Class in Session: A History in Classification
July 24, 2017
By Rob Kaminski
MHSAA benchmarks editor
This is the first part in a series on MHSAA tournament classification, past and present, that will be published over the next two weeks. This series originally ran in this spring's edition of MHSAA benchmarks.
Conversation and discussion at the March 2017 MHSAA Representative Council Meeting leaned heavily toward the subject of 8-Player Football and how to properly balance its tournament with the growing number of schools sponsoring the sport.
While the proposal to split the tournament into two divisions beginning with the 2017 school year was adopted, the MHSAA then faced questions such as when to set the divisions, how to determine qualifiers and where to host the championship games.
The topic continues to create a buzz in Class D schools across both peninsulas, and likely will do into the start of school this fall.
Likewise, the lone holdouts still conducting tournaments by class – MHSAA Boys and Girls Basketball and Girls Volleyball – took center stage at the May Council discussion, and following the 2017-18 school year, class is out for good. Both genders of basketball, and girls volleyball, will move to divisional formats thereafter.
There is much to be decided to be sure; but as those in education are well aware, history is the best teacher.
Fortunately for the sports in flux and for all sports under the governance of the MHSAA, the Association more or less wrote the book on the subject of sport classification. Following is a history lesson, with a little advanced division thrown in.
Class structure
Credited with being the first state with multiple tournament classifications, Michigan’s attention to trends and shifts in philosophy aimed at fair play and equal tournament opportunity can be traced from 80 years ago to the present.
In the earliest years of the MHSAA, there were four classifications for elections and tournaments – Classes A, B, C and D. Classes C and D had far more schools than Classes A and B. For example, 80 years ago (1937), there were only 58 schools in Class A, 94 schools in Class B, 297 schools in Class C and 253 schools in Class D.
Gradually through the years, as Michigan’s major cities spawned suburbs, there was a shift in the other direction to the point 30 years ago (1987) when school size became more balanced: 173 Class A schools, 178 Class B schools, 179 Class C schools and 182 Class D schools.
Up until 1987, the MHSAA published the dividing line between each classification, after which schools submitted their enrollments. Then, for 1988 and thereafter, the MHSAA adopted the plan of gathering all enrollments first and then placing 25 percent of the schools in each of four classes. This completed the equalization of the number of schools in each class for elections.
However, the change for 1988 did nothing to equalize the number of teams actually entered by each class in each sport. And unlike the early years of the Association when there were many more Class C and D teams than A and B teams, there were more Class A and B teams than C and D teams entering MHSAA tournaments decades later.
Moreover, the difference in number of teams entered in the different classifications for a sport continued to increase as many small schools, the fastest growing portion of the MHSAA's membership, sponsor only a few sports, or they sponsor no sports at all but enter into cooperative programs with other schools.
Because of these differences, Class A or B schools sometimes had to win twice as many games as Class C or D schools to reach the MHSAA Finals in a sport. At times, the larger classifications had District Tournaments, even rat-tail games, and/or a Quarterfinal game, and the smaller classifications did not. Most Class D Districts have had four teams (some only three), while Class A Districts often had seven or eight teams. In Regional levels of individual sports, the number of entries in the larger classification once greatly outnumbered those in the smaller classifications of the tournament for the same sport.
Over the years, these dividing lines between classes escalated gradually, as did the differences in enrollments of largest and small schools in each class. In 1937 the dividing lines were 700, 300 and 100 between Class A and B, B and C, and C and D, respectively. By 1987, the dividing lines were 1,129, 571 and 298, respectively, leading to the current method of collecting enrollments and then setting the classification.
With the pendulum swinging well past center by the late 1980s, coaches associations, MHSAA sport committees, tournament managers and school administrators began discussion and offered proposals to correct what many believed had become a flawed system of MHSAA tournament classification.
At the 1996 MHSAA Update Meetings, ¾ of 858 respondents to that year’s annual survey indicated they favored a system that would divide schools which actually sponsor each sport into two, three or four nearly equal divisions.
