Charlotte-area high school conferences could undergo heavy changes under NCHSAA proposal
The N.C. High School Athletic Association released a first draft of proposed conferences Wednesday.
It could mean major changes for Charlotte-area schools.
The NCHSAA is moving from four classifications to eight next season and is also realigning its schools into new leagues.
Some of the conferences, at least right now, have nine teams, which Charlotte Catholic athletic director Kevin Christmas said would hurt non-conference scheduling, given teams play 10 or 11 regular-season games.
“Having nine people in one conference is going to be tough,” he said. “And I guess the other question is does the NCHSAA go back to 32 teams (in the playoffs) or stick to 64? If it’s 64 everybody makes the playoffs, and does it take away competitiveness during the season?”
This first proposal (see below) would have Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools teams split into three different leagues. Two of them would be comprised of all CMS schools.
A third would place Berry, Harding and Olympic into a 6A/7A split league with Cabarrus County Schools programs.
The popular Greater Metro 4A league, of primarily Cabarrus and Iredell County schools, would also break up. Most of the Iredell County schools would be paired with Davie County High School, which is in Mocksville, which is about a 45-minute drive from Lake Norman High, for example.
And Charlotte Catholic would leave the Charlotte conferences and rejoin a Union County conference of 6A and 7A teams. Catholic will be a 6A team. The last time Catholic played in the Union County league, it put together a 66-game conference win streak that was finally snapped by Weddington in October 2019, a win that sparked Union County Schools Supt. Andrew Houlihan to tout the win on social media.
“We love playing in the Union County league,” Christmas said, “and it was great competition and we enjoyed working with all those athletic departments and I get along with all the ADs. So we’re excited.”
▪ Next month, schools will be able to submit concerns and suggestions to the NCHSAA staff. Those are due by Jan. 13. A second draft will be released after that period as well as after in-person appeals are heard. So that second draft is likely to be released in late January or early February.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools proposed conferences
Conference F 6A/7A
Berry (6A)
Central Cabarrus (6A)
Harding (6A)
Olympic (6A)
AL Brown (7A)
Cox Mill (7A)
Hickory Ridge (7A)
West Cabarrus (7A)
Conference C 7A/8A
Hopewell (7A)
North Mecklenburg (7A)
West Mecklenburg (7A)
Chambers (8A)
Garinger (8A)
Hough (8A)
Mallard Creek (8A)
Myers Park (8A)
West Charlotte (8A)
Conference D 7A/8A
Ballantyne Ridge (7A)
Butler (7A)
Independence (7A)
Rocky River (7A)
Ardrey Kell (8A)
East Mecklenburg (8A)
Palisades (8A)
Providence (8A)
South Mecklenburg (8A)
This story was originally published December 18, 2024 at 1:03 PM.
