Landgraf wants to reclassify 6A state football playoff plan

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According to the office of State Rep. Brooks Landgraf, Landgraf has filed House Bill 3349 with the goal to modernize the University Interscholastic League (UIL) playoff divisions and restore fairness in Class 6A football competition.
Under Landgraf's proposal, 6A teams from counties with a population exceeding 500,000 would be in one division, and 6A teams from counties with a population under 500,000 would be in a separate division.
"This proposal is designed to level the playing field in high school football," Landgraf said. "It's not a coincidence that 6A schools all across Texas have been shut out of late-round playoff competition under the current, broken system. Community size is a bigger factor than enrollment within the 6A classification, and I believe UIL's system should reflect that reality."

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He's my representative and I think he's doing a good job. But this.....eh

There is a point there. Bigger counties have more money with a bigger tax base.

It reads like this would change the Division I and II classification from the school's enrollment to the county population. Seems pointless, and frankly the state legislature shouldn't be involved in the UIL at that level of detail. It's also a bold statement to say that the current classification system is broken. If you want to go further in the playoffs, get better, otherwise we're drifting into participation trophy territory.

I know Brooks from A&M, he's a good guy, but this seems silly. Let him know what you think.

6A Schools in counties over 500K = 202

6A Schools in counties under 500K= 49

if nothing else I think his population numbers would have to change.

JB99 said:

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There is a point there. Bigger counties have more money with a bigger tax base.

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He does have a point. There are 6A schools in counties with under 75K population. They're at a tremendous disadvantage against most other 6A schools.

TequilaMockingbird said:

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Landgraf wants to reclassify 6A state football playoff plan

Quote:

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According to the office of State Rep. Brooks Landgraf, Landgraf has filed House Bill 3349 with the goal to modernize the University Interscholastic League (UIL) playoff divisions and restore fairness in Class 6A football competition.
Under Landgraf's proposal, 6A teams from counties with a population exceeding 500,000 would be in one division, and 6A teams from counties with a population under 500,000 would be in a separate division.
"This proposal is designed to level the playing field in high school football," Landgraf said. "It's not a coincidence that 6A schools all across Texas have been shut out of late-round playoff competition under the current, broken system. Community size is a bigger factor than enrollment within the 6A classification, and I believe UIL's system should reflect that reality."

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He's my representative and I think he's doing a good job. But this.....eh

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The issue is the size difference between the largest and smallest 6A schools. Not the population of the county.

Honest question, (I assume 6A is the largest school size) wouldn't it make more sense to create a Class 7A?

I'm sure there must be some schools out there that are 2x the size of others in 6A.

HollywoodBQ said:

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Honest question, (I assume 6A is the largest school size) wouldn't it make more sense to create a Class 7A?

I'm sure there must be some schools out there that are 2x the size of others in 6A.

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Way more than 2x the size.

Allen HS is 7,102 students. The 6A cutoff is 2,200 students.

TheEternalPessimist said:

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TequilaMockingbird said:

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Landgraf wants to reclassify 6A state football playoff plan

Quote:

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According to the office of State Rep. Brooks Landgraf, Landgraf has filed House Bill 3349 with the goal to modernize the University Interscholastic League (UIL) playoff divisions and restore fairness in Class 6A football competition.
Under Landgraf's proposal, 6A teams from counties with a population exceeding 500,000 would be in one division, and 6A teams from counties with a population under 500,000 would be in a separate division.
"This proposal is designed to level the playing field in high school football," Landgraf said. "It's not a coincidence that 6A schools all across Texas have been shut out of late-round playoff competition under the current, broken system. Community size is a bigger factor than enrollment within the 6A classification, and I believe UIL's system should reflect that reality."

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He's my representative and I think he's doing a good job. But this.....eh

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The issue is the size difference between the largest and smallest 6A schools. Not the population of the county.

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Enrollment numbers are definitely more of a factor than county population.

HollywoodBQ said:

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Honest question, (I assume 6A is the largest school size) wouldn't it make more sense to create a Class 7A?

I'm sure there must be some schools out there that are 2x the size of others in 6A.

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There will eventually be a 7A, possibly as soon as the 2026-2027 realignment.

TequilaMockingbird said:

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6A Schools in counties over 500K = 202

6A Schools in counties under 500K= 49

if nothing else I think his population numbers would have to change.