Problem solving
At its meeting May 4-6, 1997, the Representative Council defeated a motion that would have adopted in one action a coordinated plan of reclassification for all sports to equalize the number of schools in each tournament for each respective sport. Instead, the Council discussed and voted on each proposal that had been presented from sport committees.
This resulted in the Representative Council adopting four equal divisions for baseball and softball, four equal divisions for boys and girls tennis, four equal divisions for boys soccer and three equal divisions for girls soccer, effective with the 1997-98 school year. Helping in the decision was the success of the 1995-96 MHSAA Wrestling season, which saw the sport move to four divisions for its tournament structure
The Council delayed action on similar proposals for football and boys golf at that time to glean additional input. The same decision was made with respect to a proposal from the Ice Hockey Committee that would have split the Class A schools in two divisions and left the Class B/C/D Tournament unchanged.
“The gist of the move from classes to divisions was to equalize the path to championships for students of all schools, regardless of the size of those schools,” said MHSAA Executive Director Jack Roberts.
While the restructuring accomplished that goal for the majority of competitors, opposition exists now as it did then. The primary argument in opposition to the changes is that, in some sports, it increases the range between largest and smallest schools in the division for smallest schools, even as the range is usually reduced for other divisions.
Larger schools offered a counterpoint.
“The larger schools suggested that while they may have more students, they also attempt to sponsor more sports than the smaller schools, in some cases spreading the enrollment as thin as a much smaller school with fewer sports,” Roberts said.
“Even today, the idea of four equal divisions can be unpopular among some Class D schools which feel especially burdened by the equal division concept,” Roberts said. “There was enough opposition in 1997 that equal divisions were rejected for boys and girls basketball and girls volleyball, and some of that opposition remains.”
The numbers of schools sponsoring each MHSAA tournament are still close to the totals today, with the exception of soccer in both genders, which has enjoyed substantial increases. This spring, 466 girls teams were scheduled to compete in the MHSAA Soccer Tournament, while 473 boys teams will suit up this fall.
Since the beginning of MHSAA divisions in 1996 with wrestling, 147 additional team champions have been crowned and countless individuals have known the thrill of victory due to an extra level of Finals in various sports. Girls soccer has seen the most growth in opportunity, moving from two classes in 1987 to three divisions the following year, and then four divisions in 2000. Boys soccer had enjoyed four classes for two years prior to the new four-division format, and it was the sport of soccer that helped to create a caveat in the nearly equal division movement.
Lower Peninsula boys and girls swimming & diving expanded from two to three divisions in 2008, while boys and girls bowling are the most recent sports to enjoy increased tournament opportunity, adding a fourth division in 2010.
“Fairness is in the eye of the beholder. While having the same number of schools in each division is one kind of fairness, holding in check the enrollment range between the largest and smallest schools in Division 4 is another kind of fairness that is dear to a great number of people,” Roberts said. “Because more schools sponsor basketball and volleyball than other sports, Class D schools would have been least affected by the equal divisions concept in those sports; but that, and ‘tradition,’ did not dissuade the opponents in the 1990s.”
The shift to divisions not only paved the way for student-athletes, but also assisted administrators and schools hosting tournaments. MHSAA tournament mangers looked to equal divisions to more closely equalize the number of schools in District or Regional Tournaments and to better equalize the length of day required for these rounds of tournaments, both for management and participating teams and individuals.
Pinning down an answer
Wrestling became the first MHSAA Tournament to be conducted in nearly equal divisions when team and individual champions were crowned in Divisions 1, 2, 3 and 4 rather than Classes A, B, C/D for the 1996 winter championships.
The movement was well received, as schools saw more opportunity for success: four champions where there once were three at the District, Regional and Final levels, and a smaller range of enrollment between the smallest and largest school in all four tournaments, leading to the impetus for the Fall 1996 Update Meeting Survey of schools regarding similar movement in other sports.
Team champions that year were Holt (D1), Petoskey (D2), Middleville Thornapple Kellogg (D3) and Dundee (D4).
