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1/23/13

SCHSL takes up realignment plan
Chris Dearing, The State

Schools would be divided into five classes for football

Many high school athletics directors and football coaches across the state believe the current system of crowning seven state champions in football cheapens the accomplishment.

The South Carolina High School League’s Executive Committee formulated a plan in December that proposes a new five-class system that would have 40 teams in each classification for football only. The remaining sports would remain in the current four-class system and award four state championships while football would award five.

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Playoff proposal would bring major changes for 5 area high schools

Posted: Wednesday, January 23, 2013 12:02 a.m.
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BY PHILIP M. BOWMAN

pbowman@postandcourier.com

Bishop England and Academic Magnet are among five area high schools that would be forced to compete in a separate playoff division for all sports if a Spartanburg County School District proposal is approved by the High School League.

Nine schools in Spartanburg are seeking to add an amendment to the High School League constitution that would force 15 schools around the state to participate in separate championship playoff series because those schools have countywide enrollment areas and can limit enrollment.

In addition to Bishop England and Academic Magnet, the other Lowcountry schools that would be affected are Charleston Charter, Garrett Tech and Military Magnet.

The schools would be allowed to compete in the High School League during the regular season, but would not be eligible for the playoffs in their regular classifications. The 15 schools would have their own playoff division.

Bishop England and Christ Church, two schools with highly successful athletic programs, seem to be directly targeted by the proposal.

“Without a doubt,” Bishop England athletic director Paul Runey said. “It’s because of the success Bishop England and Christ Church have had over the years.”

Bishop England and Christ Church, which is in Greenville, have the best Class AA and Class A sports programs in the state on an annual basis. The Athletic Directors Cup was founded in 2001 to honor the top programs in the state’s four classifications. Bishop England (Class AA) and Christ Church (Class A) have won the honor every year.

Christ Church athletic director R.J. Beach would not comment because he said he has not seen the proposal. The High School League’s Executive Committee studied the proposal Monday and is expected to release all proposals this week.

The proposed amendment to the High School League’s constitution will be voted on during the South Carolina Athletic Administrators Association’s spring meetings March 6-10 in Charleston.

The other schools around the state that would be affected include Greenville Tech, Fox Creek, Brashier Middle College, Greer Middle College, St. Joseph’s, Southside Christian, Governor’s School, Calhoun Falls Charter and S.C. School for the Deaf and Blind.

The Spartanburg schools that made the proposal are Boiling Springs, Broome, Byrnes, Chapman, Chesnee. Dorman, Landrum, Spartanburg and Woodruff.

Academic Magnet athletic director Curt Hoffman concurred with Runey.

“It seems to be about success,” he said. “You have Christ Church at one end of the state and Bishop England at the other. The argument put forth is that these schools can recruit anywhere and can offer a tuition discount. It’s on the table, but I don’t see the proposal gaining any traction.”

Branchville High School, meanwhile, proposed a change that could affect only private, independent or parochial schools.

Branchville has a highly successful volleyball team that has reached the Class A state championship the last three years. But Branchville lost to Southside Christian in 2010 and to St. Joseph in 2011 and 2012. Both schools are private schools that would be affected by Branchville’s proposal.

It’s not the first time Bishop England’s sports program has been targeted.

In 2006, a year after Sports Illustrated rated the school as South Carolina’s top high school athletic program, Emerald High School proposed that Bishop England, a school with an enrollment of about 900 students in 2006, be reclassified from Class AA to Class AAA and compete against schools with enrollments of about 1,500 students.

Emerald, located in Greenwood, lost to Bishop England in four different state championship finals in the spring of 2005.

The proposal did not have enough support to gain approval by the High School League.

Follow Philip M. Bowman on Twitter: @pandcphil.

Why would the AAAA schools in Spartanburg care about AA or A programs? Just to show support for the small schools in the county?

It's surprising what schools are supporting this. I never really understood how private schools could play in the public school playoff system anyway.

You know the more I think of it, this really shows how petty the schools in Spartanburg can be. They can work together to help one or two schools with the ability to win championships. The whole while they continue to violate the girls civil rights, break Federal law, and do not even seem to care. Right now 3500 girls (county wide) are being screwed by the "Man", with little worry or group effort to correct the situation.

You can tell what matters to the good ole' boys in Sparkle city!

You would figure if they are breaking laws, as you say (I do not know the situation because I am new to the picture), that they would keep quiet. Are there any private schools that have an impact on their public school sports teams in that area?

Woodruff and Chesnee could be affected. Dorman. Boiling Springs. Byrnes, and Spartanburg are AAAA so no way this really affects them.

Boiling Springs got found out of compliance with Title IX, all the schools have the same middle school programs, and almost the same high school programs. All would fail an OCR audit.

You can just see where their priorities are, they are very transparent.

Dorman is adding girls middle soccer this year, but are adding boys soccer as well. We are adding a girls C team only, so we closed the 500 girls gap by 20, 4%, not very much this year. The OCR will be looking for the overall participation gap to close. Nobody in Spartanburg is really doing that. Byrnes has a survey planned, as well as Boiling Springs.

They are more worried about beating CC and those other guys, it seems.

I do remember the Boiling Springs issue. That was a hot button topic on here for a while.

Did you read the article? The 5 Divisions would only be for Football, which to me sounds great. I think having a, for example, 4-6 team in the play-offs would be ridiculous. Region Champ and Runner-Up and that should be it. Somewhere in the article it said, if Football does it, then all sports should as well. I completely disagree with that. I have not seen that much of a problem with the 4 division format for all other sports. Football is the only sport that really has been watered down by having multiple champions in a single division.

Now to the 15 Private schools. I, being from a 2A school, COMPLETELY understand the proposal to have the school that shall not be named and all other "private" schools play in their own set of Play-offs. Think about it, CC, BE, or Academic Magnet playing each other for a state championship? Wouldn't be a bad game to me. This would allow other schools the possibility to get their foot in the door make a run for a championship. But the drawback for the Private division would be that you would have about 4 or 5 teams playing for a championship every year (BE, CC, AM, St. J., SSC). If you look at 2A and 1A brackets over the past 5 years for soccer, Private school have made up a majority of the Upper/Lower State Champs and State Champs, excluding the occasional upset here and there. No matter what there are going to be winners and losers with whatever decision is made.

In the Lowcountry, the practical reality is this: Due to its unique situation, Bishop England enjoys better facilities, longer-tenured coaching staffs, a giant attendance zone, an established middle-school feeder system, and other "advantages" over its Class AA counterparts. While laudable, the school's success in a range of sports bespeaks a competitive advantage. I'm not for discouraging excellence -- just finding a way to level the playing field.