JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Florida High School Athletic Association board of directors passed a new football classification and playoff format for the next two years on Monday morning, opting for the tried and true path instead of a radical change that had been talked about.
The measure, passed on a 10-3 vote, largely maintains the status quo, with the exception of one less classification (seven instead of eight). District play will still be required, and a district champion automatically qualifies for the state series playoffs. The FHSAA will still use rankings points to determine the at-large berths.
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It also keeps the door open for more changes to the system going forward, including a version of the Florida Invitational Tournament. Schools would have to declare whether they wanted to play in the main state series playoffs or opt for a yet-to-be-created invitational-style event.
The hope there is that it would allow schools who had little to no chance of competing in the state series format against teams like Bolles, Mandarin, Raines and St. Augustine to have their own bracket and compete with comparable teams. A version of the FIT started in the Rural class last year and was successful enough that it led to the creation of two additional invitational tournaments this year for teams in Classes 1A-3A and 4A-7A. The top 16 teams in each of those who don’t make the state series playoffs would be able to play in that invitational.
The board wanted to pass something in its final meeting before the holidays to allow the FHSAA to get started on slotting teams in classes before the start of 2026.
It wound up being far less of significant changes than what was initially on the table.
Last week, the FHSAA had a five-classification format plus a Rural class for a total of six classes and incorporated a district tournament for the top four teams in Weeks 10 and 11.
On Monday, that had grown to six classes plus the Rural.
Option B didn’t require district games and created a four-team tournament in the final two weeks of the regular season.
The argument for districts and mandatory games is a sticking point for many programs. Better schools tend to struggle to lock in a full slate of games and having mandatory opponents helps reduce that headache. It’s also a sticking point for schools who aren’t built to compete in the district that they’re assigned to. They’d prefer to be able to schedule similar teams and not be locked into a three, four or five games that they have no ability to compete in.
The conversation moved in all kinds of directions throughout the three-hour meeting with several coaches who made the trip. South Sumter’s Ty Lawrence said that he felt that the FHSAA had moved too fast to try and implement such massive changes. Bradford’s Jamie Rodgers said he felt such a significant change in such a short period of time felt reckless. Several in attendance at the meeting said that the FHSAA’s system of using ratings that no one understands has left too much ambiguity, and that trust has been eroded.
FHSAA board member Bobby Johns said that he thought the association needed to “still leave the door open for an alternative that helps these teams. We don’t want to make a decision that forces people out.”
The association is in a tough spot.
Many schools feel that open enrollment in Florida makes using enrollment numbers to assign schools to classifications an outdated model. Executive director Craig Damon said the association has looked at numerous ways of trying to remedy that, but still thinks numbers are the most equitable method at this point.