Yes, i think a standardize number is also better....Thats what the IHSA uses....And i believe there enrollments follow like this, Class S would be 0-346, Class M 347-792, Class L 793 and up...Again, i dont understand where the 32 comes in at....

I personally too would maybe like to see the classes more evenly divided, thirds is fair. No matter what divisions are made though, there are going to be schools on the bubble. Here's a story that I think illustrates the issue. I recently attended a jr. high sporting event and after the game I overheard fans talking how they shouldn't be playing this team in the regionals because they should be in a smaller class and not competing against this "big" school. Well, when you get down to the enrollment levels, the "bigger" school has about 50 more total kids. Not what I would consider a significant difference but there's a perception that it's not fair because a particular school is "bigger." I think we are all aware that there are some small schools out there that can, and will, beat some of the biggest schools in southern Illinois.

We are a class M School that plays in a conference with class L schools. Most of our non conference games are class M schools. We have more trouble defeating the class M schools than the class L. Just because you have more people to choose from does not mean those players are better. If you have five really good kids that can play together, that is all you need. Year in and year out the larger schools probably will have more consistant teams, but there are always some really good small schools each year, and believe me there are always some really bad large schools. I like the three class system, my only change would be to set up the regionals based on records and performance rather than location. That way you don't have two 20 win teams in one regional and 4 teams below 500 in another regional. (I know this would be too complicated to do in grade school. People would have to submit thier records or there would have to be some people that would be willing to go out and watch these teams play.)

Very Nice Topic.
I agree with the enrollment dictating the classes and not the standard 32 number. The Class M needs to be beefed up, the class M State tournaments and regionals have been very week the last couple of years,I believe because of the majorority of new schools entering are class M or L. This pushes teams down to the Class S level. Class S has more quality teams year in and year out. In reality why would a Small School not COOP, the guide lines are to easy for the COOP. COOP usually benifit only one school(the weaker of the two COOPS). New guide lines should be lined up for the COOP before class system gets changed.
1.) Must COOP for Min 5 years
2.) Failure to do so will result in suspension from the SIJHSAA
for 5 years, to many teams are COOP ing just to add one or two players, I believe every COOP teams would have enouph for their own school team, probably not being very competitive but thats the way it goes.
or
3.) All COOPS are Class M

Now lets adjust the Class System.
Now the very small schools wont have to compete with COOP teams.
Check the number of COOPS 10 years ago compared to this year,WOW.
I Believe this needs to be addressed before any class adjustment.

By the way I Coach a COOP School.
This did give kids a chance to be competitive, but if the kids(PARENTS) want their kid to be on a winner they can just transfer or move, this happens very often!!!

Golfer I think you bring up a great point. 3 classes is good and honestly you probably can't have more because there just arent enough teams. 32 is such a strange number though also. I agree that it should be split up by how many kids are in your school just like the IHSA does it.

There is no way to make everyone happy. However the classes are divided there will be some school who will feel slighted. I do agree with most of the posters in that the number of schools in each class could be balanced out a little. We don't need 4 classes. As someone else stated, it would water everything down even more. By that I mean we don't really play a "state" tournament anyway. We just determine a champion for the southern portion of the state.