Districts discussions have been proposed again

[circletrack32]

Proposal of statewide districts resurrected for IHSA football

Four conferences on Tuesday submitted a proposal for IHSA football to switch to a district format from the current conference format. The format passed in 2018, only to be reversed a year later.

www.shawlocal.com

Don’t know if I like the idea of districts. I feel it takes away from some of the yearly rivalry games. Just my IMO. And the conference that I follow is one of the sponsors. Damn.

 

[doctor_d]

I know a lot of other state do districts and with non district games, keeping old rivalries is still at least on the table.

Somewhat unrelated, the article says Sandwich and Plano are departing the I-8. Where are they going?

 

[Lion4Life01]

Really hope this never happens!!

 

[tincup1215]

I know a lot of other state do districts and with non district games, keeping old rivalries is still at least on the table.

Somewhat unrelated, the article says Sandwich and Plano are departing the I-8. Where are they going?

Kishwaukee River with the Woodstocks, RB, Harvard, Johnsburg, etc...

 

[cigaros]

Districting is the best way to dilute competition. Translation.... it's a horrible idea. Schools such as Montini, JCA, IC, Rochester, East St. Louis, Lena, want to play larger schools throughout the season. This districting nonsense is forced obsolescence.

 

[cornerrat]

All.... As does SHG the smallest school in the CS8 (until next year when QND arrives) with a real enrollment of 519 students.... Ratsy

 

[Prep writer]

Moved to Missouri seven years ago where districts are the thing. Most districts have between five and seven teams, so there are plenty of opportunities to play teams outside the district. No idea if that's a similar model Illinois would follow if it is adopted, but it definitely works here.

 

[Formicidae13]

Recalling that these were two of the districts the IHSA made should kill it off:
8A South District D: Belleville East, Edwardsville, Lincoln-Way East, Joliet Central, Joliet West, Lockport, Minooka, and O’Fallon
7A South District A: Alton, Belleville West, Collinsville, Granite City, Moline, Normal (Community), Pekin, and Quincy

I sympathize for those schools that struggle to fill competitive/local schedules but this isn’t a solution, just a way to pass their problems onto other schools.

 

[cigaros]

Moved to Missouri seven years ago where districts are the thing. Most districts have between five and seven teams, so there are plenty of opportunities to play teams outside the district. No idea if that's a similar model Illinois would follow if it is adopted, but it definitely works here.

All I heard is "where not to recruit next level talent"

 

[LakeCtyNewt]

Districts here in Virginia as well and they are trying to ditch them for a better format.

 

[Quags57]

Districts here in Virginia as well and they are trying to ditch them for a better format.

I say that they should bring in Newt to fix things.

 

[godfthr53]

Moved to Missouri seven years ago where districts are the thing. Most districts have between five and seven teams, so there are plenty of opportunities to play teams outside the district. No idea if that's a similar model Illinois would follow if it is adopted, but it definitely works here.

So Districts doesn't solve scheduling. Teams will still need to find out of district games and teams will still dodge the good teams.

 

[circletrack32]

When this first came out in 19 I recall seeing and article maybe from Soucie or a post on here about the what the possible districts would look like. (If anyone can find it or the post that’d be awesome. I don’t have the time!) I believe there was an A and B scenario. For instance and I may be wrong but along the 80 corridor I want to say I saw a district of JCA, Prov, Morris, Ottawa, LP and maybe Pontiac or Coal City. This would only benefit JC, Prov, and Morris. Like I said I’m probably wrong about the exact school but it was along this line. And the other one I saw was along the lines of what the I8 currently is. So if that’s the case why the hell would the Admins in the I8 want to do this? It makes no sense. It could possibly be the same damn thing with that conference. I say leave it how it is. District does nothing to those middle of the pack teams chasing 5 wins. They will schedule 2 or 3 cupcakes non district game to still try to get to 5 it won’t change anything IMO

 

[4Afan]

Districting is the best way to dilute competition. Translation.... it's a horrible idea. Schools such as Montini, JCA, IC, Rochester, East St. Louis, Lena, want to play larger schools throughout the season. This districting nonsense is forced obsolescence.

