NCHSAA tacks on an 8th classification for 2024-25

The North Carolina High School Athletic Association (NCHSAA) was expected to take a major jump from its current number of four classifications, but pulled a bit of a surprise at its annual winter board of directors meeting held Nov. 28-29 in Chapel Hill. 

Starting in the 2025-26 school year, the NCHSAA will double up to eight classifications after the board unanimously voted to adopt a recommendation from the realignment ad hoc committee.

NCHSAA member schools this spring passed a bylaw requiring classifications be limited to no more than 64 schools. That meant the NCHSAA's next realignment period would need a minimum of seven classifications.

The move to eight instead of seven gives the state some wiggle room moving forward, board members say. At seven classes, each one would be barely under the threshold of 64 schools. With eight classes, though, each class will be composed of roughly 55 member schools.

Currently, the NCHSAA uses a three-part formula including average daily membership (ADM) numbers to put schools into classes. Starting in less than two years, however, ADMs will be used solely to determine which schools go into which classes.

The NCHSAA has been at four classifications since 1969-70, and the move brings the state more in line with other surrounding states in terms of number of schools per class. While North Carolina currently has roughly 108 schools per class, Georgia is at 65, Tennessee is at 62, Virginia is at 50, and South Carolina is at 44.

Other changes

While that was the major news out of last week’s meetings, the NCHSAA adopted several other changes as well pertaining to the sports of baseball, softball, tennis, and lacrosse. 

In softball, the state’s bat testing policy, which was approved by the board of directors in the spring, was eliminated effective immediately. 

For baseball, the two-hour time limit for JV games was eliminated except for JV games to start JV/varsity doubleheaders. That move is also effective immediately. 

In boys and girls tennis, teams will now be allowed to use alternate formats for dual-team matches during the regular season. Upon mutual agreement, coaches may conduct a match using 8- or 10-game pro sets in singles, and/or use no-ad scoring in singles and doubles. That move is also effective immediately. 

Also for tennis, the formula for the distribution of berths to the individual regional tournaments was more thoroughly spelled out, effective starting in the fall 2024 girls season. The change came via a recommendation from the N.C. High School Tennis Coaches Association, which stated in a release describing the change: “Previously, the NCHSAA handbook only stated that the berths would be distributed ‘on a percentage basis.’ The exact procedure for determining these percentages, and the number of berths each conference would receive, was not described.”

Starting in the fall, the regional qualifier formula per conference is as follows: The number of teams in the conference divided by the number of teams in the region multiplied by 16 (the number of available berths).

And in lacrosse, the state upped the boys and girls regular-season limit to match the length of other spring sports with 24 contests, effective in the spring of 2025.

Finally, the board approved membership applications of four new schools effective for the 2024-25 school year: American Leadership Academy, Jackson Day School, Phoenix Academy, and Summit Charter Academy.

What didn’t happen

There are still a few question marks regarding prep sports around the state moving forward. 

The NCHSAA was expected to address the state legislature passing Senate Bill 452 this fall, which limits the power of the NCHSAA in several capacities and puts the NCHSAA under the state’s Superintendent of Public Instruction in a new memorandum of understanding to be signed in the next year, but did not address any new details on that situation.

Pertaining to the change in the number of classes, the state has not yet specifically stated what percentage of schools will go into which classes. It is assumed that schools will be evenly distributed among the eight classes at 12.5 percent of the total number apiece, but a hot topic has been limiting the number of schools in the smallest and largest classes to promote fair competition in them. And adjusting the percentages slightly wouldn’t figure to move any of the six middle classes over the maximum of 64 schools.

The state earlier this fall announced a new Final Four format in basketball starting this winter, in which all regional finals and state finals will be held at the same site over a six-day span. The state has said all of those games will be played at Wake Forest’s Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum but has also acknowledged that no contract had yet been signed to secure the venue. With 16 regional finals taking place over the first four of those days, it is assumed that some of those games will start early on weekdays, but no tentative time schedule has yet been announced either.

And also in basketball, the state has yet to implement a shot clock despite the National Federation of High Schools establishing recommendations nationwide and many states already having adopted those. However, the N.C. Basketball Coaches Association has proposed a three-year phased implementation of a shot clock. It would include an optional 35-second shot clock for only nonconference regular-season games in year one, followed by an optional 35-second shot clock for only any regular-season games in year two provided conferences can get all their member schools on board, and a mandatory shot clock for all games, including playoff contests, by year three.

Paul Schenkel can be reached at 828-445-8595 or paul@thepaper.media.