What about this?

Longview
Pine Tree
Texas High
Marshall
Kilgore
Nac
Hallsville
Henderson


I was trying to think of schools that are somewhat close together. I guess you could take Texas High out and keep them travelling toward the west and then bring in someone else.

I would hate to be Pine Tree in that district though. That is a tough 4a district!

Or, a 6 team district:

Longview
Pine Tree
Kilgore
Hallsville
Marshall
Nac

What about this?

Longview
Pine Tree
Texas High
Marshall
Kilgore
Nac
Hallsville
Henderson


I was trying to think of schools that are somewhat close together. I guess you could take Texas High out and keep them travelling toward the west and then bring in someone else.

I would hate to be Pine Tree in that district though. That is a tough 4a district!

Or, a 6 team district:

Longview
Pine Tree
Kilgore
Hallsville
Marshall
Nac

Just a few thoughts.. By no means am I bashing you or anything. Id take T'High out. And your 6 team district looks good but where would Henderson go?

I think the 6 team district looks better too. Henderson was the other school that I could not find a place for. You know T High used to be part of that old district with Longview, Nac, Marshall, etc...

If that 3a numbers goes up very much, Henderson could be looking at 3a. I heard they turned in 1,007. THe cut off for 3a last year was 949.

You could always take T High out and add Henderson I guess. Bad part for T High is the only other place to go is toward MP, SS, Lindale, etc..where they are now. That is a lot of travel for them!

That is what makes all of this fun, we never know until Feb!

If Henderson drops down to 3A, Kilgore probably would too. Both towns have had similar populations for as long as I can remember.

Of course, things do change!

I concur with everything Bowman except the addition of Texas High in the district. I think, at least geographically speaking, TH would be grouped with the I-30 corridor schools (Mount Pleasant, Sulphur Springs, ect...) I can also see the possibility of Nac, Henderson and Jacksonville grouped with Corsicana and schools towards the I-45 region.

You could always put Henderson in the district with Lindale, ect. Or throw them with Jacksonville. OR but both Jackonsville and Henderson with Lindale. Personally I like realignment time. Lots of would-ifs.. Good football talk overall.

With Henderson possibly entering 3A, I think the U.S. 259 runway would have to include Nacogdoches, Kilgore, Pine Tree, Hallsville and Longview. I guess J'ville would go with that as Henderson might not be a 4A opponent. Is J'ville closer to those towns than to Corsicana and Lindale? If it is then Nacogdoches, Kilgore, Pine Tree, Hallsville Longview and J'ville.
With Marshall going back to the Texas High area district and Whitehouse going to Lindale ,Corsicana and those schools.

All of this is possible, but don't leave out politics's. It has, and always will change everything. I guarantee you, when the UIL does realign... some will be left saying ... WHAT?

Personally, I think Texas High will have to re-join the 4A schools to the south. Paris is a lock to move down to 3A. In order to find 6 schools for a district, Texas High would have to be placed in the Metroplex, almost 150 miles away. No, it makes more sense for them to re-join Marshall, Hallsville - and maybe Longview. All of these schools would be within a 100 mile radius. Then again, we are talking about the UIL, so who knows?!?!?

Jacksonville is 76 miles from Corsicana, and 74 miles from Marshall. Nac is 54 miles from Jacksonville and 81 miles from Marshall.

Nac is out in the middle of 4A nowhere. There doesn't seem to be anywhere else for them to go.

It would seem to make sense that if a school drops out of a 4A district, and 30 miles away, and very close to other schools in that district, a 5A school drops into 4A, direct replacement makes a lot of sense.

Possibly move Whitehouse into 11-4a, make room for Longview in 12-4a, also move Jacksonville into 11-4a, this would make both districts with 7 teams total, to make room for UIL's thinking of taking 4 teams from each district into the playoffs.

11-4a would look something like this:

Texas High
Sulphur Springs
Lindale
Whitehouse
North Lamar
Mount Pleasant
Jacksonville

I like the mix, but Jville is 146 miles from Texarkana.

