New Math: Division & Multiplication Problems
July 25, 2017
By Jack Roberts
MHSAA Executive Director
This is the second 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.
High school tournament classifications went viral before there was social media and most of us knew what “viral” meant.
Much as a virus infects computers today or has created epidemics of disease around the world for centuries, high school tournament classification – once introduced – tends to spread uncontrollably. Once started, it tends to keep expanding and rarely contracts.
While we are still some distance from providing every team a trophy as a result of expanding high school tournament classification across the country, there is criticism nevertheless that we are headed in that direction – a philosophy which is supposed to exist only in local youth sports for our youngest children.
Michigan could be blamed for all this. Michigan is generally accepted as the first state to provide different classifications for season-ending tournaments for different sized schools. It started a century ago. Today, every state has various classifications for its tournaments in most if not all sports. And it is a bit ironic that Michigan – creator of the classification chaos – more than most other states has kept the number of tournament classes or divisions under control.
Yes, there is evidence that tournament classifications have expanded over the years in Michigan, especially with the relatively recent introduction of tournaments in football and the late 1990s’ move from classes to divisions in most MHSAA tournaments. But the MHSAA Representative Council has held true to its word when it expanded the playoffs for football from four classes to eight divisions: this is needed because of unique factors of football, factors that exist in no other sport; and all other sports should be capped at a maximum of four classes or divisions.
Kentucky is the preeminent defender of single-class basketball. All of its 276 high schools compete for the single state championship for each gender. In Indiana, there are still open wounds from its move in 1998 from one to four classes for its 400 schools in basketball.
Multi-class tournaments have tended to increase the number of non-public school champions, which some states are trying to lower through enrollment “multipliers,” and also tend to increase the number of repeat champions, which some states are trying to affect with “success factors” which lift smaller schools into classifications for larger schools if they take home too many trophies.
While there is considerable evidence that state tournaments do as much bad as good for educational athletics, state associations persist in providing postseason tournaments because, on balance, the experiences are supposed to be good for student-athletes. And once we reach that conclusion it is just a small leap to believe that if the tournaments are good for a few, they must be better for more – which leads to creating more and more tournament classifications. One becomes two classes, then three, then four and so forth.
While the argument is that more classifications or divisions provides more students with opportunities to compete and win, it is undeniable that the experience changes as the number of tournament classifications expands. It is not possible for state associations to provide the same level of support when tournament classifications expand to multiple venues playing simultaneously. For example, there is less audio and video broadcast potential at each venue, and less media coverage to each venue. Focus is diluted and fans diminished at each championship.
No one can argue reasonably that today's two-day MHSAA Football Finals of eight championship games has the same pizazz as the one-day, four-games event conducted prior to 1990.
In some states the number of divisions has grown so much that it is difficult to see much difference between the many season-ending state championship games and a regular-season event in the same sport.
It is a balancing act. And Michigan has been studying that balance longer than any other state, and charting a steadier course than most.
Addition by Division
The shift to Divisions for MHSAA Tournament play in numerous sports has added up to a greater number of champions for teams and individuals across the state. Following are the sports currently employing a divisional format, and the procedures for determining enrollment and classification.
In 23 statewide or Lower Peninsula tournaments, schools which sponsor the sport are currently divided into nearly equal divisions. They are:
- Baseball - 4 Divisions
- Boys Bowling - 4 Divisions
- Girls Bowling - 4 Divisions
- Girls Competitive Cheer - 4 Divisions
- LP Boys Cross Country - 4 Divisions
- LP Girls Cross Country - 4 Divisions
- LP Boys Golf - 4 Divisions
- LP Girls Golf - 4 Divisions
- Ice Hockey - 3 Divisions
- Boys Lacrosse - 2 Divisions
- Girls Lacrosse - 2 Divisions
- Boys Skiing - 2 Divisions
- Girls Skiing - 2 Divisions
- LP Boys Soccer - 4 Divisions LP
- Girls Soccer - 4 Divisions
- Girls Softball - 4 Divisions
- LP Boys Swimming & Diving - 3 Divisions
- LP Girls Swimming & Diving - 3 Divisions
- LP Boys Tennis - 4 Divisions
- LP Girls Tennis - 4 Divisions
- LP Boys Track & Field - 4 Divisions
- LP Girls Track & Field - 4 Divisions
- Wrestling - 4 Divisions
Lists of schools for each division of these 23 tournaments are posted on MHSAA.com approximately April 1. Listings of schools in Upper Peninsula tournaments for their sports are also posted on MHSAA.com. The lists are based on school memberships and sports sponsorships in effect or anticipated for the following school year, as known to the MHSAA office as of a date in early March.
