Retired AD Smith to Receive NFHS Honor
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
November 26, 2019
Retired longtime athletic director Fred Smith has been selected to receive a Citation from the National Federation of State High School Associations during the 50th National Athletic Directors Conference sponsored by the NFHS and National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (NIAAA) on Dec. 16 in National Harbor, Md.
NFHS Citations are presented annually to outstanding athletic directors in recognition of contributions to interscholastic athletics at the local, state and national levels. State associations nominate athletic directors for NFHS Citations, and the NFHS Board of Directors approves recipients.
A 1979 graduate of Western Michigan University, Smith began his career at St. Joseph Lake Michigan Catholic Schools, serving for 11 years. In 1991, he joined Comstock Public Schools, where he served for 16 years. Smith move to Buchanan Community Schools in 2007, where he remained until 2015 before departing for his final stop as athletic director at Benton Harbor for two years. He retired in 2017, serving 38 years total as a teacher, coach and administrator, and resides in Stevensville.
Among his accomplishments, Smith instituted awards programs to recognize three-sport (or more) student-athletes who participated for their full, four-year high school career. Additionally, he assisted with the development of an evaluation tool for coaches and helped provide funding for coaches to attend the MHSAA's Coaches Advancement Program.
Smith was a member of the MHSAA Representative Council from 2005 to 2017, including the final four years as vice president. He also served on several MHSAA committees, and he hosted countless MHSAA District and Regional tournaments. With the Michigan Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (MIAAA), he has served as chair of its Professional Development Committee as well as a member of its executive board from 1993 to 1998.
Smith was a member of the NIAAA Board of Directors (1996-98), Credentials Committee (1989-96) and Hall of Fame Screening Committee (2010-18). He has been heavily involved in the NIAAA’s Leadership Training Institute. He is national course chair for LTC 501, and he has presented Leadership Training Courses in 14 states. Smith also served on the NIAAA Executive Director Search Committee, and he has attended 34 National Athletic Directors Conferences.
Smith has been honored with numerous awards. He has previously received the NIAAA Distinguished Service Award, the NIAAA Thomas E. Frederick Award of Excellence, the NIAAA Frank Kovaleski Professional Development Award, and the MHSAA Charles E. Forsythe Award.
2019-20 Classifications Announced
April 8, 2019
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Classifications for Michigan High School Athletic Association elections and postseason tournaments for the 2019-20 school year have been announced, with enrollment breaks for postseason tournaments posted to each sport’s page on the MHSAA Website.
Classifications for the upcoming school year are based on a second semester count date, which for MHSAA purposes was Feb. 13. The enrollment figure submitted for athletic classification purposes may be different from the count submitted for school aid purposes, as it does not include students ineligible for athletic competition because they reached their 19th birthday prior to September 1 of the current school year and will not include alternative education students if none are allowed athletic eligibility by the local school district.
Traditional classes (A, B, C, D) are used only for MHSAA elections and football playoff purposes – in 11-player to determine opponents’ point values, and in 8-player to determine if schools are eligible to compete in the MHSAA Playoffs (only Class D teams may participate in the postseason). All other sports’ tournaments will be conducted with schools in equal or nearly equal divisions.
To determine traditional classifications, after all counts are submitted, tournament-qualified member schools are ranked according to enrollment and then split as closely into quarters as possible. For 2019-20, there are 748 tournament-qualified member schools with 187 schools in each class.
Effective with the 2019-20 school year, schools with 863 or more students are in Class A. The enrollment limits for Class B are 395-862, Class C is 189-394, and schools with enrollments of 188 and fewer are Class D. The break between Classes A and B decreased 22 students from 2018-19, the break between Classes B and C decreased three students, and the break between Classes C and D is five students fewer than the current school year.
Schools recently were notified of their classification. MHSAA Executive Director Mark Uyl said schools may not subsequently lower their enrollment figure. However, if revised enrollment figures are higher and indicate that a school should be playing in a higher division, that school would be moved up.
Schools have the option to play at any higher division for a minimum of two years, but must exercise the option by May 1 for fall sports, August 15 for winter sports and October 15 for spring sports.
The divisions and qualifiers for the MHSAA Football Playoffs will be announced on Selection Sunday, Oct. 27, 2019. Visit the respective sport pages on the MHSAA Website to review the divisional alignments for all other MHSAA-sponsored tournament sports.
Among teams that will be playing in new divisions in 2019-20 are two reigning MHSAA champions. The Rochester Adams girls swimming & diving team will be moving into Lower Peninsula Division 1 this fall after winning Division 2 in 2018. The Saugatuck boys cross country team will move into Lower Peninsula Division 3 after winning Division 4 last fall. Additionally, two-time reigning Division 3 girls soccer champion Flint Powers Catholic is playing in Division 2 this spring, but will move back into Division 3 for the 2020 season. There will be a guaranteed new champion in Division 1 boys bowling in 2020 as this winter’s winner Farmington Hills Harrison will be closing after this school year.
A complete list of school enrollments used to determine classifications for the 2019-20 school year can be found on the Enrollment & Classification page of the MHSAA Website.
The new classification breaks will see 17 schools move up in class for 2019-20 while 12 schools will move down. (Note: This list does not include schools opting up in class/division for tournaments, which can be found on the Administrators page of the MHSAA Website, under Enrollment, Classification, Co-Ops):
Moving Up from Class B to Class A
Battle Creek Harper Creek
Dearborn Divine Child
Marysville
Parma Western
Pontiac
Stevensville Lakeshore
Moving Down from Class A to Class B
Clio
Grand Rapids Christian
Ortonville Brandon
Owosso
Redford Union
Moving Up from Class C to Class B
Adrian Madison
Dearborn Advanced Technology Academy
Flint Hamady
Moving Down from Class B to Class C
Detroit West Side Academy
Leslie
Moving Up from Class D to Class C
Adrian Lenawee Christian
Benton Harbor Countryside Academy
Deckerville
Kingston
Lutheran Westland
Mayville
Merrill
Saginaw Michigan Lutheran Seminary
Moving Down from Class C to Class D
Big Rapids Crossroads Academy
Britton Deerfield
Dryden
Eau Claire
Newberry
New Postseason Eligible Tournament Schools in 2019-20
Southfield Manoogian
Flint New Standard
Midland Calvary Baptist Academy
Starr Albion Prep
Whitmore Lake Livingston Classical
Enrollment Breaks by Classes – 2019-20
(Number of schools in parentheses)
Class A: 863 and above (187 schools)
Class B: 395 – 862 (187)
Class C: 189 – 394 (187)
Class D: 188 and below (187)
The MHSAA is a private, not-for-profit corporation of voluntary membership by more than 1,500 public and private senior high schools and junior high/middle schools which exists to develop common rules for athletic eligibility and competition. No government funds or tax dollars support the MHSAA, which was the first such association nationally to not accept membership dues or tournament entry fees from schools. Member schools which enforce these rules are permitted to participate in MHSAA tournaments, which attract more than 1.4 million spectators each year.