‘Tis the season for rule changes. OK, that’s not very jolly. Or merry for that matter. But the South Dakota High School Activities Association’s rule change process is underway for next year, and that includes football. The state’s football advisory committee is scheduled to meet on Monday, Dec. 1 to discuss a long list of potential rules and policy changes. ( The agenda is always a worthwhile read to see what is proposed and what might advance in the rule-making process). Among the proposals is to allow football teams with a winning percentage below 20% over a four-year period to petition down one classification for the opportunity to allow rebuilding programs to be competitive, retain participation and maintain player safety. Teams that petition down could be re-evaluated every two years and be re-adjusted if sustained success occurs, and it would allow those teams to be eligible for the postseason. South Dakota teams can currently petition up if they’d like, while if teams currently want to be in a lower classification, they are ineligible for the postseason. This comes on the heels of a growing sentiment among high school sports followers in South Dakota about adding a success factor, or some sort of mechanism that mandates a move up in class if they become dominant in terms of winning state titles. There are probably dozens of examples of sports teams in South Dakota that are outmatched and undermanned in their class or situation. But no sport is more affected by it than football. A mismatch on the football field is dangerous for the players involved, it’s embarrassing and it can lead to players quitting the sport and hurting the roster numbers even further, making it a difficult cycle to break. The suggestion was made by Lakota Tech. The Tatanka have not won a varsity level game since the program was created five seasons ago, with a record of 0-45. The Tatanka play in Class 11A, and there’s really no reason for that. They are an outlier in almost every way in Class 11A, and they don’t share much in common with Sioux Falls Christian, Madison, Dell Rapids or Dakota Valley. Lakota Tech is hardly the only school dealing with down times in football. Rapid City Central and Rapid City Stevens have been cellar-dwellers in recent seasons in Class 11AAA. Douglas has one win in the past five seasons. Interestingly, Mitchell would qualify for the sub-20% threshold in Class 11AA, as it has a combined record of 6-30 in the past four seasons for a . 167% winning percentage. Who knows if this sub-20% record proposal is the silver bullet that will fix what ails these struggling programs? And just because a few teams move down, does that mean someone else is forced to move up? That’s not going to be popular but right now, that’s the case as 11AA and 11A are supposed to take the next 11 largest schools for 11AA, followed by the next 14 largest schools for 11A. At the end of the day, the process needs to be objective. Pierre has been dominant in Class 11AA football in terms of winning championships, but how are you going to treat Pierre fairly and to an objective standard? And it’s high school sports. Just because you won a state title three years in a row, doesn’t mean titles No. 4 and No. 5 are automatic. Athletes graduate and circumstances change. Football is not the only sport with competitiveness issues, but it does seem to be the one that feels it the most. Hammering the state for the number of football classes is an easy criticism of the SDHSAA I’ve done that before, too but that’s not helping any meager football programs turn their teams around. Because right now, the football seasons in Box Elder and Baltic another school that has gone four years without a win aren’t something many players look forward to, mainly because they are outclassed before a single snap. South Dakota has reached the point where it needs to try a solution and see what comes from it. The SDHSAA took a good first step a few years ago by factoring in the percentage of students in a school that qualify for free and reduced lunch programs into the classification formula. That was a constitutional amendment approved by member schools, and it moved a number of teams into better classification. The success factor has been talked about for a few years now. It’s a goal the SDHSAA Board of Directors has talked about and has held over for another year, with the goal to present some findings in April 2026 for potential bylaw changes or a constitutional amendment. As SDHSAA Executive Director Dan Swartos said earlier this month during the board’s meeting, a success factor may be a way to “throw a lifeline to a program that’s drowning.” Reclassifying teams occurs every two years and the process is up again this winter, with new enrollments being collected in fall 2025. Putting the process off a little longer for more study or more alterations seems like kicking the can down the road. That’s been done enough. Now is the time to throw out that lifeline.
https://www.mitchellrepublic.com/sports/prep/traxler-time-for-the-sdhsaa-to-help-out-lifeless-football-programs