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WCGuru1
AHSFHS Forum Master
102 Posts |
 Posted - 01/12/2026 : 09:19:52
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| All great points! I often said.. if private schools play in the AHSAA they need to be 3A or higher.. they have no business in the 1a-2a range of schools.. |
Edited by - WCGuru1 on 01/12/2026 09:20:18 |
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CCHS07
Forum Member<
44 Posts |
Posted - 01/12/2026 : 14:45:44
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quote:
Originally posted by WCGuru1
All great points! I often said.. if private schools play in the AHSAA they need to be 3A or higher.. they have no business in the 1a-2a range of schools..
Im starting to think a total ban on private schools in this (voluntary) association may be the way to go. That makes it uniform all the way down and private school will be a choice in all regards: choose different education, different sports setup, everything. That is going to be much simpler than including them with the public schools and constantly trying to balance what level of hamstringing we have to do to make if as fair as possible. |
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jtoddo
Forum Member<
49 Posts |
Posted - 01/15/2026 : 23:08:10
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| Heard from an athletic director (4A) that he is almost positive that the private schools will be dropped and the state will go back to 6 classifications. Take it for what's it worth. |
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Bandkid15
AHSFHS Forum Member
89 Posts |
Posted - 01/16/2026 : 09:07:29
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quote:
Originally posted by jtoddo
Heard from an athletic director (4A) that he is almost positive that the private schools will be dropped and the state will go back to 6 classifications. Take it for what's it worth.
Well, if that ends up being the case, then this will be the biggest change for Alabama high school football in years, at least since 7A was introduced (or maybe I just don't know my history). |
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DocAJ1589
AHSFHS Forum Master
101 Posts |
Posted - 01/16/2026 : 09:33:23
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quote:
Originally posted by jtoddo
Heard from an athletic director (4A) that he is almost positive that the private schools will be dropped and the state will go back to 6 classifications. Take it for what's it worth.
With the governor and the legislature trying to overreach and take control that is the best solution, at least for the next couple of years. That will give the members enough time to properly address any rule changes.
The Doc AJ |
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OldBallCoach
Starting Member
7 Posts |
Posted - 01/16/2026 : 09:44:41
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| If private schools are dropped, and we go back to 6 classes. I think 6a should be limited to 32 teams like 7a is now. Otherwise the bottom half of 6a will never have a shot at winning a championship playing schools that are 3 times their size. |
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CCHS07
Forum Member<
44 Posts |
Posted - 01/16/2026 : 09:48:15
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That is an interesting direction to go but might make the most sense. It would probably also force Hewitt to play Clay-Chalkville again(!)
I was on Facebook recently and saw a supposedly "leaked" list of schools by enrollment that purportedly was all the public AHSAA members only (although one commented noted Southside Gadsden did not appear anywhere on the list). Whoever compiled this list accounted for the removal of the private members by making both 6A and 7A 32 members each. 1A-5A were all in the typical range of about 54-58 members. If separating the private schools results in a near schism of 6A, it would probably be better to eliminate 7A and then balance out the numbers across 6 classes like we did before 2014. By my count there are only 2 private members in 6A (McGill and St Paul's) and I believe none in 7A but a total separation of private members seems to bring the more upheaval to 6A than anywhere else, which seems less than equitable. They could also take the position that we keep 7A and turn it into, say, 8 regions of 5-7 teams, and make the other classes just a little smaller as well?
Also, FWIW, this list had Hazel Green, Gadsden and (I think) Buckhorn in 7A and Spain Park, Hillcrest and Percy Julian down to 6A. I don't know if the enrollment numbers were official or where they came from, but each school's numbers seemed reasonably reachable from the previous numbers after the last classification round. Nothing seemed obviously out of wack but if others saw what this list they may have a different opinion. |
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CCHS07
Forum Member<
44 Posts |
Posted - 01/16/2026 : 09:51:35
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quote:
Originally posted by CCHS07
That is an interesting direction to go but might make the most sense. It would probably also force Hewitt to play Clay-Chalkville again(!)
I was on Facebook recently and saw a supposedly "leaked" list of schools by enrollment that purportedly was all the public AHSAA members only (although one commented noted Southside Gadsden did not appear anywhere on the list). Whoever compiled this list accounted for the removal of the private members by making both 6A and 7A 32 members each. 1A-5A were all in the typical range of about 54-58 members. If separating the private schools results in a near schism of 6A, it would probably be better to eliminate 7A and then balance out the numbers across 6 classes like we did before 2014. By my count there are only 2 private members in 6A (McGill and St Paul's) and I believe none in 7A but a total separation of private members seems to bring the more upheaval to 6A than anywhere else, which seems less than equitable. They could also take the position that we keep 7A and turn it into, say, 8 regions of 5-7 teams, and make the other classes just a little smaller as well?
Also, FWIW, this list had Hazel Green, Gadsden and (I think) Buckhorn in 7A and Spain Park, Hillcrest and Percy Julian down to 6A. I don't know if the enrollment numbers were official or where they came from, but each school's numbers seemed reasonably reachable from the previous numbers after the last classification round. Nothing seemed obviously out of wack but if others saw what this list they may have a different opinion.
i misspoke: Spain Park was up to 7A in this list. Albertville and Florence were down to 6A...so three up to 7A and three down to 6A |
Edited by - CCHS07 on 01/16/2026 10:23:50 |
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CCHS07
Forum Member<
44 Posts |
Posted - 01/16/2026 : 09:59:21
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quote:
Originally posted by CCHS07
quote:
Originally posted by WCGuru1
All great points! I often said.. if private schools play in the AHSAA they need to be 3A or higher.. they have no business in the 1a-2a range of schools..
