OHSAA - 3/22/13 - Proposal for a more competitive balance

[The Flying Dutchman]

4th and Goal, Cincinnati used to have a "Moeller Rule" which made kids go to the nearest Private school, I dont know if they still do. It was effective in stopping Moeller's dominance in the late 80's and early 90's. As far as this thread goes, I guess I am naive but I have a hard time thinking a Private school would turn anyone away that has the $8-10,000 for tuition just to win a trophy.

[wipala]

My alma mater, Portsmouth High School, lost to private Cleveland Central Catholic in the D3 2011 state semifinals, and then lost in the 2012 D3 State Championship game to another private school, Cincinnati Summit Country Day. We lost not because they were private schools, but because on that day they played better. We were competitive in both games until the final quarter (trailed by 3 and 8 points respectively), and in both games we shot poorly (30 pct.or under), not necessarily attributed to the private athletes of both CCC and CSCD.

I have talked with a lot of Portsmouth fans over the years and there hasn't been a lot of complaining about losing to private schools. Throughout our history, we have our share of wins over private schools. Many Trojan fans and players have embraced competition, whether they be public or private.

The biggest issue I have with classifications is the large disparity in enrollment in Division I. In this year's 2013 D1 state championship game, Toledo Rogers lost to Mentor. Rogers has an enrollment of 381, while Mentor has an enrollment of 999. That is too big of a difference for one division. Rogers, though, did give Mentor a competitive game. I maintain that the OHSAA insists on having the same number of schools in each division, yet when it does that there is a huge discrepancy in D1 enrollments. I think the divisions should be set up by enrollment and not by equalizing the number of schools in each division.

I think the fairest system of competitive balance is to divide schools into classes by enrollment, while not trying to have the same number of schools in each division. This may lead to one division having 300 or more schools, but another division having barely half that many. At least, though, there wouldn't be any huge differences in enrollment as there now exists in D1.

A couple of years ago we did split the large schools into 4 different regions...the really big schools in some citites have upto 2000+ total students......it has helped the smaller schools have a chance on a regular basis to compete for state..
even though, as a rule, the same schools are near the top or at the top of their regions it has worked...in Ohio where you have so many more schools it may be hard to do but it should be looked at very hard and long....I agree with your statement,, some divisions may have a lot of schools ,,,,,so what......make it right....

[Blackcobra]

Making it an even playing field for Private schools? I could care less, they've been recruiting for years offering these so-called tuition waivers and laughing all the state. Whats funny is the parents of public schools atheletes could hypothetically do the same with open enrollment and give some convincing excuse for moving like bullying etc. except they cant usually say to their critics, its for the Education, because usually, not all the time, public schools often perform lower than Private well funded schools. Looking for private schools as we speak. lol