D-I football realignment raises one puzzling question

By Matt Metcalf
Posted 8/30/16

After a three-month hiatus, high school sports will make their return this week. And, personally, I couldn't be more excited for football season to start. However, as many of you know, there has been some shuffling amid divisions in just about every

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D-I football realignment raises one puzzling question

Posted

After a three-month hiatus, high school sports will make their return this week.

And, personally, I couldn’t be more excited for football season to start.

However, as many of you know, there has been some shuffling amid divisions in just about every sport this fall – football being one of those sports.

Division I, in particular, caught my eye because we have three Division I teams that we cover at Beacon Communications, and it didn’t take long to notice upon looking at the standings that five teams were added to the state’s top division – all of whom were bumped up from Division II.

I understand that the criteria for teams ascending to D-I involved some combination of a team’s most recent success and that school’s enrollment numbers.

The five teams that will be moving into Division I will be Rogers (6-1), Central (5-2), St. Ray’s (5-2), Tolman (4-3) and Woonsocket (2-6).

So, it seems that, at least for a couple of teams, the enrollment aspect of the aforementioned criteria shoved a couple of those squads into D-I without necessarily having the allotted amount of wins in recent years.

Take Woonsocket, for example. It has the third-highest enrollment amid public schools in the state, but it undoubtedly struggled against Division II competition on the gridiron in 2014, scoring 85 points and yielding 189.

Another school that met only one requirement to move up was Rogers. It had a tremendous season last fall, compiling a league record of 6-1 – good for first in Division II-A. However, the Newport-based school is 41st in enrollment amid public schools in the state.

So, Woonsocket and Rogers both only satisfied half of the requirements mentioned above, yet they both still find themselves preparing for a D-I slate.

My point?

If only half of the criteria needed to be met, then why isn’t Moses Brown in D-I?

It ran the table with ease in D-II last season, scoring 285 points and surrendering 48 en route to a perfect 7-0 season, as the Quakers captured the division crown.

Sure, Moses Brown’s enrollment is low, but Rogers is in the same boat and it made the move.

If a team is coming off a season in which it scored over 40 points per game while giving up less than a touchdown, it may be time to find some stiffer competition.

Understandably, I’m sure the league went to Moses Brown first when it decided to realign its divisions, as it was a notch above its competitors all season last year.

But, for whatever reason, the school must’ve declined the move.

Now, the Quakers have eluded what should’ve been a tougher schedule this season, and will play a D-II slate while a few of their strongest competitors from last season will be battling with the state’s top teams.

Not only that, but how do coaches within Division II feel about Moses Brown remaining where it was?

Many teams staying put in D-II are squads who either struggled last season or encountered moderate success, while the remainder of the division will be comprised of 2015 D-III teams who will be looking to make some noise.

It’s going to be hard for them to do just that with the elephant still in the room.

I understand, at least in some aspect, why the other five teams are in D-I, whether it be because of success or school size.

And high school football fans would’ve loved to see the D-II champ move up and be in that group to see how it stacked up against the likes of Hendricken and La Salle.

The move should’ve been a no-brainer to increase the levels of parity in both D-I and D-II.

But, unfortunately it didn’t happen, and an opportunity was lost – an opportunity to make high school football in Rhode Island better.

Comments

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  • ProvidenceRes

    I disagree with your assessment of the facts, Rogers High enrolls 600+ kids in 9-12. Moses Brown enrolls 700 kids in K-12, thats a significant difference. with 100 graduating Seniors, that leaves 50 Senior boys of which they need to field soccer, cross country and football, of the boys who choose to participate in a sport. Your numbers dont add up, please do a better job investigating the facts.

    Wednesday, August 31, 2016 Report this

  • CarverHawkeye

    Moses Brown joined the RIIL in 2001. The Quakers are 105-22 in the regular season during that time and have played in nine Super Bowls. They certainly don't seem to be having any problems despite the limited player selection asserted by ProvidenceRes. And that's a deliberately misleading notion -- retaining 15-20 non-freshman boys from each class would give a football team 45-60 on the varsity, certainly in line with and better than some current Division I schools.

    By my count, Moses Brown has a winning percentage of better than .800. That's also participation in 60 percent of the possible Super Bowls available. Regardless of enrollment, the success on the field speaks for itself. A .500 record in the regular season indicates a program is in the proper division. An .800 record -- sustained over a significant period of time in Divisions IV, III and II -- indicates a program is on solid enough footing to be promoted.

    Moses Brown is well coached, has its players work out religiously in the offseason and turns out good numbers for its roster. It operates like a Division I program. It dominates the bottom divisions like a Division I program. For all intents and purposes, it is a Division I program. But this continued resistance to the above facts exposes the likes of Rogers, Central and Woonsocket -- inferior programs to Moses Brown -- to Division I instead. It's the wrong decision.

    Thursday, September 1, 2016 Report this

  • JohnStark

    Matt Metcalf makes a good case for MB being in D1, a case echoed by most coaches. It is well known that other coaches are extremely unhappy with Moses Brown’s ongoing avoidance of D1 competition. Tough to make a case that Woonsocket belongs in D1 and MB does not.

    As it all relates to Warwick, using only enrollment as a guide, Pilgrim’s male enrollment now exceeds all but 2 or 3 D1 public schools, yet will play in D2. The scenario is similar with Tollgate, which would be one of the four largest schools in D2, but will play in D3. Competitiveness is clearly another issue and, given previous records, football placements probably make sense. But you do have to wonder what's going on in communities such as Cranston, Cumberland, Portsmouth, and South Kingstown that is not going on in Warwick, once a hotbed of high school football? Meanwhile, both Pilgrim and TG have opted to compete in D1 in girls soccer.

    Thursday, September 1, 2016 Report this

  • WAquilante

    Successful sports programs at schools with lower enrollments have always been able to "hide" so to speak in lower divisions because the RIIL formula considers school size a 20% of the alignment formula. The percentage used to be higher and they have done a good job of having results on the field, particularly over the most recent two year window to properly align teams.

    Thursday, September 1, 2016 Report this