FHSAA votes to scrap Metro/Suburban classifications for high school football

High school football is going to look a little different next school year for the Sunshine State.

The Florida High School Athletic Association's board of directors voted Tuesday to scrap the Metro/Suburban classification system for high school football just two years after its adoption. A vote on required district games for football teams also passed.

Questions surrounding a potential "Open Division" classification, which would conceivably include the top-ranked teams across the state, will be tackled at the board's next scheduled meeting.

Opinion: Metro and Suburban classes are gone, let's hope great state title games aren't

Here are some quick takeaways from Tuesday's FHSAA meeting:

Goodbye Metro/Suburban

The FHSAA's motion to move away from the Metro/Suburban classification passed with nine votes in favor and four against from the 13-person board of directors.

The votes largely split along regional lines.

The four votes against the motion — and in favor of preserving Metro/Suburban — were Allen Shirley (Section 2, Public Schools), Ricky Bell (Sections 1 and 2 Citizens), Charlie Marello (Section 1, Public Schools) and Sara Bayliss (Section 1, Private Schools).

Section 1 comprises Panhandle schools from Escambia County to as far south as Levy County and as far east as Duval County. Section 2 represents the "Central Florida" region with north-south boundaries of Citrus and Pasco counties on the west coast as well as St. John's and Brevard counties on the east coast.

Trevor Berryhill (Section 2, Private Schools), athletic director at Master's Academy in Oviedo, voted with five South Florida representatives from Section 3 and 4 to do away with Metro/Suburban.

Kim Richey, senior chancellor for the Florida Department of Education, Monica Colucci, a member of the school board for Miami-Dade County Public Schools, and Jim Norton, superintendent for Gulf County which oversees two public high schools competing in the Rural division, also voted to scrap Metro/Suburban.

According to FHSAA executive director Craig Damon, survey statistics showed that 52 percent were in agreement with proposals to amend FHSAA's Policy 12.3, which previously required the state football series be conducted in four metropolitan classifications, 1M through 4M, and four suburban classifications, 1S through 4S, with one rural classification. 34 percent of those surveyed were not satisfied with the new structure.

Damon said that 37 percent supported metro-suburban classifications while 48 percent were against, with the remainder being "unsure."

Walton County athletic director Joshua Harrison, the meeting's lone public speaker, stood before the FHSAA and explained that metro-suburban was something that needed a "tweak" rather than something that needed to be "reinvented."

"The current system, in our opinion, was the best we'd had so far," Harrison said.

Now, along with baseball, girls and boys basketball, girls and boys soccer, softball, and girls volleyball, football teams will revert to the eight-classification system, which includes 1A, 2A, 3A, 4A, 5A, 6A, and 7A, as well as rural.

Rural classifications will be determined by "using the student population of the lowest thirty-two populated schools that commit to the Rural classification in the sport of football."

Under Policy 12.3.2 Division of Classifications, Policy 12.3.2.1 now reads:

"That student population line will determine the student population to qualify for the Rural classification for that cycle for all the sports listed in Policy 12.3. Any school that accepts placement in the Rural classification will remain in the Rural classification for the duration of that cycle. In order to offer a Rural classification, there must be a minimum of twenty-four schools."

What districts could've looked like

Tuesday's Task Force Proposal suggested that all football teams committed to the state series be permitted just eight contests through week 9, with none scheduled during week 10. In weeks 11 and 12, the four highest-ranked teams per MaxPreps rankings after week 9 in each district would compete in a district tournament, similar to the format followed by sports like volleyball and baseball.

The winners of the two semifinal games would advance to the district championship during week 12 to determine a district champion, with the runners-up of the two semifinal games facing off the same week. Non-district qualifiers would be allowed to schedule contests during those weeks after brackets were set.

With the goal of district assignments being released "by Christmas," Damon and board member Monica Colucci, who ultimately voted against requiring district play, were especially adamant that board members not push the decision off to another session.

Some members reminded that some schools were in districts with powerhouses that left them little to no choice but to leave the state series as a whole and compete independently. But the majority of the board, feeling the pressure to decide when the FHSAA could provide "no guarantee" that districts would include the four teams needed for the suggested structure under the new legislation, were uncomfortable with voting based on the amount of gray area.

In turn, board member Ricky Bell, the former Director of Interdivisional Support Services for Leon County Schools, motioned to require district play. He remarked earlier that districts should be limited to eight groups of seven to nine teams with the top four advancing to the playoff.

Bell's motion was seconded by board member Charlie Marello, the principal of Niceville High School, and nine hands were raised in favor of keeping districts as is.

What's next?

Had it not been put on the back burner on Tuesday, the board would've voted on Policy 12.3.4, which reads:

"At the conclusion of the district tournament, the highest ranked eight (8) teams per the MaxPreps Rankings will be placed in the Open Division for the state series."

The Board of Directors is set to meet again on Feb. 25-26, 2024, per FHSAA documentation.

Then, members will revisit the possibility of adding an open division to not only the FHSAA's state championship series for football, but beach volleyball, flag football, lacrosse, boys volleyball, and water polo, as suggested in policy proposal 12.4.1.5.

― Emilee Smarr is a sports reporter for the Palm Beach Post. She can be reached via email at esmarr@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: FHSAA votes to scrap Metro/Suburban classifications for football