Getting their kicks
When the "equal divisions" concept was approved by the Representative Council for most MHSAA Tournaments for the 1997-98 school year, there was opposition from the smallest schools which, under the equal divisions, are forced to play against larger schools than reside in Class D. Compelling arguments were made – and still are – that an enrollment difference between schools with smaller enrollments (e.g., Class D) is more difficult to overcome in athletic competition than an even larger enrollment difference between schools with larger enrollments (e.g., Class A).
The opposition was most intense in soccer because of the number of students needed to field a team and the physical nature of the sport. As a result, from 2000-01 through 2010-11, soccer operated with a “20-percent modification.” This placed 20 percent of all schools that actually sponsored soccer in Division 4, and the remaining 80 percent were placed equally in Divisions 1, 2 and 3.
At the time the 20 percent modification was adopted, it was also established that soccer would return to four equal divisions when the largest Division 4 soccer school had an enrollment equal to or smaller than the mid point for Class C schools. That occurred in 2010.
Last class on the schedule
In the same volume of “history being the best teacher,” one can also find the adage, “times change.” While the division format was a welcome change in some sports, others were left to hold class without change.
In the sports of boys and girls basketball, and girls volleyball, the number of schools sponsoring the sports were so close to the overall membership of the MHSAA that divisions were not necessary; the enrollment breakdowns themselves were enough to delineate equal opportunity for tournament success.
That is no longer the case, according to MHSAA membership. The last move from classes to divisions occurred for the 2006-07 school year following Council action. Before this May, that is. Action at the most recent Representative Council meeting, May 2017, called for the shift to divisions for MHSAA Boys and Girls Basketball, and Girls Volleyball, beginning with the 2018-19 season.
“Because the MHSAA Volleyball Committee had requested this change several times a number of years ago, and because the Council felt the change inevitable, there should not be further delay,” Roberts said. “It is an important detail that the Class D maximum has dropped 50 students over the past decade so the objection that much larger schools would be competing in Division 4 isn’t very strong now.”
Using the 2017-18 enrollment figures, just eight Class C schools would be competing in Division 4 for boys basketball, 11 for girls basketball and 14 for girls volleyball.
Good things came of the previous most-recent switches in 2006-07. Competitive Cheer was re-classified from Class A, B and C-D into four equal divisions assisting in the rapid growth of sponsoring schools (approximately 80 schools per division). Alpine skiing was changed from Class A and B-C D to two equal divisions.
At that time, the MHSAA Basketball Committee had recommended to the Council the study of increased classifications, but status quo remained.
Back on the grid
As such, MHSAA Basketball and Volleyball remained the only holdovers of the MHSAA class structure. Discussion resurfaced periodically during the last two decades to bring those tournaments in line with the other MHSAA sports.
Regular-season football-playing schools are separated by class, then are reshuffled by divisions for the playoffs. Football, as we know, underwent a significant postseason facelift in the late 1990s.
While MHSAA Football also remained a class sport through 1998, it had expanded from four to eight classes from 1990-98, becoming the first MHSAA sport to crown more than four team champions. Member schools were asked to consider a pair of options in November of 1997. One called for eight equal divisions, and the second would leave Class D by itself as division 8, and split Class A, B and C schools into seven nearly equal divisions.
After much discussion, retooling, and crunching of formulas, the MHSAA unveiled its revised Football Playoff model that continues to roll today, nearly 20 years later. It was determined that 256 teams would qualify for the tournament based first on a minimum of six wins, then by Playoff Points determined by formula. From there, the field would be divided into eight divisions, with the field being filled out by a nearly equal number of five-win teams in each division as needed to reach 256.
Eight championships would indeed be enough, until football sponsorship among the MHSAA’s smallest schools – some with rich football traditions – began to trend downward. The MHSAA again went to the drawing board, examining the viability of 8-player football. After an experimental year in 2010 without a tournament, the 8-player game was playoff-ready for 2011, with a field of 16 qualifiers embarking on a four-week tournament.
Not only did the 8-player option restore recently canceled programs, but it also created teams in schools which previously had none, and convinced some 11-player schools that this new division was the best path to take.
