Ohio HS Football: Open Division

[Chilli->SD]

Morning guys:

It's a gorgeous morning here on the west coast, and I've been doing a lot of learning in my first year here in California about how this state does football differently to Ohio. Pretty similar structure, divisions based on enrollment, gotta win your Section (read: region) to qualify for either the NorCal or SoCal bowl, winners play the State championship for that division.

HOWEVER...

California has an Open Division, which any school of any size can participate in. The Open Division is the cream of the crop out here with the best programs playing against each other for the most prestigious prize in the CIF, the Open Division football Championship. There are thousands of schools out here, but only a handful try the Open Division.

My question is this: could something like that work back home? What would an Ohio Open Division look like? Could we see a program like Ironton succeed in such a format with how successful their program has been these last few years? Could other area teams such as Jackson, Wheelersburg, or my Chillicothe Cavaliers give it a go at the other top teams in the state? I'd like to hear what some other locals think of this format. Cheers from San Diego!

[Chilli->SD]

Morning guys:

It's a gorgeous morning here on the west coast, and I've been doing a lot of learning in my first year here in California about how this state does football differently to Ohio. Pretty similar structure, divisions based on enrollment, gotta win your Section (read: region) to qualify for either the NorCal or SoCal bowl, winners play the State championship for that division.

HOWEVER...

California has an Open Division, which any school of any size can participate in. The Open Division is the cream of the crop out here with the best programs playing against each other for the most prestigious prize in the CIF, the Open Division football Championship. There are thousands of schools out here, but only a handful try the Open Division.

My question is this: could something like that work back home? What would an Ohio Open Division look like? Could we see a program like Ironton succeed in such a format with how successful their program has been these last few years? Could other area teams such as Jackson, Wheelersburg, or my Chillicothe Cavaliers give it a go at the other top teams in the state? I'd like to hear what some other locals think of this format. Cheers from San Diego!

An addendum to this post, the CIF has criteria to qualify for the Open Division, including winning a section championship for any division in the last two years or a regional bowl in the last four years. Under that criteria, that would mean Ironton and Trimble (?) would be the only eligible teams from SEO, unless I'm missing someone.

[Fan of the youth]

The "open division" reminds me of the threats made by the non public schools here in Ohio when competitive balance was originally implemented. If my memory serves me the private schools threatened to leave OHSAA if the competitive balance rules were not watered down from the early proposed rules. The fear and alarm was crazy. The powers thought if they lost the private schools (which wins state titles way out of proportion to their numbers) it would dilute the rest of football in the state. The fear was recruiting would become wide open and all the talent, fans, recruiters and most importantly the money would go to the private league. Well competitive balance was watered down and the private continue to dominate most divisions in Ohio. I wonder are any of the fears that existed here in Ohio evident in CA?

[greygoose]

Morning guys:

It's a gorgeous morning here on the west coast, and I've been doing a lot of learning in my first year here in California about how this state does football differently to Ohio. Pretty similar structure, divisions based on enrollment, gotta win your Section (read: region) to qualify for either the NorCal or SoCal bowl, winners play the State championship for that division.

HOWEVER...

California has an Open Division, which any school of any size can participate in. The Open Division is the cream of the crop out here with the best programs playing against each other for the most prestigious prize in the CIF, the Open Division football Championship. There are thousands of schools out here, but only a handful try the Open Division.

My question is this: could something like that work back home? What would an Ohio Open Division look like? Could we see a program like Ironton succeed in such a format with how successful their program has been these last few years? Could other area teams such as Jackson, Wheelersburg, or my Chillicothe Cavaliers give it a go at the other top teams in the state? I'd like to hear what some other locals think of this format. Cheers from San Diego!

I think when you're talking SEO area the idea of open division simply won't work at all. We're just to spread out and you would need a large number of teams fairly close where you don't have to drive all over in order to fill a schedule. Larger cities something like this might work but you look at teams in the MAC they would have no incentive to do something like this because the conference is so strong. Burg is very content in the SOC so why would they leave and have to fight filling a schedule. Just not feasible especially in SEO

[Sonny Weaver]

love the idea, especially the caveat to get in by winning the region or bowl

[Chilli->SD]

The "open division" reminds me of the threats made by the non public schools here in Ohio when competitive balance was originally implemented. If my memory serves me the private schools threatened to leave OHSAA if the competitive balance rules were not watered down from the early proposed rules. The fear and alarm was crazy. The powers thought if they lost the private schools (which wins state titles way out of proportion to their numbers) it would dilute the rest of football in the state. The fear was recruiting would become wide open and all the talent, fans, recruiters and most importantly the money would go to the private league. Well competitive balance was watered down and the private continue to dominate most divisions in Ohio. I wonder are any of the fears that existed here in Ohio evident in CA?

Good question, and to give a one word answer, I'd say no. The reason is that charter schools are pretty big out here and give competition to the private Catholic institutions. For example in my immediate area, if I had kids that went to public HS here they would go to Grossmont High. Or if they were admitted and I shelled out some cash, they could go to Helix, which is a very prestigious athletic charter school. (they produced Alex Smith and Reggie Bush) Alternatively if I were raising them catholic they could go to Mater Dei Catholic, another name you may have heard of. The point is that parents who want to try to develop their kids on the athletic and academic field have more options, assuming they have a big enough pocket book. There are some good public football teams in SD, such as Carlsbad and La Jolla, but the charter schools and Catholic schools still have the same level of prestige as they would in Ohio.