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Taking a quick look, without deep-diving in to what schools are in which counties, I think the number would have to be counties with 1MM population and above, which would be

Harris
Dallas
Tarrant
Bexar
Travis
Collin

That would come closer to equalizing the number of schools between the so-called big county and small county divisions.

I still think it's a non-starter. No system will ever be perfect but the current one is a LOT closer than this proposal.

TequilaMockingbird said:

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HollywoodBQ said:

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Honest question, (I assume 6A is the largest school size) wouldn't it make more sense to create a Class 7A?

I'm sure there must be some schools out there that are 2x the size of others in 6A.

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There will eventually be a 7A, possibly as soon as the 2026-2027 realignment.

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There's definitely a problem when 2200 student schools are having to play 5000+ student schools.

Ellis Wyatt said:

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There's definitely a problem when 2200 student schools are having to play 5000+ student schools.

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I know it would never fly but I sometimes wish they could make a rule that mandates a school like Allen with 7,000 students has to field two teams with no player swapping.

On the other hand those kinds of numbers haven't helped the Plano schools in a long time.

Ellis Wyatt said:

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HollywoodBQ said:

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Honest question, (I assume 6A is the largest school size) wouldn't it make more sense to create a Class 7A?

I'm sure there must be some schools out there that are 2x the size of others in 6A.

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Way more than 2x the size.

Allen HS is 7,102 students. The 6A cutoff is 2,200 students.

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There are (were, as of 2022/24 realignment figures) only 15 schools above 4K in enrollment. Allen just happens to be the largest but sits all by itself at the 7K number. To have a meaningful 7A you'd have to take at least 64 schools, which would take all schools above ROUGHLY 2900 or so in enrollment (give or take 100). If you did 128, you'd be well into the 2500 range. What's the difference between schools with 2200 and schools with 2500? 2800? People look at Allen and say, hey, 7k vs. 2.2k is unfair, but they don't realize Allen is a complete anomaly.

Enrollment numbers also don't tell the entire story, though. Plano East and Plano West were both above 5300 students during the last UIL Classification, second and third to Allen. Last season, they combined to win 1 district football game and 5 games overall. For all the Allens out there, there are at least 2-3 Plano schools. NE ISD (SA) has somewhat similar results: one of the smaller schools in the district, Brandeis, went the farthest in the playoffs.

Yes, Duncanville and North Shore are 2 heavyweights in enrollment and keep hitting each other in the football finals, but they're playing in Division I. DeSoto and Vandagriff, who hit each other in the 6A D2 finals are both around 2700, well within the reach of the smaller 6A schools. At the lower levels, enrollment is all but a non-issue.

Bottom line: 7A isn't needed.

TequilaMockingbird said:

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Ellis Wyatt said:

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There's definitely a problem when 2200 student schools are having to play 5000+ student schools.

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I know it would never fly but I sometimes wish they could make a rule that mandates a school like Allen with 7,000 students has to field two teams with no player swapping.

On the other hand those kinds of numbers haven't helped the Plano schools in a long time.

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There are school districts with multiple high schools that, by means (legal or otherwise), the "athletes" find their way to certain schools. In other words, certain schools in those districts are good and other ones aren't. Even though there aren't any other 7K schools in Texas, there are plenty of districts where certain programs -- football, basketball, and even baseball -- one school is effectively a 5, 6, or 7K program because virtually all the "good" players go to that school. Maybe the district allows it by open enrollment; maybe the coach(es) is/are aggressive about getting players there and they get away with it. There may be lots of reasons. But I can assure you it goes on.

Also, a lot of Allen families have moved to Frisco during their kids' junior high years so the kids can have a definite opportunity to play, as Frisco has a high school wherever you can sling a dead cat. Many of those kids turn out to be exceptional athletes, and some would have helped Allen. Frisco Lone Star has a pretty good football program going, as do other Frisco schools. I would think long term, Allen is hurting themselves by not building a second high school.

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There's definitely a problem when 2200 student schools are having to play 5000+ student schools.

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but isn't that an issue of school size, not county size?

There's so much more for our state reps to worry about that UIL alignments. This should be way down on the list or not on their list at all.

What the hell does County size have to do with campus enrollment?

This is stupid

Ellis Wyatt said:

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TequilaMockingbird said:

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HollywoodBQ said:

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Honest question, (I assume 6A is the largest school size) wouldn't it make more sense to create a Class 7A?

I'm sure there must be some schools out there that are 2x the size of others in 6A.

