At Wednesday’s South Dakota High School Activities Association Board of Directors meeting, Kadoka Area football coach Chad Eisenbraun spoke at the public forum and voiced support for keeping three nine-man classes.

According to the SDHSAA handbook, “If the number of nine-man teams is not divisible by three (not including teams ineligible for the playoffs), the odd number will go to the lower classes. If the number of nine-man teams falls below 64 for two consecutive alignment periods, the number of nine-man classes will drop from three to two. The number of teams will then be equally divided into two classes.”

The three nine-man class model was instituted in 1999. There are currently 62 nine-man football teams — 22 in Class 9AA, 21 in Class 9A and 19 in Class 9B. The two-year scheduling and classification alignments cycles for the 2024-25 and 2025-26 seasons will be decided in January. 

“I know it’s written in the handbook for 64 and below,” Eisenbraun said. “But I think times have changed and a lot of things have changed. For the time period we are standing in and the ADM (average daily membership) we are standing in, I think there’s a lot of support to stay with the three classes.”

Eisenbraun sent out surveys to football coaches and athletic directors to gauge their stance on dropping from three nine-man classes to two nine-man classes.

Eisenbraun sent a survey to all 62 nine-man football coaches and received 58 responses, with 57 voting to keep three nine-man classes. One responded with no opinion. 

“As you can imagine, the coaches are heavily in favor of keeping the three classes of nine-man teams,” Eisenbraun said. “We were nearly at 100%.”

The same survey was sent to 73 athletic directors and received 69 responses, with 57 votes to keep the current model, seven votes for two classes and five had no opinion. 

Additionally, 58 superintendents were also surveyed and 47 voted in favor of keeping the three nine-man classes. 

“Do the classifications need to change?” Eisenbraun said. “According to the numbers that we found, I would strongly recommend we don’t change to two classes.” 

Board of directors also showed their support for keeping the three nine-man class format. Avon Superintendent Tom Culver coached the Pirates to multiple state championships and is in favor of the current model. 

“We were lucky enough to play in the DakotaDome eight times and not once when those kids held up that trophy, did they say, ‘This would mean a lot more if there were only two classes,’ ” Culver said. 

He also pointed out the financial impact on having another state championship game.  

“I look at the 9B championship game last year,” Culver said. “Herreid/Selby, two towns, vs Hitchcock-Tulare and Doland — five communities that came to Vermillion and those five communities spent a lot of money in Vermillion.”

Mount Vernon/Plankinton Athletic Director Eric Denning has heard murmurs about too many football classes, but feels the current model is in the best interest of the kids. 

“There’s a push from the media and the public that we have too many classes,” Denning said. “I don’t know if that’s right or wrong. At the dome, I don’t see any kids at the dome that appear to be too unhappy, but I am aware that public perception is out there.” 

Denning said the SDHSAA should take an “holistic approach” when making the decision and how it will impact multiple people. 

“We are asking nine-man to eliminate 33% of their classes,” Denning said. “It’s a bigger picture thing than just a simple vote on eliminating a nine-man class. I think the ultimate goal is student participation. We have to look at what we are going to do to maximize that.”

The current number of football teams in South Dakota have been impacted by the All-Nations Football Conference, as pointed out by SDHSAA Executive Director Dan Swartos. The burgeoning all-Native American league was formed in 2019 and the number of football teams in the association dropped when it was instituted. It’s currently broken into two eight-team divisions — Class 9B and Class 9A. 

The number of teams have blossomed throughout the league’s existence, and includes teams from North Dakota and Nebraska. 

“All-Nations football has been a really good thing for all the programs that are participating,” Swartos said. “I think right now the All-Nations Conference is happy where they are. I don’t see any transition plans to move back.”

Board member Dani Walking Eagle, of St. Francis Indian School, echoed Swartos’ feelings about the All-Nations Football Conference.  

“For our schools, it’s always been about participation and keeping our football teams going,” Walking Eagle said. “We are lucky to have that. Or else our participation numbers would go down. We are in danger of losing football in Native country. So we are really happy to be honored that way by this board, that you guys work with us and heard what we needed to help keep football going in our schools.”

The board also approved the addition of softball for Chamberlain, Parkston/Ethan, Baltic, Chester, Mt. Vernon/Plankinton, Florence-Henry and Spearfish. 

In other additions, Aberdeen Roncalli, Warner and Aberdeen Christian will co-op in girls golf, beginning in the 2023-24 school year. Wagner and Andes Central/Dakota Christian will form a wrestling co-op, starting in the 2023-24 school year.

In other action, Watertown High School will host Class B dual wrestling tournament and Dacotah Bank Center in Brookings will host Class A dual wrestling tournament. The 2024 Class B boys and girls golf tournaments will be moved from Mitchell to Brookings.