is something we can do better, tell me about it," he said. "We're not perfect, but I hope to be better today than we were yesterday."

Roy Fuoco can be reached at roy.fuoco@theledger.com. Follow him on Twitter: @RoyFuoco.

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: FHSAA task force takes on challenge of reclassifying Florida high schools