With yesterday’s 16-1 vote, the N.C. High School Athletic Association Board of Directors finalized the realignment plan for the upcoming cycle.

The meeting took more than 10 hours, which included 27 appeals from schools, and lengthy discussions by the board before voting on each appeal.

Some changes were made, a few of them significant, but most appeals were denied. This is typical at this point in the realignment process, and honestly, we saw more appeals before the full board than normal. I’m not shocked by that since we’re moving to a new eight classification format. It’s a lot of change.

Conferences are set. Classifications are done. But the process is not yet over.

So what’s next?

To be honest, we still have a lot of questions about what is coming and when we’ll know the answers. There are some key things missing that we know have to be determined though.

Playoffs?! Yep, I’m not kidding. Playoffs!

This is one of the two biggest question marks remaining for schools. What will the playoffs look like with the new realignment?

Moving to eight classifications is going to change the way the playoffs work. Current brackets have 64 teams (in most instances), but under the new realignment no class will have 64 teams total. The 8A class will have 32 teams, the other classes will have less than 60.

There are a lot of options that the NCHSAA Bylaw Task Force has been looking at. On one extreme, it’s possible every team could qualify. My gut tells me that is unlikely, but you can’t rule it out. I think more likely is between 32 and 48 teams in most classifications, and between 16 and 24 teams in the 8A classification.

There could be changes to bracket size in sports where classifications are combined or fewer schools offer a particular sport, but that will have to be decided on a specific case-by-case basis.

The other piece to the playoffs that needs to be decided is how teams qualify. Will conference champions and most runners up get in automatically like they do today? How about conference tournament champions? What about in split conferences? We have a lot of split conferences in the new realignment.

Then there’s the question of seeding priority. Right now, the conference champions get seeded first based on RPI, then everyone else follows. Will that continue? Should conference runners up get seeding priority over at-large teams? Do you keep the leap frog rule so a team that finishes lower in the conference standings can’t jump a team higher in the conference standings even if they have a better RPI?

Could we go back to doing pre-determined brackets? I hope not, but that could be a discussion that is had.

Assuming we don’t return to pre-determined brackets, do we use the same RPI formula? There has been an effort to change it. Could we go back to using winning percentage or the MaxPreps rankings?

What about regions? Do we only have an East and West? Or could we see the Mideast and Midwest return from the past? Are the regional lines pre-determined like we’ve done recently? Or could the regional lines shift based on which teams qualify for the playoffs?

Bottom line: There are a lot of questions that are yet to be determined about the state playoffs. The NCHSAA Bylaw Task Force will be responsible for putting forth recommendations to the board of directors, then the board will have to gather again to discuss and vote on the plans. It’s not clear if that will happen in another special session, or if the board will wait until its regular spring meeting at the end of the April to address the playoff system.

Schools want the season calendar

If you’re an athletic director or a coach, you probably don’t have to read this section, you already know — schools really want the sports calednar for next school year, especially for fall sports.

Right now, any work that is being done on schedules for the 2025-2026 school year is being done in pencil, not pen. Until the NCHSAA releases the official sports calendar for next year, schedules are up in the air.

Schools need to know how many regular season games will be allowed in each sport, that way they know how many non-conference games they need to fill.

They also need to know when seasons will start, when regular seasons will end, and when conference tournaments will be held.

The issue is this: The NCHSAA can’t set a sports calendar until it knows the details about the playoffs. The number of rounds in the playoffs will determine how many weeks are needed to complete the regular season. Then the NCHSAA will work backwards to determine the regular season calendar.

Like the playoff format, the sports calendar will also have to be approved by the board. We’re also not sure if that will happen in a special session or if the board will wait until its regular meeting in April.

Looking down the road

The new realignment cycle is scheduled to run from 2025 through 2029. However, even that could change.

Schools are expected to vote on a new bylaw amendment this spring which would increase the frequency of the realignment process. If passed, the NCHSAA would realign every two years instead of every four.

Many state associations across the country realign more often than every four years, so there is precedent for such a decision.

In North Carolina, we have a lot of charter and private schools that are growing in population. We also have some areas of the state that are seeing population decline, while others are growing rapidly. This leads to major shifts in school enrollment numbers over a four-year period. Realigning more often could help keep the playing field more level.

We should learn this spring whether or not that bylaw passes.

HighSchoolOT will continue covering the realignment process in the most in-depth way possible.