After months of dialogue and bantering back and forth, it appears realignment for Nevada high schools, beginning with the 2016-17 season, is closer to reality.
The Realignment Focus Committee held its latest meeting on May 20 at Chaparral High School in Las Vegas and came away with final recommendations to be voted upon at the next NIAA Board of Control meeting in Reno.
Lowry High School principal Ray Parks, who is the Division I-A North representative and Brian Rothe of the Division I North, were looking for the Division I-A South to drop from 16 to 13 teams. However, that motion was voted down, as the three southern reps voted no.
“We had a huge realignment committee that started in January,” Parks said. “That was a group that voted to have 18 teams in the Division I-A South and it caused a lot of controversy in the north, but also in the south. The southern schools didn’t want more schools in the league. Their fear was that they were going to be in the same boat before all the realignment started a few years ago.”
With that decision making just about everyone unhappy, a special NIAA board meeting was held, leading to the sub-committee was formed that included Parks and Rothe from the north.
“We tried to go for the 13 teams, but knew it was going to be tough to pass,” Parks said. “We ended up voting on 16 teams and to me it’s the best scenario that we could come up with to make everyone happy in Division I and I-A.”
One decision that was made was that Faith Lutheran will move up to Division I, starting in the 2016-17 school year. The Crusaders won six state championships this past season. At least one more Division I-A school will move up to Division I along with Faith Lutheran.”
The Division I and I-A South use a rubric system to realign its schools every two years. If a Division I-A school scored more than 150 points in a two-year period, it would move up to Division I. If a Division I school had 15 or less points, they would move down to Division I-A.
Boulder City, Moapa Valley and Virgin Valley are protected in the system because their enrollment is under the 1,201 threshold of Division I school enrollment. Faith Lutheran was also protected, but have now lost that protection due to the 2.0 multiplier for private schools that have enrollment doubled.
To coincide with NIAA realignment, which is done every four years, the rubric system will now go on a four-year process as well. The point totals will be 240 and 40, respectively. However, the teams that move in the southern leagues will have be aligned geographically, to save travel costs for those schools.
Ray Mathis, representing, the Division I Sunrise, felt the schools were right where they should be and didn’t know if much movement was needed at this time. The committee agreed to have it tested over a four-year period.
“It’s going to be extremely difficult to do that,” Parks said. “If you have a Division I-A team doing that good in one demographic area, you will have to replace the Division I team that is doing poor in that same area, it’s not going to happen. There could be years with no movement. You could have eight years of no teams moving. It’s pretty clear right now that someone has to move up. He (Ray Mathis) understood that didn’t work very well, but with transportation they could just say no and he would have no say.”
Currently Clark and Sierra Vista are on track to pass the point total after next year and could move up to Division I but are in the same division. Desert Pines has 62 points in the other Division I-A South League.
The schools with the lowest point totals in Division I is Eldorado with two points. Durango has sixth, Bonanza (11) and Desert Oasis (13).
“With Faith Lutheran, we know one team is going up,” Parks said. “That means at least one school is coming down. This will be the last time that happens with the demographics not playing a part.”
One move that could possibly happen is The Meadows moving up from Division III to I-A as part of the private school 2.0 multiplier.
A survey has been sent out to all the schools in Division I and I-A with their thoughts on the committee’s findings.
The Division I and I-A North has said no to using the rubric process and are happy with the how the leagues are structured. The Division I-A was looking to add another school in Wooster or Hug. Wooster currently plays football in Division I-A, but all other sports are Division I. Division I-A athletic directors offered Wooster to come down in all sports for the 2015-16 season for a trial run, but Wooster said declined. Wooster was told that if the school doesn’t move down in all sports, that the football program will have to move back to Division I.
Schools in the Division I-A North had thought they got a yes answer from Hug to drop down, as the athletic director was in favor, but the principal of the school said no.
One more issue that has arisen in the number of teams each league gets at state tournaments. Currently, the Division I-A South and North have two representatives at the state tournament in volleyball, basketball, softball and baseball. Schools in the Division I-A South are fighting to make it a 3-1 process, since there are 16 schools in southern Nevada and nine in the north. Currently, Division one uses a system of three south schools and one north when state tournaments are in Las Vegas. It is a 2-2 system when state tournaments are in northern Nevada.
“Right now they wanted to be 3-1 in favor of the south no matter where the state tournament is played,” Parks said. “I am going to battle as much as I can to keep it 2-2. It might come down to where it is 2-2 when tournaments are in the north and 3-1 in the south. I want it to be 2-2 all the time. We have made a lot of concessions to these guys. We want what is best for the schools in the north. I am just tired of talking about it. We have to make a decision and get it done.”
The final decision on realignment will be decided at the June 24 NIAA board meeting as the committee hands over its recommendation. If approved it will start with the 2016-17 school year.
