SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) - Plans for a radical overhaul of South Dakota’s high school football system are gaining some traction.
An advisory committee on Thursday advanced plans to reconfigure the seven-class system to five classes, a proposal to be considered by the state’s athletic directors and ultimately the South Dakota High School Activities Association Board of Directors.
The committee took a look at the current system and considered trends across the state with respect to the increasing number of consolidations and co-ops, variances in enrollment and growth of the Sioux Falls metro.
“The committee took all those things and tried to balance it out,” SDHSAA assistant executive director John Krogstrand explained. “(They) looked at what was best for everybody, and not just any one part.”
The Argus Leader reports the five classes would be renamed 11AA, 11A, 11B, 9A and 9B, just as they were in 1999, the last time South Dakota had five football classes.
“It’s kind of like the family inheritance. You’re going to make somebody mad,” Bon Homme coach Byron Pudwill laughed. “We were just lucky enough to be on the advisory board and be the ones everybody hates. Thankfully, they’re going to be moving it up to the activities directors.”
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