FHSAA board of directors tackles high school sports Open Division debate

(Willie J. Allen Jr./Orlando Sentinel/TNS)

The Florida High School Athletic Association is scheduled to soon make another landmark move when it adds an Open Division playoff bracket for football, basketball and other major sports in the 2026-27 school year.

The concept, borrowed in part from Arizona and California, will pull the highest-ranked teams in bracket sports (including soccer, volleyball, baseball, softball, etc.) out of their classifications following district tournaments. Powerhouse programs, like St. Thomas Aquinas football and Winter Park girls volleyball, are among the teams likely to be pushed into a separate “best vs. best” state tournament,

The FHSAA’s 13-member board of directors, which voted 12-1 to approve the concept in June 2024, has been bogged down by other matters — including a major change made in the reclassification of football — but will turn its attention to the many questions still unanswered about the Open Division when it meets Monday at the association’s Gainesville headquarters. CEO Craig Damon and his staff will share feedback they have received from coaches on advisory committees and others. The goal is to have the format finalized in time for a final vote of the board during its June meeting.

Examples to highlight potential Open Division matchups include the 2024 and 2025 football regular-season showdowns between Broward County powers Fort Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas and Hollywood Chaminade-Madonna. After staying away from each other for ages, they played late in the regular season two years ago in an epic game that Class 1A Chaminade won 29-22 on the way to its ninth state championship since 2003.

In last season’s rematch, 6A Aquinas topped the Lions 27-21 in a game that was said to have 65 Division 1 prospects. Aquinas went on to win its seventh consecutive state title and 17th since 1992.

Another example is last month’s boys basketball state tournament. Imagine the anticipation if it was an Open Division final pitting Class 7A Miami Columbus, which won its fifth consecutive state championship (even without NBA-bound Cameron Boozer), against MaxPreps’ national No. 2 team, Fort Lauderdale’s Calvary Christian, which crushed its seven 3A playoff opponents by an average of 34 points. That included an 87-51 championship game rout of a very good Villages Charter team.

The Open Division’s marquee matchups figure to draw big crowds and heavy interest from TV and streaming outlets. But the loudest calls for an Open Division weren’t about showcasing superpowers. Proponents of the move have complained for years that Florida’s state playoffs — particularly in football and basketball — don’t have level playing fields because elite programs stockpile transfers.

Ryan Smith, athletic director at the Benjamin School in Palm Beach Gardens, was one of the board members who championed the change. He said adding an Open championship division is an effort “to close the gap with competitive equity in the FHSAA State Series.”

As it stands, it’s often easy to predict who is going to win some FHSAA championships — particularly in football and basketball. In girls basketball, Aquinas won the 6A state final by a 65-22 margin against Palm Bay Bayside. And Miami Country Day won its 10th title in 13 years.

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In theory, moving heavy favorites up opens the door for other teams to contend for state titles in the traditional classifications.

But for all the coaches who favor the Open concept there seems to be a lot more who have concerns and questions.

“I’m not a fan,” said Winter Park volleyball coach Stephanie Gibson, who has had eight state championship teams in 37 years — including the 2025 and 2026 Class 7A titles. She said a system that has 8 or 16 Open Division teams playing for one crown so other teams can claim state titles is not fair.

Jen Darty, Oviedo’s athletic director and volleyball coach, echoed that concern.

“The opportunity to compete for a district, region, or state championship within their classification is being taken away from the highest-ranked teams in the state that have worked hard to compete for these titles while weaker teams in the classification bracket will get to win the trophy, hang the banners, and earn the rings,” Darty said in a reply sent to the FHSAA. She is on the association’s volleyball advisory committee.

As it stands, the FHSAA is leaning towards having eight teams in the Open Division. And one intriguing football game plan that has emerged would fold pool play into the formula. The division would be split into two four-team pools. Each team would play the other three in their pool. The top team in each poll would advance to the championship game.

Scott Jamison, an FHSAA association executive director, said football coaches at power programs favor the idea that they would be guaranteed three playoff games and revenue from at least one home game.

“Right now, we’re looking at eight teams and double elimination or pool play for every sport,” Jamison said. “But we are definitely going to be flexible in our discussion with our board.”

Darty, who is on the FHSAA volleyball advisory committee, suggested an alternate format: maintain the current classifications, which will have seven state championships (Rural and 1A through 6A), and then add a tournament of champions for those winners.

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Tom Kreahling, head coach for the Hagerty girls softball, a state runner-up last season, said he’s not against the Open idea. “I’m all for playing the best teams.”

He’s more concerned about the playoff format.

“My hope is they’ll copy what the NCAA does with their double-elimination regional series,” Kreahling said. “What I don’t want is having single games where you travel six or seven hours to play one hour-and-a-half game.”

NCAA regionals have four teams playing over three days at one site.

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One of the questions to be answered is how ties would be settled in a pool play situation where three of the four teams go 2-1.

And the board must determine if there will be different directions for different sports. Football is a one game per week sport. Basketball, softball and volleyball players are accustomed to pool play and double-elimination tournaments with multiple games in a day. Baseball already has adopted three-game-series, with the possibility of Saturday doubleheaders in regional play. That wouldn’t work for soccer.

Another question that has not gone away is whether or not an Open Division is needed for every sport. The lopsided football and basketball brackets beg for change. But some coaches are saying their sport doesn’t have dynasties that win year after year, so why change the status quo?

“We had a really good group of girls come in as ninth graders and we’ve worked really hard,” Gibson said of her team’s back-to-back titles. “But teams are not going to be loaded every year.”

In the past 11 seasons of 7A girls volleyball Winter Park is the only team to win consecutive titles. Tampa Plant won titles in 2021 and 2023. The other seven winners were: Boca Raton, Hagerty, Lyman, Oviedo, West Orange, Venice and Winter Springs.

In the current baseball rankings, just two 2025 state champions are in the top eight: No. 6 Parkland Stoneman Douglas (7A champ) and No. 7 Fort Myers Canterbury (1A). And only one of last season’s softball title teams, Miami’s Doral Academy, is ranked in the top eight this year.

But it is true that in all sports the teams that go deep in the playoffs tend to be familiar names.

Jamison said the FHSAA says it could be decided that the Open idea doesn’t fit in sports that are played by fewer schools — like water polo, lacrosse, boys volleyball, flag football and beach volleyball.

FHSAA eyes 8-team Open Division for super powers such as Chaminade, Aquinas

Varsity content editor Buddy Collings can be contacted by email at bcollings@orlandosentinel.com.