GAINESVILLE, FL (1/17/19) – The Florida High School Athletic Association’s Athletic Directors Advisory Committee met Wednesday in Gainesville to review fall sport advisory committee recommendations. The following action items were endorsed by the committee:

GIRLS VOLLEYBALL

1) Unanimous approval by ADAC to begin process of sanctioning girls beach volleyball.

NEXT STEP: Will return to the FHSAA ADAC for Jan. 2020 meeting. Potential implementation would need FHSAA Board of Directors approval.

SWIMMING & DIVING

No Action Items Presented.

GOLF

1) Maintaining three classes, reducing regions to four and reducing districts to 16 per class (4 per region).

NEXT STEP: Finalized and fast tracked by the FHSAA ADAC to put into place for the 2019 golf season.

2) Add an at-large component for advancement to the state series based upon a rank established using score, course rating and slope from the previous round.

NEXT STEP: Finalized and fast tracked by the FHSAA ADAC to put into place for the 2019 golf season.

3) Increase the minimum number of contests to six.

NEXT STEP: Implementation will need FHSAA Board of Directors approval.

FOOTBALL

1) Use Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) Ranking system for playoff seeding to replace the current point-ranking structure. The components of the formula for the ranking system will be:

• 35% – Your Team’s Winning Percentage
• 35% – Your Opponents’ Winning Percentage
• 30% – Your Opponents’ Opponents’ Winning Percentage

* MaxPreps has agreed to use this formula to generate the ranking.

NEXT STEP: FHSAA Board of Directors will vote Jan. 28 whether to approve or not approve the recommended change. If approved, the new ranking system would be implemented for the 2019 football season.

2) Allowing games to be added after the beginning of the regular season and allowing those games to be included in the team’s rankings.

               NEXT STEP: Finalized. Implemented for the 2019 football season.

3) Offseason dead period for three weeks following the conclusion of each team’s final game. Following the three weeks, let coaches work with their student-athletes with sport-specific equipment during the offseason.

NEXT STEP: Share with every sport advisory committee during the next year as an action item. Will return to the FHSAA ADAC for Jan. 2020 meeting. Potential implementation would need FHSAA Board of Directors approval.

4) 40 Second Play Clock

NEXT STEP: If the NFHS adopts this rule in February 2019, it will be finalized and implemented for the 2019 football season. If not, FHSAA staff will submit a pilot request to the NFHS to allow Florida to implement as a pilot program for the 2019 football season.

BOWLING

No Action Items Presented.

CROSS COUNTRY

1) Student-Athletes Permitted to Wear GPS Watches During Competition

               NEXT STEP: Finalized. Implemented for the 2019 cross country season.

               2) Top-15 Awarded at State Meet

               NEXT STEP: Finalized. Implemented for the 2019 cross country season.

               3) District Realignment

NEXT STEP: Finalized and fast tracked by the FHSAA ADAC to put into place for the 2019 cross country season.

               4) Increase number of teams advancing from region to state from six to eight.

               NEXT STEP: Finalized. Implemented for the 2019 cross country season.