OSAA committee mulling changes for football, which delays scheduling

Scott Swanson

It’s official. Well, sort of.

Sweet Home will find itself in new, but somewhat familiar, territory next fall when the Huskies begin competing in the Oregon West Conference, per the decision of the Oregon School Activities Association.

The OSAA Executive Committee met Oct. 16 and adopted the final recommendation of its Classification and Districting Committee for 2018-22.

But it left the door open for more changes in football, which are almost sure to happen, some close to the process say.

The Huskies and Sisters now find themselves moving from the Sky-Em League to compete with Newport, Philomath, Stayton and Woodburn, which is dropping to the 4A Division from the 5A Mid-Willamette Conference that most of the other larger Mid-Valley local schools compete in.

The finalization of the reclassification process leaves Sweet Home reunited with schools it’s competed against in the last 15 years, with the exception of Woodburn, in the Capital Conference (through 2005) and the Val-Co League (2006-10).

Remaining in the Sky-Em will be Cottage Grove, Elmira and Junction City as Sutherlin drops to 3A. Marist will drop from 5A and will join Marshfield and Siuslaw in the Sky-Em.

Despite Woodburn’s departure, the Mid-Willamette Conference will be the largest league in the state in any division higher than 2A, with 10 members: Lebanon, South Albany, West Albany (moving back from 6A), Corvallis, Crescent Valley, Dallas, Silverton, North Salem, Central and Cascade, which is moving up from the 4A Division (Oregon West).

More for Football

In addition to approving the changes above, the Executive Committee has also established a Football Ad Hoc Committee to look into the possibility of creating a different plan for football.

According to the OSAA, issues that have led to the consideration of a new football system include scheduling for smaller leagues, competitive equity within classifications and leagues, the number of forfeitures at the varsity level due to lack of available players and the decline of schools offering multi-level programs, the number of teams seeking independent status, the “volatility” in the number of eight-man teams each year, the increasing number of two-quarter and one- or two-quarter games versus multiple opponents on the same day, the structure of the game at the youth level, and more.

Former Sweet Home football coach Rob Younger, now director of the Oregon Athletic Coaches Association, is one of 13 school and athletic administrators, coaches and others appointed to the committee, which has met twice, most recently on Nov. 5.

He said the OSAA has asked the committee to “think outside the box” in coming up with ways to address issues such as lack of competitiveness for some schools, declining participation numbers and reviewing the structures of current football in the state.

“The bottom line is, No. 1, equality,” Younger said. “When you look at some of the first-round 6A match-ups (in the playoffs this year), it was absurd to have those kinds of match-ups. In the 6A Division 32 teams went to the playoffs and No. 1 played No. 32. Some of those scores were 70-0.

“We have to do something to get that in line, get teams with comparable abilities, bring the same kind of personnel to the game.”

Similar situations have occurred in small-school divisions, which have struggled to even field teams.

The 1A Division this year was divided into special districts instead of leagues. In this year’s 2A Division, 23 schools fielded football teams, while 41 offered volleyball.

The most immediate effect of the committee’s establishment is that OSAA schools have been asked to hold off on scheduling games for the 2018 season until further notice.

This isn’t the first time this go-around that football has gotten a separate look from other sports. Last fall the OSAA Classification and Districting Committee came up with a separate six-classification model for football that grouped 4A schools in regional special districts of seven or eight teams.

That then morphed into another proposal, in late winter, that would have placed Sweet Home with Cascade, Corvallis, Molalla, North Marion, Stayton and Woodburn in a combination of current 5A and 4A schools. The proposal was the result of an analysis that included enrollment size, winning percentage over the past three years and the average number of participants. Schools below the classification’s average in each category were moved down one classification.

All of that, temporarily, went on the back burner as the Classification and Districting Committee finalized its plans for the next four years, which largely focused on school size.

Now, Younger said, “They want us to re-examine the classification process, just for football.

“They said let’s do what’s best for all sports, then deal with football separately. They want us to look outside the box and evaluate the game of football differently than the other sports.”

Other members of the committee are: Chairman Tony Smith, principal of St. Paul High School, representing the three smaller OSAA divisions; Justin Starck, athletic director of Thurston, representing the three larger divisions; Jack Peeler of the 6A PIL league office; Shane Hedrick, athletic director of 5A-Division Central; Vic Lease, athletic director of 4A-Division Mazama; Kyle Braa, head football coach for 3A-Division Scio; Greg Grant, athletic director of 2A-Division Heppner; Mike Somnis, principal of 1A-Division Sherman; Bill Singler, head football coach at South Medford; Bill Volk, head football coach of Aloha; Howard Rub, athletic director at Astoria; and Dave Hood of Mt. View, representing the Oregon Athletic Directors Association.

