by Mike Blagg
Well it’s time again for “Realignment,”, when the Texas University Interscholastic League (UIL) draws up new Districts for athletic competition. Everybody is wondering what District their school will be playing in next year. So I’ve done a little homework, and my guess follows.
Four years ago, while this was in process, I conducted a telephone interview with Dr. Jamey Harrison, now the Director of the UIL. He was in charge of the realignment process four years ago, and explained it all to me. Realignment happens every two years. Each public high school in Texas submits to the UIL the number of students enrolled as of a chosen date in the fall. Not attendance, enrollment. The UIL then assigns each school to one of six classifications, 1A through 6A. There are about 1,200 public high schools in Texas, so each classification will have about 200 schools.
In most all sports except football, there will be 32 Districts in each classification. Brownwood is currently in District 6-4A for basketball, volleyball, baseball, and softball, along with Stephenville, Glen Rose, Brock, Mineral Wells, and Graham. I do not expect much change there.
In football, however, each classification is sub-divided into two Divisions: Division 1 for the larger enrollment schools within a classification, such as 4A, and Division 2, for the 4A schools with smaller enrollments. Dr. Harrison explained to me the reason for this. The enrollment range is each classification is about 2X. In other words, the largest school in a particular classification will have about twice as many students as the smallest school. Because football requires so many more players than other sports, that creates unfair competition, even within the same classification. Splitting each classification in half keeps the larger schools playing larger schools, and smaller schools playing smaller schools.
(The other sports now also split into Division 1 and Division 2, but only for the playoffs.)
So once all the schools have been assigned to a classification — 1A, 2A, 3A, etc. — and to Division 1 or Division 2 in football, then the UIL creates new Districts. In the sports like basketball, each classification will have 32 Districts. In football, each classification and Division, like 4A Division 2, will have 16 Districts across the state. There are four Regions — Region 1 (west Texas), Region 2 (Northeast Texas), Region 3 (Southeast Texas), and Region 4 (South and Southwest Texas). Four Regions, with four Districts in each Region.
According to Dr. Harrison, the primary consideration in forming the new Districts is just geography. They want schools to be as close as possible to the other schools in their District. So the UIL measures the mileage between the various schools, along with the travel time, both in the afternoon (when travelling to an out-of-town game) and in the night (when travelling back home). The ideal number of teams in each District is about six or seven. Sometimes circumstances require the UIL to create a District with more schools than that, or fewer. But the ideal size is six or seven.
Now let’s take a look at what District Brownwood football might be in next year. Brownwood will move from Class 4A Division 1 to Class 4A Division 2. So it will certainly be a big change for the Lions. Brownwood, of course, is right in the central part of Texas, with no other 4A (2) very close. We might go west, north, or east. I don’t think we will go south. The two 4A (2) schools that are the closest are Gatesville and Glen Rose, both about 90 miles away. All other 4A (2) schools in our part of the state are more than 100 miles away.
The title photograph above shows a map where I have marked all 4A (2) schools in west Texas, north of us, and east of us. Let’s look west first.
Up in the Panhandle is 4A (2) District 2, which has five teams: Lubbock Estacado, Lubbock Liberty, Levelland, Borger, and Perryton. They will all stay in 4A Division 2, so I don’t expect any change to that District. It’s too far away anyhow.
To our west is 4A (2) District 1. Midland Greenwood is moving up to 4A Division 1. Big Spring is moving down to 4A (2). That makes six teams our there that will be 4A (2). One of those, Pecos, is currently 4A (2) by their enrollment, but they currently have opted up to play in 4A Division 1. Will they do that again next year? Will Big Spring? I don’t know. But on paper there are six teams out there. There is some thought that the UIL might assign Brownwood to that District. But the distances to those towns is big, about 250 miles to Fort Stockton, Monahans, and Pecos. Personally, I don’t think we will be assigned to District 1, for that reason. (see map below)
If we eliminate west Texas, that leaves 20 Class 4A Division 2 schools in our part of the state, to the north and east of us. Those 20 schools could be divided into three Districts. (see map below)
We might go north. Texas Football Magazine has projected that Brownwood will go north in a District with Brock, Glen Rose, Mineral Wells, Graham, Iowa Park, and Burkburnett. The photo below shows what that District would look like. They just might be right. But Iowa Park and Burkburnett are just south of the Red River, about 3 hours away, or more. So I’m not sure.
One possibility is putting Brownwood in a District to the northeast, a “Fort Worth” District. (see map below) That District would include Fort Worth Dunbar, Fort Worth Diamond Hill-Jarvis, Fort Worth Western Hills, Lake Worth, Benbrook, Brock, and Venus. All those schools are real close to each other, we would be the outlier. But the travel distances are not too bad. So it could happen, but still I don’t think so.
It would make most sense to me if we are placed in a District to our east: Glen Rose, Hillsboro, Waco La Vega, Waco Connally, Gatesville, and Robinson. (see map below) The travel distances for Brownwood would be the least in this District. So the 20 schools referenced above would be split into three Districts, one to the north, one based around Fort Worth, and one to the east, based around Waco.
(One school I have not mentioned is Ponder, which is moving up from Class 3A (1) to 4A (2). Ponder is just north of Fort Worth, and could be added to one of the Districts I have projected. But I think Ponder will be assigned to a District to their east.)
If I am correct about Brownwood being in the District to our east, it will not be an easy District. Hillsboro appears to be the only weak team, with a win-loss record of 2-8 this year. Waco Connally was 3-7, but they have had some very good teams recently, so you can’t count them out. Glen Rose went 6-6 this year. But they had a young, inexperienced team that started the season 0-5, then won six games in a row and were District Champions. Waco La Vega went 11-3, four weeks deep in the playoffs. Robinson went 9-3, and Gatesville went 7-4.
Well, that’s my best guess. Two years ago, I did a lot of homework like this, and thought I knew which District Brownwood would be assigned to. And I was COMPLETELY WRONG! The UIL does what the UIL does, and they have reasons for what they do. The new Districts and all realignment detail will be released by the UIL in early February, so we will just have to wait and see!