The University Interscholastic League’s biennial reclassification and realignment is getting more speculation and talk than this Sunday’s Super Bowl.
All the rumors and speculation end at 9 a.m. today when the UIL unveils its district arrangements for the 2008-10 school years.
“There’s going to be a lot of people real happy,” Salado athletic director and head football coach Jeff Cheatham said. “And a lot with a lot of anxiety.”
Once every two years, the UIL takes on the task of dividing the state’s 1,200-plus high schools into five classifications - based on enrollment figures obtained in October - and groups them in districts with other like-classification schools in close proximity.
UIL guidelines call for Class 5A to have between 220 and 245 schools, then 4A, 3A and 2A to have an enrollment ratio between the largest and smallest schools of approximately 2.0, with at least 200 schools in 2A and 4A. Finally, all other schools not making it into 2A are put in Class A.
Locally, one of the most anticipated developments involves the current District 13-5A, which consists of Temple, Belton, Killeen schools Ellison, Harker Heights and Shoemaker, College Station A&M Consolidated and Bryan.
There are several rumors about what will happen here, but almost all have Temple, Belton and the three Killeen schools remaining together. The keys will be what happens with 4A Copperas Cove, what happens in the north Austin area and, strangely enough, what happens in West Texas.
Cove turned in an enrollment of 2,097 and AD/coach Jack Welch anticipates that will bump the Bulldawgs back to 5A.
“It’s our anticipation to move up to 5A and join the Temple-Belton district,” he said. “That’s what we are hoping, but we’ll go 4A if we have to.”
Welch added that he received an e-mail from Texas high school football expert Carl Padilla that suggested the 5A cutoff number would fall between 2,070 and 2,090. In the last realignment the bottom number for 5A was 1,985.
Cove’s proximity to Temple, Belton and Killeen makes putting it back in the 5A district a logical choice. But who else will be in the district remains up in the air.
Class 4A schools Cedar Park Vista Ridge and Pflugerville Connally look to be large enough to join 5A, meaning there would be four Round Rock schools, three Leander schools and two Pflugerville schools at the 5A level. If District 14-5A just picks up the new 5A schools, that would be 10 teams with Georgetown, so the UIL might move Georgetown north into the Temple-Belton district. If the district gets Cove and Georgetown and keeps Bryan and A&M Consolidated, it would be a nine-team district.
But another issue that might have an impact on the district is two West Texas schools. Abilene Cooper could drop from 5A to 4A, which means the UIL might opt to consolidate teams from current districts 2-5A and 3-5A and form one district with Midland, Midland Lee, Odessa, Odessa Permian, Amarillo, Amarillo Tascosa, Lubbock, Lubbock Monterey and Lubbock Coronado, then put Abilene and San Angelo Central with the Temple-Belton district.
“Padilla called me about that a long time ago,” Belton AD/coach Rodney Southern said. “To me that makes no sense, but that doesn’t mean it won’t happen. I’d just hate to drive to Abilene for a Tuesday night basketball game.”
That scenario would almost guarantee that A&M Consolidated and Bryan would be in a different district because it’s more than 250 miles from Abilene to College Station.
Welch prefers the first scenario, as well, to the long travel to Abilene.
“(Going to Bryan/College Station) beats the alternative,” he said. “I actually hated to see us leave that district two years ago. I thought it was a strong district. It has some good schools with good rivalries and everyone is close by. And I’d like a nine-team district.”
The biggest shakeup might be in 18-3A, in which two of the five schools look to move into different classifications.
Yoe turned in an enrollment figure of 437. Two years ago the bottom number for 3A was 415, and that number likely will jump significantly to try to keep a strong balance of schools in each class.
“Anything is possible,” Yoe AD/coach Mike Mullins said. “We are probably borderline ourselves if the number goes up at all. So we have a good chance of dropping as we are pretty sure they will go up.”
That could mean that Yoe, which has only missed the football playoffs only once since 2000, could become one of the largest 2A schools.
Hutto turned in 1,062, which should put it in 4A because the previous 4A low was 950. In either case, it’s highly unlikely that Yoe and Hutto both would be in 3A.
And that leaves Rockdale AD/coach Jeff Miller completely baffled about who the Tigers’ district opponents will be next year.
“I don’t have any thoughts,” he said. “With teams like us and Cameron in Central Texas, there is no telling which way we will go. And with Cameron having a decent chance of dropping, I can’t even give a decent guess. You’d think Taylor and us would go together, but they could go south and we could go north or east.”
And to make things more interesting, Bryan ISD’s new high school - Rudder - is anticipated to be a 3A school when it opens next fall and could be a logical district fit for Rockdale.
Elsewhere around Central Texas, the only other school on the verge of dropping is Moody, which could be on the bubble if the 2A minimum rises high enough. But everywhere else, coaches are more concerned about who their district opponents will be the next two years.
“There’s no telling what the UIL will do,” Troy AD/coach Grady Rowe said. “There’s always a bunch of surprises. We are in a location where we could go a number of different directions. We could stay in the current (District 25-2A), go back to our old district with Crawford and Bruceville-Eddy or even have a combo with Rosebud-Lott, Bruceville-Eddy.
“There are so many good 2A teams around here it doesn’t matter where we go. It will be a challenge. I’d like to see us in a six-team district, but you have to be careful what you wish for.”
In Class A, Granger AD/coach Stacey Hunt anticipates the current District 27-A being about the same.
“I’ve been here eight years now and it hasn’t changed,” he said. “I kind of like it that way. I like the familiarity. The only thing we think might happen is Burton may move out, but otherwise we think it stays intact.”
Coaches know all they can really do is anticipate until the UIL makes everything official today. And not knowing who’s going where often makes it hard to even prepare a schedule for non-district games.
“That’s the toughest part about it,” Rosebud-Lott AD/coach Kyle Maxfield said. “We could lose some games we want to schedule. It can get challenging.”
Most football coaches already have prepared a few games they know they want to play, but that can easily get rearranged. For example, Cove tentatively has agreed to non-district games with Waco and Central, but there’s a slight possibility the Bulldawgs will be in the same district with them and even in a 10-team district, which would mean they can play only one non-district game.
That’s why many coaches meet at a regional educational center the morning of the realignment announcement and work to get their schedules set.
Hutto football coach Lee Penland further explained the complications.
“Two years ago, we were going to play Liberty Hill in non-district,” he said. “They had always gone the opposite direction of us, then that year the UIL puts them in our district. This year I have planned not to be in the Austin district and have scheduled some Austin schools. If they put us in the Austin district we will be in a bind. It’s always a crapshoot and it’s a mad scramble at 9 a.m.”
mhood@temple-telegram.com
