Public vs Private Tournament

redhawks_2015

Redshirt
Nov 17, 2025
10
5
3
Take the best 16 teams in both, would create better matchups then traditional seeding
Here is a potential option:
Private School Championship at Northwestern
Public School Championship at NIU
PUBLIC v PRIVATE Championship at U of I to determine State Champion

Here is what it could potentially look like:

PUBLIC
1. ESL
16. Hinsdale C./Barrington

8. Oswego
9. LWC

4. GBW
13. HF

5. Batavia
12. SCN

2. LWE
15. Lyons/York

7. Fremd
10. Lockport

3. DGN
14. Bolingbrook

6. Maine South
11. Byron

PRIVATE

1. MC
16. Niles Notre Dame

8. St. Rita
9. St. Francis

4. Nazareth
13. Marist

5. Montini
12. JCA

2. Brother Rice
15. St. Ignatius

7. Loyola
10. Providence Catholic

3. Fenwick
14. IC Catholic Prep

6. Carmel Catholic
11. St. Laurence
 
  • Haha
Reactions: 4Afan

4Afan

All-Conference
Sep 15, 2001
3,501
3,161
113
If anyone wanted separate tournaments then some school would have submitted a proposal by now.
 

dmacdmacdmac

Redshirt
Oct 17, 2025
5
7
3
Have two classifications for small school elite and large school elite which contain all the privates and whatever publics want to petition into them (ESL, LWE, Rochester, etc presumably), ignore W-L records and just select/seed them 1-n for some n between 16 and 32 statewide based on computer rankings (so those schools can feel free to schedule as hard as possible)...then for the remaining schools (which are just non-elite publics) have 6 classifications and select/seed as 1A-6A are currently (judge first by team record then by opponent total record, and split north/south).
 
  • Like
Reactions: Alexander33

4Afan

All-Conference
Sep 15, 2001
3,501
3,161
113
Have two classifications for small school elite and large school elite which contain all the privates and whatever publics want to petition into them (ESL, LWE, Rochester, etc presumably), ignore W-L records and just select/seed them 1-n for some n between 16 and 32 statewide based on computer rankings (so those schools can feel free to schedule as hard as possible)...then for the remaining schools (which are just non-elite publics) have 6 classifications and select/seed as 1A-6A are currently (judge first by team record then by opponent total record, and split north/south).
The only team that voluntarily chooses to petition up based on competition is ESL, good luck getting large or small schools to volunteer for an "elite" class.
 
  • Like
Reactions: KasanteMC

Running_Clock

Redshirt
Nov 18, 2025
17
26
12
Take the best 16 teams in both, would create better matchups then traditional seeding
Here is a potential option:
Private School Championship at Northwestern
Public School Championship at NIU
PUBLIC v PRIVATE Championship at U of I to determine State Champion

Here is what it could potentially look like:

PUBLIC
1. ESL
16. Hinsdale C./Barrington

8. Oswego
9. LWC

4. GBW
13. HF

5. Batavia
12. SCN

2. LWE
15. Lyons/York

7. Fremd
10. Lockport

3. DGN
14. Bolingbrook

6. Maine South
11. Byron

PRIVATE

1. MC
16. Niles Notre Dame

8. St. Rita
9. St. Francis

4. Nazareth
13. Marist

5. Montini
12. JCA

2. Brother Rice
15. St. Ignatius

7. Loyola
10. Providence Catholic

3. Fenwick
14. IC Catholic Prep

6. Carmel Catholic
11. St. Laurence

how’d you come up w these private seeding??

Agree with TOP 2. The rest you could make arguments for each team to be X seed, if we are being subjective.
 

redhawks_2015

Redshirt
Nov 17, 2025
10
5
3
If anyone wanted separate tournaments then some school would have submitted a proposal by now.
Either way they should combine these 32 teams into their own tournament.
The only team that voluntarily chooses to petition up based on competition is ESL, good luck getting large or small schools to volunteer for an "elite" class.
I think classes should be separated by rank, not school size. There are plenty of schools high in numbers that just don’t have the talent. Ranking schools by size defeats the purpose of the success factor.
 

4Afan

All-Conference
Sep 15, 2001
3,501
3,161
113
Either way they should combine these 32 teams into their own tournament.

I think classes should be separated by rank, not school size. There are plenty of schools high in numbers that just don’t have the talent. Ranking schools by size defeats the purpose of the success factor.
Same can be said for pretty much every state in the country but they all still do it based on enrollment. These issues aren't unique to Illinois, high school football will never have the parity or competitive balance you crave.
 

Alexander33

All-Conference
Oct 24, 2016
799
1,065
93
The only team that voluntarily chooses to petition up based on competition is ESL, good luck getting large or small schools to volunteer for an "elite" class.
His proposal is not dependent on any schools petitioning up to play in the elite classifications. If no public schools choose to do so, then there will simply be two private school state champions and six public school state champions. All the acrimony over whether or not private schools have a competitive advantage over public schools (due to the different enrollment rules) will be ended.

If a public school wants to test itself against the best private schools, at least that option will exist. The possibility might also exist for them to schedule a regular season nonconference game against a private school. And, as currently exists, some private schools like Sacred Heart-Griffin and Rockford Boylan would still be members of largely public-school conferences, which allows for additional interaction between the two sets of schools.
 
  • Like
Reactions: dmacdmacdmac

4Afan

All-Conference
Sep 15, 2001
3,501
3,161
113
His proposal is not dependent on any schools petitioning up to play in the elite classifications. If no public schools choose to do so, then there will simply be two private school state champions and six public school state champions. All the acrimony over whether or not private schools have a competitive advantage over public schools (due to the different enrollment rules) will be ended.

If a public school wants to test itself against the best private schools, at least that option will exist. The possibility might also exist for them to schedule a regular season nonconference game against a private school. And, as currently exists, some private schools like Sacred Heart-Griffin and Rockford Boylan would still be members of largely public-school conferences, which allows for additional interaction between the two sets of schools.
So private schools would be forced into the elite class whether they want to be or not and public schools can opt in or out as they choose? Seems fair.
 

Alexander33

All-Conference
Oct 24, 2016
799
1,065
93
So private schools would be forced into the elite class whether they want to be or not and public schools can opt in or out as they choose? Seems fair.

So private schools would be forced into the elite class whether they want to be or not and public schools can opt in or out as they choose? Seems fair.
Yes, that way the teams competing in the various playoff brackets will be competing against other teams that operate under the same enrollment rules that they do.

Perhaps a waiver could be implemented much like the current multiplier waiver. If a private school had not won a playoff game in the previous three seasons, then they could choose to compete in the non-elite playoffs with the public schools.
 
  • Like
Reactions: dmacdmacdmac