In football, the 256 schools which qualify for MHSAA 11-player playoffs are placed in eight equal divisions annually on Selection Sunday. Beginning in 2017, the 8-player divisions will be determined in a like manner on Selection Sunday as well, with 32 qualifying schools placed in two divisions.
Schools have the option to play in any higher division in one or more sports for a minimum of two years.
The deadlines for "opt-ups" are as follows:
- Applications for fall sports must be submitted by April 15
- Applications for winter sports must be submitted by Aug. 15
- Applications for spring sports must be submitted by Oct. 15
Subsequent to the date of these postings for these tournaments, no school will have its division raised or lowered by schools opening or closing, schools adding or dropping sports, schools exercising the option to play in a higher division, or approval or dissolution of cooperative programs.
When the same sport is conducted for boys and girls in the same season (e.g., track & field and cross country), the gender that has the most sponsoring schools controls the division breaks for both genders.
Century of School Sports: Predecessors Laid Foundation for MHSAA's Formation
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
January 14, 2025
We have celebrated throughout this school year the 100th anniversary of the Michigan High School Athletic Association – our “Century of School Sports.” But the first high school sports in this state were being played more than a half-century before the MHSAA was established in December 1924 – and it’s important to recognize our predecessor organizations for their pioneering work.
To keep things very brief, it’s fair to say that high school athletics in Michigan followed the increase in number high schools across the state – especially public schools – as well as interest in sports predominantly at the college level.
In lieu of citing detail by detail, the following is based on research from “Athletics in Michigan High Schools – The First Hundred Years” by L.L. Forsythe, who served as the first president of the MHSAA Representative Council after playing a leading role in its creation as an officer of the previous Michigan Interscholastic Athletic Association. Newspaper reports of the day also contributed to what's summarized below.
It is also key to keep in mind a few things about the organizations that regulated high school athletics before the MHSAA, and to understand their relation to our work today:
- Schools at the start of organized athletics sought primarily to create competitive equity and a safe playing environment for their teams and athletes.
- Schools looked to the statewide organization to uphold and consider appeals for those rules regulating eligibility and fair play.
- Schools later asked for the statewide organization to take over sponsorship of the statewide championship events that began to crop up over the 30 years before the MHSAA formed.
According to Forsythe’s research, the first public high schools in Michigan opened during the middle of the 19th century – as of 1850, only 3-4 existed, but after the Civil War that number began to grow, and with it an interest in athletics as part of student life. Football and baseball were main draws, later to be joined by basketball and track & field – which would be among the MHSAA’s first championship offerings several years later.
The Beginning (1895-1909)
Forsythe notes that 1895 saw the first steps toward regulating high school athletics on a statewide basis. A few entities took on roles in an attempt to bring structure.
- The Michigan State Teachers Association, which in 1895 began to recruit schools to become part of an organization that would require eligible athletes to be enrolled students, succeeding academically with at least a “passing grade,” and participating in no more than five seasons or years of a sport. However, the MSTA did not have a program of activities, as those of the day were generally organized by universities.
- The University Athletic Association was formed by University of Michigan in 1898, and was the main organizer of invitational “state” championships in partnership with the MSTA.
- Another organization, the Michigan Inter-School Athletic Association, also pops up in 1895 as the host of what aspired to be an annual field day.
Michigan Interscholastic Athletic Association (1909-1924)
The Michigan Schoolmasters’ Club absorbed control of athletics from the MSTA in April 1909, forming the MIAA and immediately introducing a series of regulations including an age limit of 21 years old, an eligibility limit of four years, and a restriction on participation by athletes who had competed professionally.
The MIAA would continue to set other eligibility rules, charge dues ($1), and also write into bylaws that member schools could play only member schools. That latter detail was a big driver of growth – the revised MIAA constitution in 1921 added that regulation, and the association grow from 26 schools in 1920 to 130 in 1921, to 284 in 1922 to 305 schools in 1923.
On the event side, the MIAA conducted its first state track meet in 1912, then did so coordinating with Michigan State College. The 1921 basketball tournament saw the first mention of classes – Class B for schools with 250 or fewer students, and Class A for schools with more than 250.
It should also be noted that during the early 1920s, MIAA representatives helped form the organization (first of Midwest states) that would become the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) – which continues to write game rules for nearly all MHSAA sports.
The MIAA continued operating into its annual meeting in December 1923, when leaders were presented with an unwelcome surprise announcement – the Michigan legislature, at the close of its recent session, had transferred supervision of interscholastic athletics to the state Superintendent of Public Instruction (to the superintendent's surprise as well, Forsythe noted).
The negotiations between schools and the state over the following year resulted in the dissolution of the MIAA on Dec. 5, 1924 – and the first meeting of the MHSAA eight days later.
Previous "Century of School Sports" Spotlights
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