What did this do for the Class D holdovers staying in the traditional 11-player game? Well, a couple of things, positive and negative. As two and three dozen Class D schools opted for the 8-player game, the remaining 11-player Class D schools at times found themselves in disrupted leagues and had to travel further to complete schedules. They also competed against larger teams in Division 8 of the 11-player MHSAA Football Playoffs.
However, the growth of the 8-player game among the smallest schools also resulted in more Class D schools qualifying for the MHSAA Football Playoffs than ever before. In 2012, an all-time high 44 percent of Class D schools sponsoring football qualified for either the 8-player tournament or Division 8 of the 11-player tournament. That compared to 42.2 percent of Class C schools, 44.9 percent of Class B schools and 41.6 percent of Class A schools which qualified for the 2012 playoffs.
Much is to be determined in the most recent chapter of MHSAA Tournament expansion as the 8-Player Football Playoffs welcome a second division. As the past illustrates, there will be pluses and minuses. History also shows that the MHSAA has received maximum input from its constituents, researched all possibilities, and will find solutions to questions still in the balance before an additional group of athletes hoists a new trophy in November.
Through the Years
A chronology of when which sports moved from Class to Division in the MHSAA.
1995-96: LP Wrestling
1997-98: Baseball, Boys Soccer, Girls Soccer, Softball, LP Girls Tennis, LP Boys Tennis
1998-99: LP Boys Golf, LP Girls Golf
1999-2000: Ice Hockey, LP Boys Track & Field, LP Girls Track & Field
2000-01: LP Boys Cross Country, LP Girls Cross Country, UP Boys Cross Country, UP Girls Cross Country, UP Boys Golf, UP Girls Golf, UP Boys Tennis, UP Girls Tennis, UP Boys Track & Field, UP Girls Track & Field
2002-03: LP Girls Swimming & Diving, LP Boys Swimming & Diving
2005-06: Boys Bowling, Girls Bowling
2006-07: Girls Competitive Cheer, Boys Skiing, Girls Skiing
2018-19: Boys Basketball, Girls Basketball, Girls Volleyball
Note: Boys and Girls Lacrosse has been a divisional sport since it began in during the 2004-05 school year.
Century of School Sports: Sharp Leadership Synonymous with MHSAA's Success
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
April 2, 2025
Just as an organization often will rise and remain successful when there is consistent leadership, so is consistent leadership often a hallmark of a successful organization.
In celebrating a “Century of School Sports,” it’s no stretch to say the Michigan High School Athletic Association has been successful in its continued promotion and administration of educational athletics thanks in part to consistent excellent leadership in the form of only five fulltime executive directors, and two more directors who also took turns leading the organization through some of its most difficult moments.
Two of the MHSAA’s first four executive directors (who are retired, and therefore eligible for the honor) have been inducted into the National High School Hall of Fame by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS). The first fulltime director – Charles E. Forsythe – became Michigan’s first Hall of Fame selection in 1983. The most recently-retired executive director – Jack Roberts – was selected in 2022.
All five executive directors have had monumental impacts on the direction of school sports in Michigan, not just during their time leading the MHSAA but in their various roles leading up to their service at the top of the organization. The below summaries do not come close to stating their full contributions, but merely some of the highlights for which they are most remembered:
Charles E. Forsythe (1931-42, 1945-68)
The MHSAA’s first fulltime executive director literally wrote the book on leadership of school sports programs – “The Administration of High School Athletics” was first published in 1939 and in five more editions as it became a popular college-level textbook. Previously an accomplished athlete, coach, official and athletic director, Forsythe joined the MHSAA staff in 1929 as an assistant director – and during his long tenure leading the office, school sports became part of the lifeblood of communities large and small all over the state. High school membership increased under his leadership, from 600 to 750 schools, and attendance for the MHSAA Boys Basketball Tournament – the headlining high school event of the day – increased from 126,000 for all rounds in 1930 to more than 775,000 at the time of his retirement. While advances were made in football and boys basketball, and in less-visible sports as well – all driving increased participation – the most notable work under Forsythe’s leadership made sports safer for all participants. Many of the most publicized safety initiatives came in football – including significant equipment requirements – but under his leadership the MHSAA in 1940-41 became just the second state nationally to add an accident benefit plan for participants. Forsythe died unexpectedly in December 1968, only a few months after his retirement. He is the namesake for the MHSAA’s annual lifetime achievement award.