Specifically, the Ad Hoc Committee has been asked to:

n Investigate the long-term viability of football in current leagues and special districts at all classification levels.

Younger said the committee will also look at youth football and public perceptions of football and consider strategies to address declining participation numbers.

n Review the current 11-man and eight-man structures used in current OSAA competition.

“Should we have an open 11-man and an open eight-man division?” Younger asked. “Should we have some categories under that?”

Options before the committee may include nine-man or six-man classifications, he said.

n Consider creating “enrollment zones” in which schools could select the level of play, rather than strictly going by enrollment numbers. Other ideas on the table include splitting classifications into divisions with their own championship brackets or forming an open division for football teams that don’t fit well in the league the school’s other sports compete in.

“Marist, at 650 (students), could play Roosevelt (690, which will compete in the Portland Interscholastic League in which most members are more than twice the Roughriders’ student population),” Younger said. Marist has 650 students, but has historically dominated when placed in leagues with public schools of comparable size; Roosevelt, with a student body of 690, will compete in the Portland Interscholastic League in which most members are more than twice the Roughriders’.

n Consider used of a set criteria applied over a defined time frame to determine level of play.

Such a system might be similar to those used in professional soccer leagues, in which successful teams rise to more competitive divisions, while those who finish at the bottom of the standings move down to a lower league.

n Investigate creating a petition process to “play up” or “play down” in football only. Thus far committee members have just discussed criteria for a “play down” system and have asked OSAA staff to determine which schools might move down under such criteria.

n Explore National Federation of State High School Association rules variation for sub-varsity competitions.

Committee members discussed what changes might be needed at the sub-varsity level at the Nov. 5 meeting.

“We talked about the possibility of no kicking game, playing three quarters instead of four, possibly separating sub-varsity from varsity competition so it’s more geographically based,” Younger said.

Younger said the Ad Hoc Committee will meet again Nov. 27 and plans to have a recommendation for the OSAA Executive Committee by February.

The Ad Hoc Committee will take public testimony at future meetings, currently scheduled for Nov. 27 and Dec. 18, he said, adding that the Nov. 5 meeting, which lasted 3½ hours, was a “great” one. It included discussions of a play-down option in football and the possibility of splitting classifications into divisions.

“I’m excited,” he said. “There will be some change. I can guarantee there will be some change.”

Dustin Nichol, Sweet Home’s football coach, said the most immediate effect of the ad hoc committee is that scheduling for the 2018 season has been delayed.

“We would normally have it done by now,” he said. “Generally, we do it a year out.”

He said he’s concerned that, with Athletic Director Steve Brown planning to retire at the end of this year, scheduling could get complicated if the process is prolonged.

Nichol said he recognizes some of the challenges for the sport, noting that teams such as Oakridge and Mohawk, the latter of which won state 1A titles in 2005 and 2007, have struggled to field teams in recent years. But the timing is difficult, he said, especially since the Huskies will be in a new league – of some kind.

He said he’d like to know who Sweet Home will be competing against so that he will know what the league Standard Operating Procedures are – something Sweet Home administrators and coaches have had to adjust to in the three league changes they’ve experienced since 2006.

“For me it’s frustrating. Normally we would have our schedule set by now. You’d know who you’re going to be playing.”

Changes in Qualifications

The final classification poses some challenges for 4A-Division athletes in individual sports, who may find that there are fewer opportunities to qualify for state championships because there are fewer schools in the division.

The 4A will drop from 40 to 33 schools, which has prompted the OSAA State Championship Committee to consider reductions in the qualifiers for state champions in at least one individual sport.

Qualifying standards will remain the same in swimming, track and cross-country, but a change is proposed for 4A wrestling and golf has yet to be considered.

On Oct. 9 the committee recommended reducing the number of qualifiers in each 4A wrestling special district from four to three, reducing the size of the state tournament by 25 percent.

Sweet Home Coach Steve Thorpe, who also chairs the Oregon Wrestling Association, objected to that proposed move, noting that 31 4A schools have wrestling teams.

“There is no reason to reduce it,” he said. “We’re not losing money. The tournament already runs ahead of schedule.”

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