2025-2027 MHSAA Reclassification

[pancho]

won't happen unless they raised ticket prices to $25 and mandated a % of regular season gate receipts go to the mhsaa.  this is also a main factor in why they charge thru the nose for various streaming services to broadcast playoff games.

[coastball]

2 hours ago, pancho said:

won't happen unless they raised ticket prices to $25 and mandated a % of regular season gate receipts go to the mhsaa.  this is also a main factor in why they charge thru the nose for various streaming services to broadcast playoff games.

Agree with you 100%

[JagsFan77]

The bottom of 6A being half the size of the top of 6A was the issue. The gap in student population between the bottom and top of 6A was the bigger than the size gap between top of 1A and the bottom of 6A. Teams were in regions with schools twice their size.

 

Olive Branch with 849 students was in the region with Desoto Central with 1553 students. Thats a 704 student gap in the same region. The top of 1A is 156 students.. The gap from 1A to 6A would be 693 students. 

Edited October 22 by JagsFan77

[Rebel Bert]

4 hours ago, dawgbear said:

Water Valley did not turn in anything close to that number. That is either old data, or it includes grades not in the MHSAA selection process. 

It's actually what US News said was reported in spring of  2024 for 8-10th grades.

[Rebel Bert]

On 10/21/2024 at 11:12 AM, Chunky6617 said:

There’s only 40 teams in 2A 

There was a rule at one time if 2 or more schools are tied at the bottom that both will go up. I believe that changed with the 24, 24, 24, 40, 40, 40, 40+ set up in 7 classes. However 3A currently has 41 because of OLA. As to why 2A didn't get 42 because of New Site and Ingomar non football schools had to be up to the director and board.

[MSSportsGuy]

4 hours ago, coastball said:

In my opinion, there's no doubt we should only have 6 classifications. The only reason I think this was down was because it gives the almighty MHSAA more $$ from gate receipts. Ordinarily I wouldn't mind that if the MHSAA was using that money for let's say "policy enforcement" instead of salaries in their office. Not a fan of them as you can tell

I think most people recognize it's a money grab on part of the association but the coaches and administrators could have said no but didn't for whatever reason. 

 

Tennessee has 6 classes for football, 4 for baseball, softball and basketball, and 3 for other sports. Even that I could live with as it would create more competitive balance across some sports where there is currently none. For the record, the largest 6A in TN is Collierville with almost 3,000 students while the smallest has just over 1,500. I wonder if the Tennessee schools think this decreases excitement? 

Edited October 22 by MSSportsGuy

[Greyhoundtransplant]

19 hours ago, Rebel Bert said:

Georgia will be dropping back to 6 classes due to travel. Alabama counts the 20 school days after Labor Day. That will be an  rolling average of 20 days ending Sept 30. 20 days in Mississippi and sent in on the 16th Sept will begin on Monday August 19th. Mississippi must be a rolling average beginning 1st day of school. 

Georgia is also discussing the possibility of numbers no longer determining classification and shifting to basing it on sports success starting in 2026. 

[Guntriple]

https://newreports.mdek12.org/DataDownload
 

you can download last years numbers in an excel file from the mde website. It takes some time to sort and filter out stuff but I did it and just did grades 8-10 from last years data to give an idea on what we would see.

[Rebel Bert]

29 minutes ago, Guntriple said:

https://newreports.mdek12.org/DataDownload
 

you can download last years numbers in an excel file from the mde website. It takes some time to sort and filter out stuff but I did it and just did grades 8-10 from last years data to give an idea on what we would see.

Well I used this and went school to school 1A to 4A. Some schools do have 8 th grade numbers separate jr high or middle school. And yes it took time. The only exception is private schools. 

[TheTruth]

8 hours ago, JagsFan77 said:

The bottom of 6A being half the size of the top of 6A was the issue. The gap in student population between the bottom and top of 6A was the bigger than the size gap between top of 1A and the bottom of 6A. Teams were in regions with schools twice their size.

 

Olive Branch with 849 students was in the region with Desoto Central with 1553 students. Thats a 704 student gap in the same region. The top of 1A is 156 students.. The gap from 1A to 6A would be 693 students. 

Great point. I never realized this. 

[TheTruth]

6 hours ago, Rebel Bert said:

There was a rule at one time if 2 or more schools are tied at the bottom that both will go up. I believe that changed with the 24, 24, 24, 40, 40, 40, 40+ set up in 7 classes. However 3A currently has 41 because of OLA. As to why 2A didn't get 42 because of New Site and Ingomar non football schools had to be up to the director and board.

I realize what I’m about to say may be an unpopular opinion (especially in northeast Mississippi), but if YOUR SCHOOL DOES NOT PARTICIPATE IN ALL 3 MAJOR SPORTS THEN THEY SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED TO COMPETE FOR A STATE CHAMPIONSHIP IN THE SPORT OF THEIR “CHOICE”. 

 

If I have a  school full of student/athletes that can only play basketball because it’s the only one they offer (for whatever reason, mainly cultural influence) then we fixing to win state in basketball every year. 
 

It is not fair to ask a school who has to spread the wealth so to speak to beat a team that specializes year round. 