UIL desicions are not always based on logic. For example, Seguin is only 25 miles from San Antonio, but the Matadors are grouped in a district primarily made up of Austin area schools, including Westlake. Austin is roughly 50 miles from Seguin.

Naw, Kilgore is pushing 1100, something like 1070 I think!

Good point, revamp, and replace Jacksonville with Kilgore: 11-4a

Texas High
Whitehouse
Sulphur Springs
Kilgore
Mount Pleasant
North Lamar
Lindale

12-4a
Longview
Nac
Marshall
Pine Tree
Hallsville
Jacksonville
Henderson

As mentioned in puts 7 teams in each district, and makes way for the 4 teams to make it to the playoffs.

The UIL starts in El Paso and heads East. They spend a HUGE amount of time on this. They try to make everything 6's or 8's but if they have to make a 7, then they have to make another 7 nearby so that they can have a relatively close opponent to schedule for the bye week. It is all very complicated and they could really care less about rivalries, school size within a conference or anything else. They look at travel and that's about it. It is the only way to be neutral.

It never makes sense to everybody. But then again, not everybody that I know makes sense to me either............

the dirty rumor is that john tyler could go down too.......

John Tyler
Longview
Whitehouse
Kilgore
Jacksonville
Hallsville
Marshall
Pine Tree

I think JT turned in over 2,200 students this year. They will not be going down, if that is true.

What about swapping out Whitehouse and Kilgore from 11-4A with Longview and Pine Tree in 12-4A in that scenario?

There is NO WAY Longview would drop to 4A. Even if they did have the numbers for 4A, they would opt up just like Dallas Carter has for years. School officials have that option and I gaurantee that no one in Lonview ISD is gonna move down to 4A because of a 100-200 student drop.

Opting up is not an option anymore. There are only 2 reasons that the UIL can grant that anymore. One is for travel hardships. That's definately not the case with Longview. Travel would be much less. 2nd is for when there are schools within a city that should stay together. Dallas Carter fits both of those exceptions. Longview fits neither. Mark my words. Longview is going to 4A.

Hold on! Excuse me while I get excited about this!! Um, nevermind.

I dread this move. There's nothing there I'd care to see.

Longview want drop, but Royse City will go to 4A

Longview will not drop to 4A, they are 55 students (2005) above the cutoff (1950)

The question is -- how will they adjust for Paris dropping to 3A and Royse City moving up to 4A.

Cut off # last time was 1985 and they usually always increase it some. Highland Park turned in 2025 I believe and they are always right at the cut off. I think the # increases to over 2,000 for sure. You have a lot of large schools in the metroplex and Houston that are brand new that will fill up 5a soon.

So, with Longview's new number, they are only 20 students off and if they increase like they usually do, watch out.

I could be wrong, but I thought I read on here that UIL decided not to make any changes to the current alignment. If they did not, the Longview stays 5A. If they did, who knows.

Remember, there are TWO 4A districts in this area. You have to include Whitehouse and Jacksonville in the mix, too. If Longview indeed goes 4A, it would be most logical to put the Lobos in 12-4A (Marshall, Whitehouse, Nac, Kilgore, Hallsville, Jacksonville, Henderson, Pine Tree).

However, the UIL is not known for being logical. LHS could even wind up in 11-4A (Texas High, Paris, North Lamar, Sulphur Springs, Mount Pleasant, Lindale). That would make no sense ... but we're talking the UIL here. The UIL realignment policy specifically says it doesn't take "rivalries" into account. (Remember when the UIL moved San Angelo out of its traditional West Texas district with Midland, Odessa and Abilene schools and placed the Bobcats into the Lubbock-Amarillo district? They're still there.

4A realignment in February 2008 could even throw Greenville and Terrell into the East Texas mix. The UIL prefers six-team and eight-team districts. Anything is possible in '08. I look forward to Longview going 4A ... but only if the Lobos go into the correct district (Marshall, Kilgore, etc.)

The only thing the UIL decided not to do was split the teams into DI and DII automatically. They were talking about making a small school district and a large school district, instead of splitting them up just for playoffs. They decided against that.

We never know what they will do until they announce it in February.

