Commentary: Expansion is coming in the OHSAA, whether we like it or not

I'm old (almost 63), stubborn, set in my ways and usually extremely resistant to change of any kind, but for some reason I don't have a real big problem with the Ohio High School Athletic Association's decision to expand divisions in a number of sports. In case you missed it, the organization announced last week that it will go to seven divisions in girls volleyball, girls and boys basketball, softball and baseball beginning with the 2024-25 school year. Girls and boys soccer will go to five divisions, with the OHSAA to continue discussing expansion in other sports, with track and field mentioned specifically in the organization's press release. Unlike the just-give-everyone-a-trophy and it's-a-money-grab crowds, I don't have a big issue with it, though it certainly will make my last few full-time years on this job more difficult, if anyone cares. In fact, other than at least first expanding to five divisions in all the above-mentioned sports rather than going straight to seven in most of them — it's much easier to add than to reduce these days — my biggest complaint isn't what the OHSAA did, it's what it didn't do. Football, the only sport where everyone doesn't get a playoff opportunity, will continue with its current seven-division format, with 16 teams in each of four regions making the playoffs in each division. That's just too many. Hear me out before you start with the every-team-in-every-other-sport-gets-a-chance nonsense. Football is, always has been and always will be a unique sport because of its numbers and the amount of physical contact involved, not to mention the gate receipts it generates at many schools. Asking high school kids to play 16 games to win a state championship, as is currently required, is just too many. Furthermore, qualifying for the playoffs is no longer an accomplishment. It just means you don't stink — and in Division I it doesn't even mean that. Forget reducing the number of divisions, because that ship has already sailed and it's not coming back to the dock. So let's go back to eight playoff teams per region, which immediately gets us down to a maximum 15-game season. If that's too drastic — it's not, but money talks, often too much — compromise on 12 teams and give the top four in each region a bye. It would take an unusual circumstance for a team seeded five through 12 to reach a state title game, so we'd basically still be reducing the number of games from 16 to 15. Most importantly, making the playoffs would mean (a little) something again. But I digress, as I am wont to do these days. As for the OHSAA's divisional expansion in other sports, is it really going to hurt anyone? With approximately 800 member schools playing basketball, does going from four state champions to seven really mean everyone is getting a trophy (though that could be argued to a point with only 64 teams each in D-I and D-II)? Of course, the elephant in the room remains the age-old private vs. public debate, which should be amended to the private/rule-bending public vs. public debate. Under one projected alignment I saw for boys basketball, defending D-III state champion Lutheran East, which would be a state contender in D-I this season, will be in D-V next season, while reigning D-IV champion Richmond Heights will be in D-VI. That's not going to create a great opportunity for a school from Southeast Ohio or the western part of the state to hoist a championship trophy, though I guess anything is possible. What it will do, it seems to me, is allow the rich basketball schools to get even richer. This could be solved by putting private schools in their own division(s), but that won't eliminate the rule-bending public schools. Plus, I'm apparently one of the few, from what I've seen on social media, who doesn't like that idea. Fair or unfair playing fields, if I think I'm the best I want to beat the best with the kids I grew up with, not avoid playing them. If I can't beat them the first or second or third time, I'll strive to beat them the fourth. If and when it happens, like it did for the Medina football team against St. Edward and St. Ignatius on consecutive weekends in 2020, it will be a memory that lasts a lifetime. That said, what the new alignment will do, at least in theory, is allow more teams, schools and communities to experience a district championship game, regional semifinal or maybe even the state tournament. While that may seem to contradict what I just said about wanting to beat the best, D-I is often a different animal. Playing schools much similar in size is not a terrible thing as long as the process doesn't continue to get diluted, though history tells us it eventually will. The real old-timers can remember the days when there was simply Class A and Class B in Ohio. When I graduated from high school way back in 1979, there was only Class A, AA and AAA. Of course, back then we walked a mile or two or three, uphill — both ways — just to get to and from school. But I digress again. Under the new seven-division format in girls volleyball, girls and boys basketball, softball and baseball, the largest 64 schools, using that gender's enrollment figures and the OHSAA's competitive balance equation, will be D-I. The next 64 will be D-II, with the remaining five divisions being split into an equal number of schools. The same format will be followed in girls and boys soccer for D-I and D-II, with the three remaining divisions being divided into an equal number of schools. Whether five divisions or seven divisions, this is as it should be, because one of the largest imbalances has always been the enrollment disparity between the biggest and smallest schools in D-I. For example, using current figures for the upcoming baseball season, Mason is the largest school in Ohio with an adjusted enrollment figure of 1,300 male students, which is also its actual male enrollment. The smallest D-I school, Goshen, has 354 male students and an adjusted enrollment figure of 356. How's that fair? There's no perfect formula, but under the seven-division format, the smallest D-I school would be — drumroll, please — Wadsworth with 632 male students and an adjusted enrollment of 639. Looking ahead to the 2024-25 school year and the seven-division format, there are some interesting possibilities and some definite changes coming as far as Medina County schools are concerned. Not counting football and using current enrollment numbers that will be adjusted prior to the next school year, Wadsworth will be right on the D-I/D-II bubble for many of the affected boys sports and D-II in most if not all girls sports, while Highland, currently D-I in sports other than football, likely will be D-III. Buckeye and Cloverleaf, currently D-II in girls and boys basketball, and Black River, currently D-III, are certain to drop divisions, with the Bucks headed to D-III, the Colts going to D-IV and the Pirates moving to D-VI. Medina Christian Academy almost certainly will be D-VII, while Brunswick and Medina, the largest schools in the county, will remain D-I. Only time will tell what it all means, but Tim Stried, the OHSAA's director of media relations, disputed the notion that the division expansion was a money grab, saying Monday it will end up being "revenue neutral" when facility rental fees are factored in. He admitted the organization took a fairly big hit when the COVID-19 pandemic canceled wrestling and girls and boys basketball state tournaments in the spring of 2020, but said the OHSAA is now "stable" financially. Whether you believe that is up to you. I do. It really doesn't matter either way, though, because expansion is going to happen. Contact Rick Noland at (330) 721-4046 or rnoland@medina-gazette.com. Follow him @RickNoland on X.