8 man enrollment limit

[bugaha3]

No question. Two schools who did it right recently are Dodge-Howells and Clarkson/Leigh. Dodge-Howells is a full consolidation and sure it detractors right away, what towns wouldn't? But after the first two years, mostly everyone got over it. They are succeeding and doing great at the D1 level.

Clarkson/Leigh is just co-oping sports for now and they have benefited as well, having a 15 win basketball season last winter and are currently 4-0 on the football field. I wouldn't be shocked if they consolidated in the next 3-5 years.

More schools should look at those four towns as an example of not sitting on their butts and waiting for something to happen, because guess what? Consolidation is the future, why be late to the table when you might not get a seat at it?

Oh yeah, and raise the 8 man limit as well. 90 and call it good, if you want to play 8 man with 11 man numbers, play a JV schedule, if you want to be competitive at 11 man co-op.

Who says Dodge-Howells did it right. Right now that school is on probation for accrediation, this the second probation for the school in four years, check Sunday Omaha Word Herald last Febuary (I believe) when these accrediations came out from the state. Instead of worrying about sports teams making playoffs, let's worry about kids getting proper education. If we are worried about consolidation between small schools, maybe these schools should look into consolidating with bigger towns instead of a 3 or 4 year fix with fellow small towns. Every situation is different. Don't assume consolidation or co-opting is always good. Look at Wynot, they encourage all their students to go out for all activities, sports related and other activities which I commend them for that.

 

[Loatsey]

Great point skers09 on what it means to be proactive as opposed to just praying and hoping that things work out.

Increase the limit to 100, 105, 110, 115 or whatever the number and allow schools to opt up instead and don't allow to opt down. Personally I think 105 or 110 is where it should be. Again, most importantly, allow schools to opt up. By no means am I recommending every school below 105 or 110 must play 8-man.

If the NSAA increases the limit it needs to be higher than 90 otherwise I'm afraid the same problems will still exist. The difference from 83 to 90 is only 7 students, or rounded up to 10 students for four year enrollments. Assuming a 50/50 girl/boy split that's only an increase of 5 boys, not near enough to fix the current issue. If it was currently at 90, 9 of the 14 schools that opted down would still be over the limit. In another post on this site a few have mentioned a few schools that are rumored to be opting down to either 8 or 6 man next year. Look at their current enrollments, pretty telling sign of what many individual schools are thinking. (Granted next years enrollment may be less than this years)

Tonight I went to the Ponca vs Laurel game. Laurel had to forfeit there season two years ago but now again have a varsity team. They had 25 kids on the roster with 8 kids weighing 125 or less. Although they had 25 on the roster it didn't appear they had 14 suited up on the sideline (probably injuries, grades, whatever it may be). They had a 5'3 98lb freshman playing consistently on defense. They also started a 116 pounder. Wow! I'm sure if anything their size was fudged a bit for the program. Keep in mind that their 3 year enrollment is 81, smallest in C-2. As bad as they were, and outsized they were, I couldn't help but think that if they took 3 kids off the field and competed on an 8 man field how much more competitive they would be and how much more the kids would enjoy the season. I'm sorry parents, but just because your child is playing varsity ball doesn't mean that it is in his best interest.

Well said on the Laurel situation nenebskers! How did the parents, administration and school board combined, come to the conclusion two years ago that this was the best thing for their situation. Then they try to blame the whole thing on kids getting hurt as to why they have to forfeit now. Really? They're getting hurt because you put kids that are freshman 98 pounders out there against junior and senior 200 pounders! Hello? Point the thumb at yourselves, you're the problem, not the injuries. There was only one sensible and obvious choice two years ago, but they failed to make it, because WE'RE not going to play 8 man football, we are better than that. Swallow your pride and do what's right for the kids that YOU'RE putting in harms way and not giving them a chance to even be competitive at all. As much as I love football, I'd be so pissed off if I was a senior on that team and that's how my last two years played out, because a small handful of adults couldn't get it right.

 

[coyote11]

A little food for thought...
-Anyone been to a Cross Country race lately? There are some quality Class D programs out there , and I know some basketball players and wrestlers who'd rather get ready for their seasons that way than being that undersized kid on the football field.
-Spent some time at the orthopedic doc in Kearney this last month and I CAN NOT believe the number of young legs I see in there waiting for surgery or rehabbing. Really sad to see those kids trying to keep upbeat...

I'm not a fan of every kid getting a trophy, but I want it to be as even a playing field for every kid out there. Kids adapt a lot quicker than we adults do: tweak the system every cycle as needed, think ahead as needed & get the adults out of the way...

 

[Alum-Ni]

An article from Stu Pospisil on this topic

http://www.neprepzone.com/sports/po...cle_f35b04de-4ab6-52f9-b467-6fc379c71bca.html

 

[husker224]

Ya know, maybe the issue is the fact that the participation numbers in schools are dwindling.

Just because a school's 3 year enrollment is 100 doesn't mean they are going to be any good in 8 man. Especially when they only have 20-26 kids out, and 10 are freshman. That's just an example, but c'mon.

Having many schools drop to 8 man is pretty maddening, I understand the frustration but it's not because they want to win games, it might just be we don't want to play those 3 freshman we have to play in 11 man vs seniors.

I'm pretty confident that football is going to be phased out in 20 years anyway. There is too much fear anymore with the concussion related injuries, and because of rules combatting that in the game, we're seeing many more knee injuries. Football may not be around that much longer.