The hot topic among coaches, athletic directors, and others interested in North Carolina high sports is "what will the 2025-26 realignment look like with eight classifications?".
The NCHSTCA Board of Directors held a lengthy discussion on this question at its June Board meeting, and adopted a "Statement of Principles" that we would urge the NCHSAA to consider as it addresses the 2025 realignment.
Those principles are:
- Broad Participation in State Tournaments - We would like to see playoff brackets that are as large as feasible.
- Equitable Access to the State Tournaments - We believe that every school should have roughly the same chance of making the playoffs as any other school, regardless of classification.
- Better Early-Round Experiences for All Schools - We believe the playoff brackets should be "staggered", such that elite teams receive early-round byes, while average teams play one another in better, more competitive contests.
- Conferences Based on Geography and Local Rivalry - We believe it's more important to group schools in conferences with nearby teams, with a lower priority being given to grouping schools in the same classification across a larger geographic area.
- Ending Preferential Seeding Based on Conference Standing - Because more schools will find themselves in split conferences, we believe that brackets should be constructed based on RPI ratings alone.
While we acknowledge that we have no authority over the realignment process, we do have direct experience in high school tennis, and have shared these principles with the various NCHSAA committees and task forces that are dealing with the realignment process.
Click here for the complete Statement of Principles as adopted by the NCHSTCA Board of Directors.
You don`t have permission to comment here!