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Shakeups abound for 5A teams at realignment
By Kevin Hageland, Staff Writer
NORTH RICHLAND HILLS -- Hundreds of coaches filled the Birdville ISD Fine Arts and Athletic Complex Monday morning. The coaches shared conversation over muffins, fruit, orange juice and coffee.
But once 9 a.m. hit, it was all business. Frequent interchanges of, “That’s all I’ve got,” and “What do you need?” were the norm.
That’s because coaches from across the state had descended upon this centralized location for the UIL’s biennial realignment and reclassification for the 2010-11 and 2011-12 seasons.
Brence got a blast from the past Monday as Plano Senior, Plano East and Plano West were grouped with Allen, Lewisville, Hebron, Flower Mound and Flower Mound Marcus in District 8-5A. This district is similar to the one used for the 2004-05 and 2005-06 seasons.
This new alignment sent some teams scrambling for games. West was searching for a Week 1 opponent and East needed someone for Week 2. Allen had a hole to fill in its schedule Monday and once again turned to Longview. The Eagles will face Longview, Justin Northwest and Cedar Hill in non-district play.
“It’s going to be another battle,” said Tom Westerberg, Allen head football coach, “just like it always is.”
This new district was clearly a surprise to some, while others were prepared.
“I don’t really get too much into speculation beforehand,” said Bryan Erwin, Marcus football head coach, “and I’m not really surprised by anything that happens [during reclassification] anymore. You just line up and play who they tell you to.”
Whether this was the alignment he expected or not, Erwin knows what to be prepared for in the years ahead.
“It is going to be a very competitive district,” he said.
East head football coach Johnny Ringo took that prediction a step further.
“When you look at the history of what the Lewisville and Flower Mound schools have accomplished,” he said, “I consider this the toughest district in the Metroplex.”
District 7-5A may have something to say about that as Coppell and Southlake Carroll, formerly aligned with the Lewisville ISD schools, are now in a district that includes Keller, Keller Central, Keller Fossil Ridge, Justin Northwest, Saginaw and Denton Guyer, which is new to Class 5A. The cutoff for Class 5A this season was 2,065 students and above, the first time since 1990 that number has fallen.
District’s 7- and 8-5A will face off in bi-district competition and all the aforementioned schools are part of Region I.
“I was hoping we would go back into Region II for travel purposes,” Westerberg said. “Now when you are talking about regional track and some of the other sports, it is still in Lubbock as opposed to Waco.”
Waco will be the likely regional base for Region II teams like Mesquite, Mesquite Horn, North Mesquite and McKinney Boyd.
Boyd was one of the castaways from 8-5A. Jesuit was also on that list as the Rangers will take Carrollton Creekview’s slot in 9-5A. The Mustangs dropped down to Class 4A (990-2,064 students) as did Wylie. The Pirates, in particular, took the news in stride.
“We’re going to miss you guys and we’ll stay friends,” a Wylie representative told the table of Plano and Allen ISD coaches, “but don’t call and don’t write.”
Boyd will remain the lone McKinney ISD school in Class 5A as the team is shifting to District 10-5A, where the Broncos will be the lone non-Garland ISD school. Boyd is alongside North Garland, South Garland, Garland, Lakeview Centennial, Naaman Forest, Rowlett and Sachse.
“I’m a little surprised,” said Don Drake, Boyd football head coach. “Is it good? Is it bad? I don’t really know, but it is going to be a very competitive district.
“It’s a new set of teams, so there isn’t really any carryover and that makes it interesting. We’ve moved around a lot in the past and we are excited for the new challenge.”
Mesquite, North Mesquite and Horn will be part of District 11-5A alongside DeSoto, Tyler Lee and new Class 5A squad Longview. The Mesquite trio has potential bi-district match-ups with schools like A&M Consolidated, Bryan and Temple, and is once again part of one of the few six-team districts in Class 5A.
A fact that didn’t sit too well with some.
“I guess it’s about what I expected,” said Robbie Robinson, Mesquite head football coach. “But I don’t understand why the UIL has some nine-team districts and here we are in a six-team district.
“I wish there was more organization from the UIL. We do all this leg work to set up a non-district schedule and they throw us this curve. It’s like banging your head up against a wall.”
Mesquite had to scramble to find new non-district games after match-ups against Irving ISD schools had to be scrapped due to their inclusion in the nine-team District 6-5A. The Skeeters got their football schedule in order before the representatives from the new district sat down at a table, drew blue tickets and set up schedules for the coming seasons.
Similar systems could be seen all across the room as upwards of 500 coaches and administrators prepped for the next two seasons long after the copies had been dispersed and the refreshments were gone, knowing full well they will have to do it all over again in two years.
“I’m sure once the smoke clears today,” Brence said, “the UIL will start working on the next one.”
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