How will split divisions in UIL affect high school sports? Fort Worth-area coaches offer their opinions

The UIL introduced split divisions for volleyball, softball, baseball, soccer and basketball playoffs starting in the 2024-25 high school athletics season on Tuesday at the Legislative Council meeting.

To earn a playoff spot, teams will still need to finish in the top four of their district. The two advancing schools with the largest enrollments will be placed in Division I while the schools with the lower enrollments will advance to Division II.

There will be two playoff brackets and two state champions per classification. The amendment will not affect Class 1A schools for the following sports: volleyball, softball and baseball. These schools will keep the same playoff formats.

What does this mean for high school sports?

The brackets will include less teams, which means there will be one less playoff round. Having less games will limit injuries and will shorten the overall length of the playoffs.

“I really don’t think it will change our approach,” said Benbrook baseball head coach Justin Chavez. “The one thing about it is, we get one less round of baseball. So, that’s kinda nice because the baseball playoffs are so long.”

Having two brackets also means there will be two state championships per classification. More student athletes will be able to experience the thrill of winning a state title.

Winning a state championship, however, is an objectively different accomplishment than it has been in the past.

Chavez said winning a title will still bring the same level of satisfaction.

“You’re going from seven rounds to six rounds,” Chavez said. “It’s tough. Regardless of classification. It’s a hard road to win it. And if you do that, I don’t think its less valuable. Whether you have one champion or two in a classification.”

The path to the mountain top will be shorter and could be less treacherous, considering there is no guarantee the most elite competition will be in a certain division. Of course, winning a state title will still be an incredibly impressive accomplishment.

“I can see it as a positive,” Chavez said. “It gives someone else, like football does, an opportunity to win a state championship, at the end of the day.”

Pros and cons of grouping by enrollment

There are classifications in the UIL for a reason. The system groups schools by enrollment, creating a level playing field for schools that have a semi-equal number of athletes being able to participate in athletics.

Just because a school has a higher enrollment does not mean they have more successful athletics programs than smaller schools, though.

Take DeSoto and Duncanville football as an example. Duncanville won the state championship in Class 6A D1, Texas high school football’s classification with the largest schools. That means the Panthers are the best in Texas, right?

Normally, that would be a consensus agreement. But Duncanville lost to DeSoto 49-35 in the regular season. It was a decisive victory for the Eagles, who went on to win the Class 6A D2 state championship.

DeSoto did not win the state championship in Texas’ largest classification. Without DeSoto’s regular season victory over Duncanville, one could presume the Eagles are not the best in Texas.

“Who was the 6A championship this last year?” North Crowley basketball head coach Tommy Brakel said. “DeSoto? Duncanville? Duncanville won it at the highest level. We didn’t have a 6A champion. They play in the same district.”

Martin softball head coach John Holton said having two state champions per classification may cause schools to be viewed as a “co-state champion.”

“The schools are already used to playing each other and now they’re not going to play each other,” Holton said. “A state championship is still very hard to get to.”

Brakel said he hopes the UIL’s split division amendment evolves into the format used for Classes 1A through 5A football, which groups regular season districts based on enrollment. He said he wants to know his competition ahead of the season.

“Then you know who will be big school and who will be small school,” Brakel said. And we’ve got our pool of teams that we know we’re going to face. Lets saddle up and get after it. And the best team wins.”

Holton acknowledged that winning a state championship will still be incredibly difficult and a great accomplishment. He said the split divisions, however, will change what a state championship represents.

“If the best team is Southlake (Carroll) or if the best team is Guyer, and we don’t get to face them -- are we truly the best team?” Holton said. “But I don’t think it will water it down. I think it will be a great accomplishment for division one and division two. It will still be a state title.”

Holton is “conflicted” with the UIL’s amendment, saying it will alter the competition. Martin would normally have to face Denton Guyer, a consistent softball powerhouse, to reach the state tournament.

The amendment will likely end the rivalry with Guyer having an enrollment of 2,583 and Martin having an enrollment of 3779 students.

“It will make things interesting,” Holton said. “I think we’re going to see different opponents now, which is a bit disappointing. I like matching up with Guyer. It shows us where we are at as a team. They are lower on the enrollment and we are much higher. So, that ends that potential rivalry moving forward.”

Holton does see potential benefits from the amendment too.

“It gives us an opportunity to play some new schools,” Holton said. “It also decreased the number of rounds to get to state. I think that is very favorable to a lot of coaches. Ultimately, time will tell.”

Regardless of the amendment being positive or negative, Holton knows it changes the entire landscape of high school sports.

“We’re already pulling up our spread sheets,” Holton said. “We’re already looking at our enrollment numbers. We’re looking at who we can match up with now and who we’ll never match up with again. So, it definitely changes the dynamic moving forward.”