[Chilli->SD]

Morning guys:

It's a gorgeous morning here on the west coast, and I've been doing a lot of learning in my first year here in California about how this state does football differently to Ohio. Pretty similar structure, divisions based on enrollment, gotta win your Section (read: region) to qualify for either the NorCal or SoCal bowl, winners play the State championship for that division.

HOWEVER...

California has an Open Division, which any school of any size can participate in. The Open Division is the cream of the crop out here with the best programs playing against each other for the most prestigious prize in the CIF, the Open Division football Championship. There are thousands of schools out here, but only a handful try the Open Division.

My question is this: could something like that work back home? What would an Ohio Open Division look like? Could we see a program like Ironton succeed in such a format with how successful their program has been these last few years? Could other area teams such as Jackson, Wheelersburg, or my Chillicothe Cavaliers give it a go at the other top teams in the state? I'd like to hear what some other locals think of this format. Cheers from San Diego!

I think when you're talking SEO area the idea of open division simply won't work at all. We're just to spread out and you would need a large number of teams fairly close where you don't have to drive all over in order to fill a schedule. Larger cities something like this might work but you look at teams in the MAC they would have no incentive to do something like this because the conference is so strong. Burg is very content in the SOC so why would they leave and have to fight filling a schedule. Just not feasible especially in SEO

Definitely not a lot of SEO representation, maybe two teams MAX. However, Ironton for example would still be in the OVC and Burg in the SOC, they would just no longer be in DV. Helix plays in the Grossmont League whether they are in DI-AA or Open Division, for example.

[scott1297]

Morning guys:

It's a gorgeous morning here on the west coast, and I've been doing a lot of learning in my first year here in California about how this state does football differently to Ohio. Pretty similar structure, divisions based on enrollment, gotta win your Section (read: region) to qualify for either the NorCal or SoCal bowl, winners play the State championship for that division.

HOWEVER...

California has an Open Division, which any school of any size can participate in. The Open Division is the cream of the crop out here with the best programs playing against each other for the most prestigious prize in the CIF, the Open Division football Championship. There are thousands of schools out here, but only a handful try the Open Division.

My question is this: could something like that work back home? What would an Ohio Open Division look like? Could we see a program like Ironton succeed in such a format with how successful their program has been these last few years? Could other area teams such as Jackson, Wheelersburg, or my Chillicothe Cavaliers give it a go at the other top teams in the state? I'd like to hear what some other locals think of this format. Cheers from San Diego!

Ironton hasn't even won a state championship in division 5 for what 30 plus years but maybe this is their year who knows but maybe if they had something like that here it would be nothing but the division 1 schools that would participate maybe a couple division 2 schools but no one else in Ohio could compete with those big schools

[Bird Dog]

Morning guys:

It's a gorgeous morning here on the west coast, and I've been doing a lot of learning in my first year here in California about how this state does football differently to Ohio. Pretty similar structure, divisions based on enrollment, gotta win your Section (read: region) to qualify for either the NorCal or SoCal bowl, winners play the State championship for that division.

HOWEVER...

California has an Open Division, which any school of any size can participate in. The Open Division is the cream of the crop out here with the best programs playing against each other for the most prestigious prize in the CIF, the Open Division football Championship. There are thousands of schools out here, but only a handful try the Open Division.

My question is this: could something like that work back home? What would an Ohio Open Division look like? Could we see a program like Ironton succeed in such a format with how successful their program has been these last few years? Could other area teams such as Jackson, Wheelersburg, or my Chillicothe Cavaliers give it a go at the other top teams in the state? I'd like to hear what some other locals think of this format. Cheers from San Diego!

Ironton hasn't even won a state championship in division 5 for what 30 plus years but maybe this is their year who knows but maybe if they had something like that here it would be nothing but the division 1 schools that would participate maybe a couple division 2 schools but no one else in Ohio could compete with those big schools

I don't think Ironton has ever won a Division 5 championship.

[ohbuckeye2]

Morning guys:

It's a gorgeous morning here on the west coast, and I've been doing a lot of learning in my first year here in California about how this state does football differently to Ohio. Pretty similar structure, divisions based on enrollment, gotta win your Section (read: region) to qualify for either the NorCal or SoCal bowl, winners play the State championship for that division.

HOWEVER...

California has an Open Division, which any school of any size can participate in. The Open Division is the cream of the crop out here with the best programs playing against each other for the most prestigious prize in the CIF, the Open Division football Championship. There are thousands of schools out here, but only a handful try the Open Division.

My question is this: could something like that work back home? What would an Ohio Open Division look like? Could we see a program like Ironton succeed in such a format with how successful their program has been these last few years? Could other area teams such as Jackson, Wheelersburg, or my Chillicothe Cavaliers give it a go at the other top teams in the state? I'd like to hear what some other locals think of this format. Cheers from San Diego!

Ironton hasn't even won a state championship in division 5 for what 30 plus years but maybe this is their year who knows but maybe if they had something like that here it would be nothing but the division 1 schools that would participate maybe a couple division 2 schools but no one else in Ohio could compete with those big schools

I don't think Ironton has ever won a Division 5 championship.

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