 

Let me digress from my earlier statement. They should be able to compete for a state championship, but only against the schools that offer ONLY BASKETBALL. 

[Rebel Bert]

4 hours ago, TheTruth said:

I realize what I’m about to say may be an unpopular opinion (especially in northeast Mississippi), but if YOUR SCHOOL DOES NOT PARTICIPATE IN ALL 3 MAJOR SPORTS THEN THEY SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED TO COMPETE FOR A STATE CHAMPIONSHIP IN THE SPORT OF THEIR “CHOICE”. 

 

If I have a  school full of student/athletes that can only play basketball because it’s the only one they offer (for whatever reason, mainly cultural influence) then we fixing to win state in basketball every year. 
 

It is not fair to ask a school who has to spread the wealth so to speak to beat a team that specializes year round. 

 

Let me digress from my earlier statement. They should be able to compete for a state championship, but only against the schools that offer ONLY BASKETBALL. 

Rules are rules. I agree with you unless you have 200 students in 9-12 grades and only a small percentage of boys say less than 30. Then only 10 want to play football.  Every 2 years the association asks schools to fill out the reclassification form. Unless your 1A and less than 100 students the AD should mark playing football.

[Rebel Bert]

Currently:

7A: 24 All play football, Murrah Independent

6A: 24 All play football, Jim Hill Independent 

5A: 24 All play football

4A: 39 All play football,  Wingfield closed

3A: 41 All play football except All girls Ola, Add in PCS, someone will replace Wingfield

2A: 40 All play football except Ingomar and New Site

1A: 49 Coldwater closed, 37 schools play football 

I want to know your best guess for reclassification the following:

Classes: 5, 6, 7

Schools per class with 8 or 10 schools per region.

[southpaw27]

region 5  i am hearing will have a big shake up with teams dropping in class,not going up in class.

[Rebel Bert]

49 minutes ago, southpaw27 said:

region 5  i am hearing will have a big shake up with teams dropping in class,not going up in class.

Which class?

[Old Golfer]

There was no way we needed 7 classes!  Yea there was a size different but the bottom of 6A competed regularly!  South Panola was an example!  It has watered down the comp in all classes!! Imo.  
the smaller classifications weren’t as impacted as the larger.  There is way more separation in school size in Texas and Georgia.  

[MSSportsGuy]

12 minutes ago, Old Golfer said:

There was no way we needed 7 classes!  Yea there was a size different but the bottom of 6A competed regularly!  South Panola was an example!  

There is way more separation in school size in Texas and Georgia.  

My thing was the gap wasn't new. Tupelo always had about 2,000 students even when I was in high school in the late 80s/early 90s so it's not as though they just exploded in growth and made it wider. 

 

The point about the size difference is not a bad one but could have easily been solved by making 6A the top 24 rather than 32. It would have pushed some schools further down the line of course but the enrollment differences are miniscule based on where the line is drawn. I've fussed about the silliness of it for over two years now and think it's done more damage to other sports besides just football with respect to competitive balance. Plus there will just be more school consolidation and also fewer enrolled overall as private schools and home school will only siphon more students out of the system. 

[ccbulldog]

Is Meridian the only school in class 7 that is losing population? It seems every other school in class 7 is in a growth area like Memphis suburbs, major college town, Jackson suburbs, coast, Tupelo.

[Rebel Bert]

11 hours ago, ccbulldog said:

Is Meridian the only school in class 7 that is losing population? It seems every other school in class 7 is in a growth area like Memphis suburbs, major college town, Jackson suburbs, coast, Tupelo.

Their going the way of Natchez and Greenville.

[coachfball87]

13 hours ago, ccbulldog said:

Is Meridian the only school in class 7 that is losing population? It seems every other school in class 7 is in a growth area like Memphis suburbs, major college town, Jackson suburbs, coast, Tupelo.

Heard one or two DeSoto County schools may be dropping. 

[coachfball87]

23 hours ago, Old Golfer said:

There was no way we needed 7 classes!  Yea there was a size different but the bottom of 6A competed regularly!  South Panola was an example!  It has watered down the comp in all classes!! Imo.  
the smaller classifications weren’t as impacted as the larger.  There is way more separation in school size in Texas and Georgia.  

It has greatly watered it down. Now the same 3-4 teams will dominate 5-7A for years to come. South Panola has not played for a state title in 10 years. Now, they will dominate 6A along with Grenada, West Jones, and Picayune. 

[Rebel Bert]

On 10/23/2024 at 7:55 AM, southpaw27 said:

region 5  i am hearing will have a big shake up with teams dropping in class,not going up in class.

Which class are you talking about in Region 5

[Raiders 10]

1 hour ago, Rebel Bert said:

Which class are you talking about in Region 5

what about Region 1-4A any shake up for Reclassification for 2025-2027

[Rebel Bert]

Looks like most of population is south in all classes. Don't be surprised that some regions have further travel.

[pancho]

3 hours ago, Raiders 10 said:

what about Region 1-4A any shake up for Reclassification for 2025-2027

amory is likely to drop to 3A. Corinth assumes they will drop from 5A back to 4A.  you said earlier that shannon was going 5A.  I'll believe that when i see it