8 Man Expansion...Conference Shuffle to Follow?

[PanthersWildcats86]

One thing I don't get about the expansion of 8-man football and/or 8-man football becoming an IHSA championship event:

- there are now around 20+ (small) schools playing 8-man and this number is expected to increase.

- what happens when the very 1st Big school either converts to 8-man football (or) just adds 8-man football as an additional sports option (not a replacement)?

- Are these tiny schools going to compete with a say LWE 8-man football team?

- Can 8-man football ever be considered for an IHSA sanctioned sport before their are enough teams to make 4-5 classes of assorted enrollment?

We are marching towards what I believe will be a first in Illinois...a situation where two versions of the same sport will be recognized by the IHSA for state tournament play. Where the sport goes from there will be interesting...

The growth of the 8 man football association raises a bunch of unknowns...I suppose the first question is once the IHSA approves 8 man, can a school play 8 man and 11 man football? I'm going to guess that originally a school has to pick one, which will prevent the LWE and other 8A programs from having one of each. Or maybe only one football program can go to the playoffs, so that the LWE's of the world will have to take the MC view of the world that winning 8 man against 100 student schools is worthless...

Second, are we going to see more moves like Danville Schlarman withdrawing from their 11 man co-op with Hoopeston to go 8 man alone? This could expand 8 man much more quickly if neighbors don't want to co-op anymore...but flies in the face of the rural schools shrinking and co-ops being the first step in consolidations of districts...

As schools trade 8 man for 11 man football, my guess is that 48 will become the magic number for IHSA sanctioning. Why? Because enough big school guys thought that the 8A class under districts should be only 48 schools...And that would make about 10% of football playing schools 8 man.

Once 8 man hits 64 schools, my gut says the IHSA goes with one 8 man class and 7 classes of 11 man...one title weekend. But I don't see more than one class of 8 man even if interest continues to grow...

 

[King MJ]

I think the big x-factor here is public league. Can think of 8-12 programs who could move to 8-man next year and it would be better for all involved.

Belive it will happen within next few years and once it does IHSA will recognize

 

[superfbfan]

I’m pretty sure you have to play 11 man football or 8 man and not field teams in both.Tinley Park won state in 86 with only 25 players well they moved up a Soph so 26.8 man is the easy way out.Here is something I don’t understand.With all the trouble some CPS teams have fielding 11 man I am shocked CPS don’t have a bunch of teams playing 8 man football.I think they had a few teams years ago way before the explosion of teams

 

[johnndoe]

For the 2019 season, with 544 teams having 11-man football (17 for 8-man), if only 32 either drop, coop or go 8-man, the 512-team threshold will have been reached and IL can go to an 8-game regular season with all teams qualifying for the playoffs. However, soon after that, 11-man numbers will continue to drop and then 1st round byes would come into play and that might cause a return to just 256 qualifiers?

 

[PanthersWildcats86]

I think the big x-factor here is public league. Can think of 8-12 programs who could move to 8-man next year and it would be better for all involved.

Belive it will happen within next few years and once it does IHSA will recognize

I would not be surprised if the non-playoff public league programs look at going with playoff 8 man programs...it might be the chicken & the egg development, as the IHSA adopting 8 man and public league teams choosing to go that route might go together...

 

[johnndoe]

I wonder what the minimum number of 8-man teams would have to be in place to actually contest a full-blown state tournament to declare a champion?

 

[Googertys Dog]

Some people thrive on being that guy

Back to the subject at hand, when will the IHSA bring in 8 man football to the state championships? Or when will they adjust and have 8 man football plus only 7 classes?

Some guys love being that guy to be the first one to say "this is going to be flushed" instead of just watching it play out and let Edgy do his job.. You know, the Teacher's Pet kind of tattle tell guy..

 

[Konza]

I wonder what the minimum number of 8-man teams would have to be in place to actually contest a full-blown state tournament to declare a champion?

A recent article in the Daily Herald might provide some insight into this. The article was about gymnastics; apparently the IHSA takes interest in a sport or activity when 10% of the membership chooses to engage in it. In this case, the numbers for gymnastics had fallen below that, and there was concern for the sport's survival.

Not sure exactly how many member schools there are, but my guess is if the number playing 8-man got up into the seventies, the sport might catch the IHSA's ear.

 

[King MJ]

A recent article in the Daily Herald might provide some insight into this. The article was about gymnastics; apparently the IHSA takes interest in a sport or activity when 10% of the membership chooses to engage in it. In this case, the numbers for gymnastics had fallen below that, and there was concern for the sport's survival.

Not sure exactly how many member schools there are, but my guess is if the number playing 8-man got up into the seventies, the sport might catch the IHSA's ear.

For lacrosse, the critical number was 60 schools to have programs or have plans to have programs.

My guess is if the IHSA says they will sanction a post season tourney, then lots more school may be convinced to make the switch

 

[Coach Percy]

I’m pretty sure you have to play 11 man football or 8 man and not field teams in both.Tinley Park won state in 86 with only 25 players well they moved up a Soph so 26.8 man is the easy way out.Here is something I don’t understand.With all the trouble some CPS teams have fielding 11 man I am shocked CPS don’t have a bunch of teams playing 8 man football.I think they had a few teams years ago way before the explosion of teams

CPS doesn't recognize 8-man football, so they won't pay the coaches for it