The cut off numbers for 5A in 2004 were 1925. In 2006 they were 1985. The growth in all these quick groing suburban schools are greater this year than they were in the last 2 alignments. I see the cut off number going up significantly. They're going to have to go up if they want to keep the divisions as equal as possible. Otherwise 5A will be extremely top heavy and it would leave 4A with scarce numbers.

District A


North Lamar
Sulphur Springs
Greenville
Forney
Royce City
Terrell
Mt Pleasant
Texas High
*******note - Paris to 3A

District B

Kilgore
Marshall
Hallsville
Pine Tree
Longview
Henderson
Nacogdoches
Jacksonville

District C

Lindale
Whitehouse
Corsicana
Ennis
Waxahachie
Red Oak
Lancaster

That looks good, but I think Jacksonville would end up going into district C.

As everyone has mentioned UIL has a strange way of doing things, maybe Terrell in District C, and Lindale in District A.

Royse City
Forney
Terrell
Greenville
Rockwall
Rockwall Heath
West Mesquite

Very possible district....

The previous cutoff was 1,984 not 1,950. The speculation is that it will go up
to 2,010-2,025. If it does Longview will go 12-4A.

Where do you put Mesquite Poteet? And, don't forget Highland Park!!! I refuse to believe they turned in 5A numbers until I see it on paper from the UIL. If the new cut-off is 2030, HP will probably have 2025.

After looking at all the possible district set ups you guys have shown, Lindale's best hope is to go 3A again! We just can't compete with the Longview's and Texas Highs of East Texas let alone some of the metroplex smaller schools. Dang, Lindale's population is only around 5000. A bit smaller than all the rest of you!

Lindale can compete. Look at what Whitehouse, and Sulphur Springs have been able to accomplish. I am sure it was frustrating for them also. When Lindale first came into the 4a arena, it was thought it would be awhile before they even won a district game, and they have won 3 over the past 2 years, and if not for a late drive with MP last year would have made the playoffs. And, are still in the hunt for playoffs this year.

I know, Lindale has done far better than I could have ever guessed. I just prefer to big the big kid in school rather than the little guy. Lindale has a really good shot at playoffs this year -- NL and MP are both winnable games for them. I guess we shall see.

If Longview joins our district, I want to go to 3A.

It's always intersting to hear all of the rumors that start swirling around about this time evry 2 years. The latest that I have heard is that Longview turned in just over 2,000 which would probably keep them in 5A. I have also heard that they have already petitioned the UIL to stay up in 5A if their numbers are too low. So don't count on Longview playing in 4A just yet.

Longview turned in 2,005. You can only petition and stay up if you are in a multi school district (Longview is the only HS in LISD), or if travel will be a problem. That is not the case. So, good chance they are 4a.

I am guessing the top 4a number to be around 2,020, give or take a few.

the cut off will be 1 more than what Highland Park turns in.

So what is your guess as to the low number for 4a? Just asking.

4-A WILL BE 1960... Highland Park will turn in 1959...... LOL

Highland Park already turned in their numbers. It was 2020. 15 more than Longview.

That solves it, the cut off for 4A is 2021

How times have changed. Its a shame where the old 12-5A has gone. If we lose Longview, and possibly JT in the rumored near future, we would lose what once was the old East Texas District with R.E. Lee, JT, Longview, Lufkin, Marshall, Texas High, NAC. Lee would be the lone wolf in that group, with more than likely adding another Dallas school to 12-5A. Not a good thing. There's nothing like the traditional rivalries, that will soon be lost. Not a reality yet, but putting it to thought.

You're wrong. The Longview folks (King, Collins, etc..) recently said on the radio that there is no way they will be 4A even if the numbers come in that way. Look, there are so many 4A schools in the area, the UIL would love for Longview to stay up as the 5A teams in East Texas have had to go to Mesquite just to make a district. What do you do with Lee, JT? The UIL factors in all those things -- not just travel and teams in the same city -- they have to factor those things in and thus, they still allow some teams the option to stay up.

Remember when your talking about Tyler teams, they are 25-30 miles West of us. It is as close for them to drive to the metroplex as it was for them to travel to Texarkana, an Nac in the past. Only about 80 miles to Mesquite for them.