Six classification proposal discussed at All-School Summit
DENVER — A sixth classification may well be in CHSAA’s future, but it won’t be coming in the next two-year cycle.
Mark Kanagy, the athletic director at Windsor, presented the possibility of adding a classification to his peers gathered at the association’s All-School Summit on Thursday. His 16-person committee, tasked with exploring the future of classification structure, is set to present recommendations to CHSAA’s Classification and League Organizing Committee (CLOC) soon.
Any change to the state’s classification structure would need to come from CLOC and then be voted upon by the membership.
While Kanagy stressed multiple times that “there is no way we go to six classifications in the next cycle,” he did say that an additional class could be added with the two-year cycle which starts in 2016-17. Still, Kanagy’s committee is only exploratory, seeking to determine if a move to six classes should be made.
“We’re planning for growth,” Kanagy told the meeting.
CHSAA last has a sixth classification with Class 6A from 1990-93. Since then, more than 100 new schools have joined the association.
Over the past year and a half, Kanagy’s committee has looked at a number of factors, including:
- Socioeconomic status
- Rural vs. metro
- Finances
- Participation
- Win/loss percentage
- A school’s entry or selection process
It is possible that a sixth class is added in 2016-17, but the move is more likely to happen when the association reaches 384 member schools. Currently, 346 schools are part of CHSAA. At 384 schools, six classifications could be evenly divided into 64.
CHSAA commissioner Paul Angelico said that if a move to six classes were to take place, “there aren’t more than maybe two sports that would have six classes.”
Football, of course, already has seven classifications, including 8-man and 6-man.
