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Team Coverage: Competitive balance in high school sports

In D-I football, it’s a numbers game

Disparity of enrollment figures among D-I schools a sticking point for some coaches.

Wayne High School quarterback Braxton Miller breaks a tackle against Xavier High School at Welcome Stadium in the D-I regional final game.

JIM NOELKER Wayne High School quarterback Braxton Miller breaks a tackle against Xavier High School at Welcome Stadium in the D-I regional final game.

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By Marc F. Pendleton, Staff Writer Updated 8:07 AM Thursday, May 5, 2011

When former Tecumseh High School football coach Bob Delong had to replace an injured starter, he didn’t just look to his bench. He also crossed his fingers.

The Arrows enjoyed unprecedented success under Delong, advancing deep into the Division II playoffs several seasons. One year Columbus Bishop Watterson, boosted by overwhelming numbers, knocked Tecumseh out.

“About the third quarter our first kid would get nicked,” recalled Delong, now the head coach at Xenia High School.

“We’d have to put in our sophomore whose jersey didn’t fit. They’d do the same thing but put in another kid who looked just like the kid they’re replacing. Our problem was always when we had to go deeper. We just didn’t have that depth.”

That difference in personnel numbers can vary among programs, no matter what division. Of more concern throughout the coaching fraternity is the disparity of numbers in D-I football.

Under Ohio High School Athletic Association guidelines, all divisions for all sports are based on two-year male and female enrollment figures grades 9-11.

In football, D-VI is the smallest, based on 124 males or fewer. The next four divisions are determined on an increasingly sliding scale. D-V is based on schools total males 125-176, a difference of just 51. That difference increases each of the next three divisions, reaching 169 for D-II (348-517).

And then there is D-I. Of its 119 programs the last two years, the difference in male enrollment went from 518 (Clay, in Lucas County near Toledo) to 1,227 (Fairfield).

That is a recurring sore subject among the smaller D-I football schools. The feeling is that with less boys to potentially lure to the football program, the less chance that those teams have to compete against programs that might have as many as double the male numbers to choose from.

All coaches agree that it’s an ongoing issue. No one has successfully proposed how to rectify the D-I disparity.

“It’s frustrating,” said Wayne coach and Athletic Director Jay Minton.

“We all know that something needs to be done.”

Should the Competitive Balance Proposal pass this month, the OHSAA has promised to once again address the imbalanced D-I numbers, likely this fall. That’s been done before, with no success.

Of not including the D-I disparity in the proposal: “We thought it would be too much at one time,” said OHSAA Commissioner Dan Ross.

It’s an issue

There are several inherent issues that affect addressing D-I football disparity:

• That doesn’t affect coaches in other divisions. Other than a passing interest into something that affects their sport, there is no passionate concern outside of D-I.

• There is more D-I disparity in the Southwest District than the three other D-I playoff regions. Of 10 schools that had 1,000 or more boys from the most recent 2009-11 period, eight were in the Southwest, including Centerville.

• It’s a polarizing subject that often centers around large private programs, particularly from the Greater Catholic League. It’s felt that those overwhelming numbers — St. Xavier is now No. 1 with 1,164 boys enrolled and a staggering 340 players last season — provide an unfair advantage.

In theory, the Competitive Balance Proposal and its restructuring formula will only affect Divisions II-VI. It should have no bearing on D-I teams, no matter what their data reveals. That’s why the Greater Western Ohio Conference — made up mostly of D-I programs — has encouraged its members to vote against the proposal.

“That’s as big a problem as what we have going on with the smaller divisions,” Minton said.

“How can you not deal with that? Unless (the OHSAA) thinks it’s such a big animal that it had to be dealt with on its own.”

A numbers game

Fairborn (497), Troy (552) and Xenia (569) are the GWOC’s three smallest D-I programs. Fairborn has lost 97 boys since the last two-year period and would have been in D-II under the old standard.

The OHSAA will revamp its divisional breakdown numbers later this month. Those will be in place for 2011-13.

The GWOC has three divisions, divvied by male enrollment and location. Centerville (1,095) is the largest of the Central teams and Northmont (716) the smallest. Troy is tops in the North and Miamisburg (632) in the South.

“There’s two Xenias in a Centerville, and then some,” said Delong.

That conference lineup works well for the regular season, which can feature one or two crossover games. But it’s anything goes for the playoffs.

“I still don’t see a clear-cut way around that, other than creating another division and splitting Division I in half,” said veteran Troy coach Steve Nolan.

“It’s a tough thing after being around it for so many years. There isn’t a good answer.”

Nolan was coaching the Trojans when only two Southwest teams advanced to the D-I playoffs. That was increased to four, then to the current eight in 2000. In Region 3, Troy is paired mostly with large Columbus schools in the postseason rather than teams from Cincinnati.

Still, making the playoffs and playing those large-numbered programs has instilled a sense of pride over the years.

“The fact that we had to play those teams is still something that’s important to us,” Nolan said.

“There’s no way to get around it.”

Football for 2009-11

Division		Enrollment	Schools	Disparity
	I	518 and more	119	709
	II	348 to 517	116	169
	III	252 to 347	119	95
	IV	177 to 251	119	74
	V	125 to 176	120	51
	VI	124 and less	122
	Total schools			715

GWOC enrollment figures for 2011-13

Central: Centerville 1,095; Beavercreek 960; Springfield 857; Fairmont 881; Wayne 793; Northmont 716. All are D-I.

North: Troy 552; Sidney 413; Piqua 437; Vandalia Butler 423; Trotwood-Madison 368; Greenville 352. Only Troy is D-I; all others D-II.

South: Miamisburg 632; Lebanon 660; Xenia 569; Fairborn 497; Springboro 621; West Carrollton 431. All are D-I except West Carrollton (D-II).

Time line of addressing D-I disparity

1978: The initial referendum to split public and nonpublic schools in the playoffs was defeated 83.9-16.1 percent (637-122).

1993: A referendum initiated by school administrators using the petition process proposed splitting the postseason between public and private schools. It was defeated 66.8-32.3 percent (482 to 240).

2006: The OHSAA Board of Control approved a proposal to split the division, with the lower half being absorbed by the other five divisions. However, that was not forwarded for membership consideration because the board revoked its own decision the following January.

— Source: OHSAA

No beating St. Xavier’s numbers

Last season, Cincinnati St. Xavier dressed 120 players every football game, home and away.

That meant that 220 other members didn’t suit up.

With an all-boys enrollment of 1,164, the Bombers are No. 1 in the state for most boys, flipping spots with No. 2 Fairfield from the previous two-year alignment period. That’s the kind of high-end disparity among other Division I programs that has drawn the ire of opposing coaches.

St. X coach Steve Specht has this to say about that: “I’m not going to apologize for having many kids in the program.”

It’s a sensitive issue to Specht, who guided the Bombers to D-I state titles in 2007 and ’05. He counters that St. X draws those numbers because the administration has told him not to cut anyone. Also, joining the team enhances “being a part of something that’s bigger than yourself.”

Besides, prospective players — and parents — are told beforehand that most will not play much.

“I’m not going to tell you that we have 120 football players, because we don’t,” Specht said.

“Eighty percent of them are never going to see the field. They understand that, and that has its own set of problems, but it beats the alternative.”

— Marc Pendleton, staff writer

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