NCHSAA board approves ‘Big 32’ classification model

The NCHSAA board of trustees has unanimously approved a plan that would place the state’s largest 32 high schools in its highest 8A classification and the smallest 16 in the bottom 1A, effective with the 2025-26 school year. The board’s 17-0 vote came on the first day of the association’s two-day spring meetings. In what the NCHSAA Commissioner Que Tucker called a “paradigm shift,” an additional recommendation to try to form two-classification conferences with at least six members each came up for consideration. Future playoff bracket structures or playoff entry qualifications were not decided. The afternoon portion of Tuesday’s session...