Im starting to think a total ban on private schools in this (voluntary) association may be the way to go. That makes it uniform all the way down and private school will be a choice in all regards: choose different education, different sports setup, everything. That is going to be much simpler than including them with the public schools and constantly trying to balance what level of hamstringing we have to do to make if as fair as possible.
I keep flip flopping on this topic obviously but safe to say Im not sure what the right decision is. Going to be tough for whoever has to make it and then answer for/ defend it to media, coaches, admin, etc. |
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Patriots70
Forum Member<
38 Posts |
Posted - 01/16/2026 : 11:24:46
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I don't think combining 7A and the top 32-ish 6A is the end of the world - Clay dominated 6A just like Thompson dominated 7A and Clay has beaten Thompson the last 3 years. I think if you matched up the top 10 from each class, you'd have some good games (and I'm sure 7A would win a majority, but just saying I don't think it's as dominant as people think. The bottom half of 7A have some rough teams in it (at least in terms of football). Hell, 7A Region 4 playoff teams alone went 2-8 against 6A schools last year.
That said, I may like the 32 team 6A idea better. It will be tough to make regions out of it though (if you've seen the list - it's only 5 Mobile schools, 4 Montgomery-ish schools and 5 Huntsville with a whole bunch of Birmingham/central Alabama schools).
But if the state is now sticking their nose in it, who knows when we'll get reclassification!
I will say, we got an email today at school that said they still plan to announce next Friday and to confirm our numbers. So we'll see...
--
ALPreps.com |
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Rellimdo
Starting Member
7 Posts |
Posted - 01/16/2026 : 11:52:09
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| Thoughts on the state being in charge of high school athletics? SB 73? |
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DocAJ1589
AHSFHS Forum Master
101 Posts |
Posted - 01/16/2026 : 14:49:30
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quote:
Originally posted by Rellimdo
Thoughts on the state being in charge of high school athletics? SB 73?
That is what destroyed Florida High School sports.
The Doc AJ |
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jtoddo
Forum Member<
49 Posts |
Posted - 01/16/2026 : 22:46:30
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Anything that the state/fed government puts its hands on is worse off
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SManzella
Starting Member
2 Posts |
Posted - 01/16/2026 : 23:34:05
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| Irony that people who claim to be against ?big government? want to meddle into every aspect of life these days. Have no idea why a politician that is easily elected in this state by the gop is making a critical error in overstepping and meddling in high school sports. How about you fix 65, 59, 431, etc and leave kids out of it. If parents want to send their kid to a private school with tac party money, ok that?s fine, but it?s a trade off. Do it for education and not sports. If it is for sports, then sit out a year and focus on getting that education. |
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Mosleh87
Forum Member<
45 Posts |
Posted - 01/19/2026 : 08:14:40
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| reclassification is supposed to be announced this friday. |
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CCHS07
Forum Member<
44 Posts |
Posted - 01/23/2026 : 13:53:47
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| Im sure this was discussed at some point on this forum but why did Shades Valley's enrollment numbers drop by 40% in the course of one classification period? Is one of the on-site academies/IB school they have being relocated elsewhere? |
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CoachBurkett
Starting Member
9 Posts |
Posted - 01/23/2026 : 15:32:19
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quote:
Originally posted by CCHS07
Im sure this was discussed at some point on this forum but why did Shades Valley's enrollment numbers drop by 40% in the course of one classification period? Is one of the on-site academies/IB school they have being relocated elsewhere?
Yes.
John 3:30 |
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Brian
New Forum Member
18 Posts |
Posted - 01/24/2026 : 18:17:10
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| Any chance we get a podcast discussing each new classification? Controversy aside, I'd like to hear takes on the toughest/easiest regions and the winners/losers for each. |
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Tom Servo
Forum Member<
49 Posts |
Posted - 01/26/2026 : 21:30:31
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quote:
Originally posted by CCHS07
Im sure this was discussed at some point on this forum but why did Shades Valley's enrollment numbers drop by 40% in the course of one classification period? Is one of the on-site academies/IB school they have being relocated elsewhere?
That?s very interesting. I don?t know anything about SV but something happened.
In general, the enrollment numbers fly in the face of economic development. It is a very interesting subject and further supports economists claiming that Americans are having fewer children. Quite a few schools reported lower numbers this period when the areas feeding those schools have grown considerably. On the surface you would think locations around B?ham like Vestavia, Hoover, Thompson, Oak Mountain, Helena, Pelham, Chelsea would have more students due to the number of housing units added but they all reported a decline. For my business I routinely work on economic impact studies and people like me are having to adjust some of our hypotheses. Further, you have to go back +/-15 years since the children born in that period are the ones being counted now. We had a devastating economic decline in the housing market that began in 2008 and lasted several years. That likely led to families having fewer children but I think it?s more than that. In general studies all over the country are showing families with fewer children. While this might be a blip and more data and reconciliation is necessary the AHSAA enrollment numbers support the theory. |
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Enrollment Numbers are out!