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There will eventually be a 7A, possibly as soon as the 2026-2027 realignment.

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There's definitely a problem when 2200 student schools are having to play 5000+ student schools.

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And that has nothing to do with the County

It has to do with the school district not building more high schools, which they could do if they wanted to, they just choose not to

The County has absolutely NOTHING to do with it

They did this with HS football in Florida this year. They went with a "metro/suburban" split.

This makes me think of Katy. There's like 50 high schools in Katy ISD now (slightly over exaggeration ) but only KHS gets a state championship once every couple years.

I'm not sure if any other high school in Katy has one.

Captain Pablo said:

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What the hell does County size have to do with campus enrollment?

This is stupid

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Money. Schools in bigger counties have a bigger tax base which in theory would give them an advantage. I'm not arguing for a change, but that's the argument.

BMX Bandit said:

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There's definitely a problem when 2200 student schools are having to play 5000+ student schools.

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but isn't that an issue of school size, not county size?

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I haven't said otherwise.

We are in Harris county and have to play up based on our HS population. Get over it. Both have advantages.

In addition to size, I guess they will have to take into account race, can't compare a 5000 student school full of scrawny Indians to an inner city school with lots of black athletes!

Part of the problem of trying to "normalize" everything.

Silent For Too Long said:

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This makes me think of Katy. There's like 50 high schools in Katy ISD now (slightly over exaggeration ) but only KHS gets a state championship once every couple years.

I'm not sure if any other high school in Katy has one.

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Katy Paetow won one last year..

The UIL needs to make a DI and a DII in 6A. It's long overdue. In the smaller classifications they just divide the classification into half. At a minimum they need to start there.That can happen as soon as this year. It's a realignment year and the snapshot is in October 2023.

Ellis Wyatt said:

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JB99 said:

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There is a point there. Bigger counties have more money with a bigger tax base.

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He does have a point. There are 6A schools in counties with under 75K population. They're at a tremendous disadvantage against most other 6A schools.

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How does tax base have anything to do with the level of competition?

1939 said:

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Ellis Wyatt said:

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JB99 said:

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There is a point there. Bigger counties have more money with a bigger tax base.

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He does have a point. There are 6A schools in counties with under 75K population. They're at a tremendous disadvantage against most other 6A schools.

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How does tax base have anything to do with the level of competition?

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Where did I say that?

DargelSkout said:

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There's so much more for our state reps to worry about that UIL alignments. This should be way down on the list or not on their list at all.

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Agreed.

1939 said:

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Ellis Wyatt said:

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JB99 said:

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There is a point there. Bigger counties have more money with a bigger tax base.

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He does have a point. There are 6A schools in counties with under 75K population. They're at a tremendous disadvantage against most other 6A schools.

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How does tax base have anything to do with the level of competition?

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Schools with a bigger tax base can spend more on facilities and coaches compensation giving them an advantage. It's like comparing A&Ms athletic budget to a school in a ****ty conference . Both A&M and UCF have around 58k undergrad students. A&M had about 150M in football revenue compared to about 90M for UCF. I realize it's not apples to apples but you could make an argument that both the size of enrollment at a school plus the size of the tax base could be used to help classify teams for D1 and D2 brackets in 6a playoffs. That's the argument. I'm not sure I agree with it, but that's what the bill is getting at.

how are they at a disadvantage? same # of enrolled kids to pull the players from

Carnwellag2 said:

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how are they at a disadvantage? same # of enrolled kids to pull the players from

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2200 is the same as 4000, 5000, or 7000?

Silent For Too Long said:

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This makes me think of Katy. There's like 50 high schools in Katy ISD now (slightly over exaggeration ) but only KHS gets a state championship once every couple years.

I'm not sure if any other high school in Katy has one.

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Paetow made it like 2 years ago

JB99 said:

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1939 said:

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Ellis Wyatt said:

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JB99 said:

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There is a point there. Bigger counties have more money with a bigger tax base.

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He does have a point. There are 6A schools in counties with under 75K population. They're at a tremendous disadvantage against most other 6A schools.

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How does tax base have anything to do with the level of competition?

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Schools with a bigger tax base can spend more on facilities and coaches compensation

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But the thing is, the county itself is not the entity that is funding the school's athletic budgets directly. That would be the individual school districts.

Take Dallas for example. Isn't Duncanville their own school district, seperate from Dallas ISD? Desoto? Cedar Hill?