Allen W. Bush (1968-78)
The MHSAA’s second fulltime executive director is the namesake for annual awards presented to contributors to school sports whose accomplishments are often behind the scenes and outside of the attention paid to championships and other high achievements. But Bush’s most-known accomplishments have received some of the greatest attention in MHSAA history, and deservedly so. During his tenure, the MHSAA added its first nine championship tournaments in girls sports, created the Football Playoffs and also began awarding Finals championships in baseball, ice hockey and skiing. Bush joined the MHSAA staff in 1960, serving under Forsythe as an assistant and then associate director.
Vern L. Norris (1978-86)
Norris, who died in 2018 at the age of 89, was known especially for his work with coaches and officials. He had coached at three high schools and was a tremendous official himself, having refereed the 1963 Class A Boys Basketball Final. The MHSAA’s annual Vern L. Norris Award honors an official who has been especially active in mentoring and training officials. Norris joined the MHSAA in 1963 and served under both Forsythe and Bush – the latter as associate director – also playing key roles in the creation of girls sports championships during the 1970s and expansion of those opportunities during the 1980s. He also played a significant role in rules-making nationally, contributing on several NFHS committees, and after leaving the MHSAA served as commissioner of the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
John E. “Jack” Roberts (1986-2018)
At the time of Roberts’ retirement, he was the nation’s longest-serving executive director – and with accomplishments in his state and nationally that were arguably unmatched. Under his leadership, the MHSAA grew more than 15 percent to more than 1,500 high schools and junior high/middle schools, and the state’s high school sports participation grew 10 percent and annually ranked higher than states with larger high school-aged populations. The MHSAA again became a national leader in health and safety, setting the pace in concussion care, heat management and CPR certification requirements and policies. The MHSAA also took national leads in coaches education and sportsmanship. Three girls sports and two boys sports were added to the tournament lineup during his tenure, as were 8-player football playoffs and an expansion of the 11-player tournament. Roberts had grown up studying the example of his father John, who served as executive director of the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association for 29 years, and Jack Roberts also served at the NFHS and Fellowship of Christian Athletes before taking over the MHSAA. Few have given their voice to school sports more prevalently: At the time of his retirement, Roberts had spoken in support of educational athletics in nearly every state and five Canadian providences.
Mark Uyl (2018-)
While his tenure as executive director has not yet reached a decade, Uyl already has steered the MHSAA through one of its most challenging times – the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to the cancelation of the end of the Winter 2019-20 season and all sports the ensuing spring. However, under Uyl’s direction – and while other states remained sidelined – MHSAA schools safely returned to activity during the fall of 2020-21, and despite delays completed their championship events for all three seasons that school year. Also a highly-respected game official on a national scale – and past coach and administrator in Michigan – Uyl joined the MHSAA staff in 2004 and has led the way as participation and officials registrations both have continued to rebound from significant decreases during COVID. His tenure also has seen the addition of an Individual Finals division for girls wrestling and the addition of girls field hockey and boys volleyball set for the 2025-26 school year.
Additional notes of recognition must be paid to two more leaders whose contributions came at some of the most delicate times over this successful century:
Julian W. Smith served as interim executive director while Forsythe served in the U.S. Navy during World War II. Smith – who had served on the MHSAA Representative Council for 10 years – received a three-year leave of absence from his role as principal at Battle Creek Lakeview High School and led the MHSAA through an unpredictable wartime era that included the cancelation of statewide championship events in boys basketball and track & field in 1943, but also their return a year later. He continued the promotion of physical fitness that was emphasized as a mission of school sports especially in preparation for service in the military, and during his time as executive director was named to the National Council of Physical Fitness.
