Breaking: IHSA member vote to rescind Districts
- Thread starter sporthog_9er
- Start date
Just wish they would tweak some conferences where teams are not competitive for many yrs.
Regardless of opinions on if districts should be implemented, it’s good to see more schools voted no opinion since last time there were enough schools that weren’t affected that voted that may have made a difference. Also nice to see a wider margin of victory so less people should be disappointed
Its disappointing that it passed with no other resolution to combat the issues that going to districts was supposed to address. I don't know if districts was the right solution, and we may never know. I think it was careless of the IHSA to move forward with districts before addressing all of the possible issues. But, I also think its careless to rescind them based on fears of what could happen. Should have given it a 2-year run to see how things worked out. Maybe it would have been ok, maybe not, but this could lead to Principals and ADs fearing that anything that is voted to pass will not happen if large schools gerrymander their ideas and fears to others. Too much politics in high school sports.
374-241-87.this year to eliminate districts. 615 voters of 702.
324-307-69 last year to approve districts. 631 voters of 700.
67 votes more to keep current system, while 83 fewer wanted districts. But 16 more abstained, when it was a 17 vote difference in favor a year ago...Frightening to think that 16 of the 17 vote difference might have been schools who didn't have a horse in the race...
Simply putting forth what districts might do to travel likely changed some minds, along with losing the ability to choose a schedule which corresponds with your school's goals (the CPS & CCL horror combinations).
324-307-69 last year to approve districts. 631 voters of 700.
67 votes more to keep current system, while 83 fewer wanted districts. But 16 more abstained, when it was a 17 vote difference in favor a year ago...Frightening to think that 16 of the 17 vote difference might have been schools who didn't have a horse in the race...
Simply putting forth what districts might do to travel likely changed some minds, along with losing the ability to choose a schedule which corresponds with your school's goals (the CPS & CCL horror combinations).
Now, if they want to try the next version of the concept...what if they divided the 8 classes prior to the season, and the top 32 in each class made the playoffs. No schedule changes required, you can play anyone. Keep your current conference. If one class has 4-5 teams in the playoffs, and other classes have 5-4 teams miss the playoffs, so what...
Some of the conference shuffling the last 10 years has had to do with going to four classes for basketball & volleyball. When there were only two classes, a 700 student Herscher and a 100 student Donovan in the same conference made geographic sense, so it could work until Manteno started football and the football schools left...the Kankakee Valley / then River Valley Conference worked when everyone under 700 kids was in one class. Sure, Herscher with an enrollment larger than the four smallest schools in the conference combined had an advantage...but a 1A/2A split at 300 kids sure would make that conference makeup look silly today...
Your 1A/2A basketball cutoff, however, is about the same as the 1A/2A football cutoff. The 697 2A/3A hoops cutoff, however, is upper middle 4A football enrollment. I don't see if hard football classes were implemented now that it would cause a bunch of fresh conference shuffling...The 1635 hoops 3A/4A cutoff is sitting there near the top of the 6A football range...It might cause some conference stability...and scheduling stability if your enrollment is near a cutoff.
Some of the conference shuffling the last 10 years has had to do with going to four classes for basketball & volleyball. When there were only two classes, a 700 student Herscher and a 100 student Donovan in the same conference made geographic sense, so it could work until Manteno started football and the football schools left...the Kankakee Valley / then River Valley Conference worked when everyone under 700 kids was in one class. Sure, Herscher with an enrollment larger than the four smallest schools in the conference combined had an advantage...but a 1A/2A split at 300 kids sure would make that conference makeup look silly today...
Your 1A/2A basketball cutoff, however, is about the same as the 1A/2A football cutoff. The 697 2A/3A hoops cutoff, however, is upper middle 4A football enrollment. I don't see if hard football classes were implemented now that it would cause a bunch of fresh conference shuffling...The 1635 hoops 3A/4A cutoff is sitting there near the top of the 6A football range...It might cause some conference stability...and scheduling stability if your enrollment is near a cutoff.
The elephant in the room here is simply this: In all other sports but football, every school that wants to compete gets to compete in the State Final Series.
Until the IHSA changes the State Final Series in Football so that every school that fields a team gets to compete in the State Final Series in some way, schools are going to continue to attempt to position themselves to have a better chance of qualifying for the State Final Series.
How good was this past year's 4-5 Naperville Central team? If it were a basketball team with a similar record, we would have gotten a chance to find out, because they would have been entered into the State Final Series, and would have gotten to play at least one game.
If the IHSA wants to end the conference shifting and the reluctance of schools to play in conferences with and/or non-conference games against other schools with a history of successful programs, they need to change the State Final Series in football in some way that ensures every team gets to play at least one game.
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If we have “all in” playoffs without legitimate seeding, what’s the purpose of the regular season?