UHSAA classification realignment proposal has Logan moving from 4A to 3A – Cache Valley Daily

Logan High Grizzlies. Photo by Lorene Hale

LOGAN – The Utah High School Activities Association released a “first consideration” for upcoming re-alignment of regions and classification for schools that would take effect in fall of 2023. For schools in and around Cache Valley there are multiple potential changes that would impact high school athletics.

First and foremost among these changes is Logan High School potentially moving down from the 4A classification to 3A. No other teams in Region 11 – which currently consists of Bear River, Sky View, Green Canyon, Logan, Ridgeline and Mountain Crest – is recommended to move up or down. Mountain Crest is a school that is considered “on the bubble” for a potential move down to 3A, but as things stand with the proposal the Mustangs would remain in 4A.

Logan has previously competed in the 3A classification. The Grizzlies were once in the 5A classification up until the 2005-06 year when they moved down to 3A. In the 2009-10 school year, Logan moved up to 4A where it remained until 2015-16. For two years the Grizzlies competed in the briefly lived 3AA classification for football and in 3A in all other sports. In 2017-18 Logan moved back into 4A and into what is now Region 11.

In an interview with Jason Walker and Eric Frandsen of the Full Court Press, Logan High Athletic Director Mitchell Argyle said he was “surprised” by Logan potentially moving down to 3A. When it comes to whether he’d agree with that move, Argyle said travel and keeping current region rivalries intact were major factors he’s considering.

“I love playing in our valley,” Argyle said. “We enjoy our rivalries with our Cache Valley group and Bear River.”

Argyle didn’t specify if he was leaning for or against the proposal, saying he and the Logan administration will wait and see how things go in the coming weeks as changes to the proposal happen.

“We’ve just talked about it a little bit and said let’s just keep our eyes on how things are going to change,” Argyle said. “There’s going to be a lot of changes before things settle down. So we’ll keep our eyes on that stuff and see where that goes.”

Aside from Logan’s potential move down to 3A, the main change Cache Valley teams would be impacted by is a burgeoning of the 4A class in terms of total teams. The previous re-alignment left 4A with just 13 teams, six in Region 11 that is situated at the far north of Utah and seven teams in Region 10 where most teams are in the furthest south part of the state. The current proposal would nearly double the current number of teams as 25 are slated be in 4A. Most of the teams proposed to join 4A would come down from 5A – Uintah, Provo, East, Bountiful, Timpanogos, Bonneville, Murray, Jordan, Orem, Tooele and Park City. Only two teams – Ogden and Ben Lomond – are set to move up from 3A.

The lower classifications, 3A, 2A and 1A are in a unique position of having potentially different regions in football than in other sports. In 3A, where Logan may end up, there would only 12 schools that field football teams – Logan, Canyon View, Morgan, Union, Grantsville, Carbon, Juab, North Sanpete, Richfield, Manti, Juan Diego and Providence Hall.

The current proposal is not final. The UHSAA Board of Trustees will meet on Dec. 8 to further discuss re-alignment. A public hearing will be held virtually on Dec. 14 where feedback can be given (details on this hearing will be announced later). On Dec. 15, the board will finalize its decisions and create regions among the classifications.