The Georgia High School Association’s reclassification committee met Monday where proposals were evaluated, including the competitive balance model and the increasing interest in power ratings for playoff seeding across all classifications.
Currently, power ratings are strictly used for playoff seeding in Classes 3A, 2A, A, and the Private classification, while all other classifications determine postseason placement based on region standings, with four automatic playoff bids in all eight regions.
According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Reclassification Committee Chairman, Curt Miller, stated, “There’s support in all classifications for power rankings” and “no one has expressed that they do not want it.”
The AJC reported that a straw poll from the committee showed 10 of 18 members favored seeding region champions first based on power rankings, followed by the remaining teams. Some members suggested seeding all teams by power rankings or guaranteeing playoff spots for each region.
Immediately following Monday’s meeting, GHSA Executive Director, Dr. Tim Scott hopped on the Georgia High School Sports Daily show to discuss the competitive balance model and its potential influence on Georgia high school athletics.
“We’ve spent probably the last two to three years discussing the competitive balance model,” Dr. Scott shared. “Basically what it does is it looks at schools and how they perform in postseason play, so whether they make playoffs and how far they go in the playoffs. It’s a point system based on that, and it’s also based on the number of sports that you participate in.”
“So, for example, if a school only participates in 10 sports, you take the number of points that they score and divide that by 10, versus a school that participates in 30 sports and the number of points they score and divide that by 30…That number then ranks them, and we keep that and average that over the course of a three-year period.”
Essentially, the model will determine schools’ classifications based on their athletic performance rather than student enrollment.
Dr. Scott explained that this could result in top-performing schools being placed in a higher classification while underperforming schools move down. However, he clarified that there is an appeal process for the schools that seek to contest their reclassification.
He also noted that if the competitive balance model were to be implemented, it would only impact about 30 of the 460 teams.
Another proposal was raised when a member of the committee inquired whether classification could be done separately for boys’ and girls’ teams in individual sports, especially in cases where one gender’s team outperforms the others.
Dr. Scott emphasized that the discussion remains open, and he credits Curt for his leadership in managing the meetings and ensuring that Georgia high school sports are as fair and competitive as possible.
While no decisions have been finalized, the committee is scheduled to reconvene on April 13.
Loading ...
