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Raleigh – The N.C. High School Athletic Association could look very different soon after member schools voted for an amendment to its bylaws that would allow the association to increase the number of classifications.
The amendment would cap the amount of schools in a classification at 64 and go into effect during the 2025-26 school year. There are 432 member schools in the high school athletic association, and the number of classifications would jump from four to seven with this amendment.
Seventy-five percent of membership principals need to vote for the amendment for it to pass. This vote cleared the threshold after a previous attempt to expand the number of classifications from four to six in 2020 failed.
The proposal was supported by both the N.C. Football Coaches Association and N.C. Basketball Coaches Association. Murphy head football coach and athletic director Joseph Watson is a representative for this district for the Football Coaches Association.
Watson was in favor of the amendment, saying it puts North Carolina on par with neighboring states. Georgia, which has a similar amount of schools in its athletic association compared with North Carolina, also has seven classes.
“It’s way better for our state to have more classifications, depending on how many schools you actually have to compete against,” Watson said. “The size, it kinds of even the playing field in it.”
There’s still a lot to iron out, such as whether the association will stick with conferences or go with a region or district format, like is done in neighboring Georgia and Tennessee.
While Andrews, Hiwassee Dam, Nantahala and Tri-County would stay in 1A in a seven-class model, Murphy would be in 2A. A region format could mean increased travel for Murphy, with Swain County being the only 2A West school within 100 miles.
The playoffs, which are at 64 teams for all team sports played by Cherokee County teams, would drop to 32 teams. Watson said some sports may have more classifications than others, depending on how many schools participate in each sport, similar to how it’s set up now.
This step forward by the association is in direct conflict with N.C. Senate Bill 636, which as written would limit the number of classifications to four. It would also move all charter and parochial schools up a class, while the amendment passed by athletic association members would place schools only by enrollment.
Watson said he’s heard the four-classification limit could come out, and is in favor of bumping up charters and non-boarding parochial schools. Those schools, which are mostly in the current 1A class, have dominated the state playoffs in certain sports for more than a decade.
“You have the population of a 1A school, and here you have some charter schools that are just outside of Charlotte and charter schools that are just outside of Raleigh and charter schools that are just outside of Greensboro and Winston-Salem, that’s not traditionally a 1A population,” Watson said.
“I think something like this to make them play up is a step in the right direction.”