I have been griping ever since they first introduced the Open division. My basic premise is that the terms of competition should be set at the beginning of the season, then let the chips fall where they may. The more discretion is given to anonymous committees, the more ridiculous and unfair the tweaking becomes. This year's "competitive equity" process has made things so laughable that I am wondering if anyone else thinks it's time to scrap the whole mess.
Establishing divisions by student enrollment has its flaws, but at least is objective. And actually reasonably fair when you consider that a school's primary resource is its student body, and how it chooses to focus that resource is not something that should be penalized. If a D3 enrollment school decides to emphasize basketball, why drag them out of contention for a D3 championship? Or, for that matter, why reward the less competitive D3 schools by removing their more successful rival?
If you let teams qualify for Norcal based solely on how they finished in their sections/divisions, you'll still have some subjectivity in how you seed the teams. But at least teams won't be in or out based on the whims of a committee.
And if you really need an Open Division, let teams choose to compete in that division at the start of the season.
Establishing divisions by student enrollment has its flaws, but at least is objective. And actually reasonably fair when you consider that a school's primary resource is its student body, and how it chooses to focus that resource is not something that should be penalized. If a D3 enrollment school decides to emphasize basketball, why drag them out of contention for a D3 championship? Or, for that matter, why reward the less competitive D3 schools by removing their more successful rival?
If you let teams qualify for Norcal based solely on how they finished in their sections/divisions, you'll still have some subjectivity in how you seed the teams. But at least teams won't be in or out based on the whims of a committee.
And if you really need an Open Division, let teams choose to compete in that division at the start of the season.