Then there is Alden W. “Tommy” Thompson, perhaps the most influential yet forgotten leader in MHSAA history. Thompson had served on the Board of Control for the MHSAA’s predecessor organization, the Michigan Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA) and was then appointed as the first state director of interscholastic athletics, under supervision of the state superintendent and Michigan Department of Public Instruction, about three weeks before the official start of the MHSAA in December 1924.
Charles Forsythe credited Thompson with building the MHSAA “from scratch,” and legendary Lansing State Journal sports editor George Alderton praised Thompson for developing “an eligibility code that was positively fool proof,” classifying schools by enrollment to provide equal opportunities for small and large to win championships, organizing the state basketball tournament to make it financially beneficial to schools which in turn allowed them to spend to develop other sports, and giving a statewide stage to some of those less-visible sports including cross country, tennis and golf. Alderton wrote, “Tommy was the fellow who paved the way, ironed out the humps and gave the machine a push before the motor of popular interest began running.”
Forsythe served as Thompson’s assistant for two years before taking over as state director of athletics in 1931 as Thompson became the state director of physical and health education. However, both would lose their employment with the state’s department of public instruction in 1933 due to budgetary cuts – Thompson, to go on to several more pursuits in athletics, but Forsythe to remain as state director of athletics but now paid fully by the MHSAA, making him officially the association’s first fulltime executive director.
Previous "Century of School Sports" Spotlights
March 25: Athletic Directors Indispensable to Mission of School Sports - Read
March 18: 2025 Finals Begin Next Half-Century of Girls Hoops Championships - Read
March 11: Boys Basketball's Best 1st to Earn MHSAA Finals Titles - Read
March 5: Everything We Do Begins with Participation - Read
Feb. 25: Slogans & Logos Remain Unforgettable Parts of MHSAA History - Read
Feb. 19: MHSAA Tickets Continue to Provide Fan-Friendly Value - Read
Feb. 11: We Recognize Those Who Make Our Games Go - Read
Feb. 4: WISL Conference Continues to Inspire Aspiring Leaders - Read
Jan. 28: Michigan's National Impact Begins at NFHS' Start - Read
Jan. 21: Awards Celebrate Well-Rounded Educational Experience - Read
Jan. 14: Predecessors Laid Foundation for MHSAA's Formation - Read
Jan. 9: MHSAA Blazes Trail Into Cyberspace - Read
Dec. 31: State's Storytellers Share Winter Memories - Read
Dec. 17: MHSAA Over Time - Read
Dec. 10: On This Day, December 13, We Will Celebrate - Read
Dec. 3: MHSAA Work Guided by Representative Council - Read
Nov. 26: Finals Provide Future Pros Early Ford Field Glory - Read
Nov. 19: Connection at Heart of Coaches Advancement Program - Read
Nov. 12: Good Sports are Winners Then, Now & Always - Read
Nov. 5: MHSAA's Home Sweet Home - Read
Oct. 29: MHSAA Summits Draw Thousands to Promote Sportsmanship - Read
Oct. 23: Cross Country Finals Among MHSAA's Longest Running - Read
Oct. 15: State's Storytellers Share Fall Memories - Read
Oct. 8: Guided by 4 S's of Educational Athletics - Read
Oct. 1: Michigan Sends 10 to National Hall of Fame - Read
Sept. 25: MHSAA Record Books Filled with 1000s of Achievements - Read
Sept. 18: Why Does the MHSAA Have These Rules? - Read
Sept. 10: Special Medals, Patches to Commemorate Special Year - Read
Sept. 4: Fall to Finish with 50th Football Championships - Read
Aug. 28: Let the Celebration Begin - Read
PHOTOS Clockwise from top left: (1) Left to right, Al Bush, Charles Forsythe and Vern Norris take a photo together. (2) Norris, left, and Bush hold up Finals trophies. (3) Jack Roberts, left, stands with Mark Uyl during Roberts' induction into the National High School Hall of Fame. (4) Roberts, left, and Norris sit for a photo as Roberts began his tenure after Norris retired. (MHSAA file photos.)