If all of those schools want to play larger schools then why have none of them other than East St. Louis petitioned up? Montini and JCA get success factored up when they win but this year Montini will be in 3A. If they want the larger school competition then why didn't they choose to play up?

 

[doctor_d]

If all of those schools want to play larger schools then why have none of them other than East St. Louis petitioned up? Montini and JCA get success factored up when they win but this year Montini will be in 3A. If they want the larger school competition then why didn't they choose to play up?

Key phrase he used was “throughout the season”
I feel like he specifically meant the “regular season”

 

[cigaros]

If all of those schools want to play larger schools then why have none of them other than East St. Louis petitioned up? Montini and JCA get success factored up when they win but this year Montini will be in 3A. If they want the larger school competition then why didn't they choose to play up?

Petitioning up for the playoffs is what ESL did. The others I mentioned joined conferences for a 9 game schedule to do it week in and week out. Don't gaslight this one. Youre smarter than this.

 

[4Afan]

Everyone here is only focusing on football and the IHSA would never do districts just for football.

With all of the conference jumping and creating new conferences I'm not opposed to districts depending on how they're drawn out. You have to remember they would need to be fairly drawn for ALL sports, not just football. Would they be drawn up similar to existing regionals/sectionals for other sports?

 

[Bobby Boucher 9]

Everyone here is only focusing on football and the IHSA would never do districts just for football.

With all of the conference jumping and creating new conferences I'm not opposed to districts depending on how they're drawn out. You have to remember they would need to be fairly drawn for ALL sports, not just football. Would they be drawn up similar to existing regionals/sectionals for other sports?

Sure they would

Like it or not football is a different animal than IHSA sports. They play one game a week. Regionals etc you play 2 or 3 times in one week.

 

[Formicidae13]

When this first came out in 19 I recall seeing and article maybe from Soucie or a post on here about the what the possible districts would look like. (If anyone can find the article or post that’d be awesome. I don’t have the time. Lol!!). I believe there was an A and B scenario. For instance and I may be wrong but along the 80 corridor I want to say I saw a district of JCA, Prov, Morris, Ottawa, LP and maybe Pontiac or Coal City. Like I said I’m probably wrong about the exact school but it was along this line. And the other one I saw was along the lines of what the I8 currently is. So if that’s the case why the hell would the

Here’s what was posted on here, which I believe is a mock-up from the IHSA: https://edgytim.rivals.com/news/ihsa-proposed-districts

 

[cigaros]

Here’s what was posted on here, which I believe is a mock-up from the IHSA: https://edgytim.rivals.com/news/ihsa-proposed-districts

Thank you for finding this.

 

[circletrack32]

Here’s what was posted on here, which I believe is a mock-up from the IHSA: https://edgytim.rivals.com/news/ihsa-proposed-districts

Thank you this is what I saw. I do however recall seeing one with an option A and an option B. I think Soucie may have posted that one.
But anyway with this particular scenario and a 8 team district that only leaves 1 game for non-con. I think it will eventually water down the playoffs when you see the same teams year after year. (Hypothetically Most of the same teams are going to win year after year). And I get that every so often some of the down teams have a good year or 2, but I’d say 8 out of 10 times your going to see the same teams win. I just took a longer look at the mock up and some districts have 9 so that’s a closed group. No non con for them.
And this may not be the popular opinion but it currently seems the truth that With the current situation even if some teams schedule light non con games to get the 5 win at least IMO it makes the playoffs more exciting seeing different teams get in every so often.
And wow some of those travels will be a brutal 2-4 hr drive.

 

[mchsalumni]

If all of those schools want to play larger schools then why have none of them other than East St. Louis petitioned up? Montini and JCA get success factored up when they win but this year Montini will be in 3A. If they want the larger school competition then why didn't they choose to play up?

Montini has averaged 3 wins per season for the last 3 years. They can't even make the playoffs let alone compete at an elevated level, so this is a weird flex.

 

[tomloner]

Here’s what was posted on here, which I believe is a mock-up from the IHSA: https://edgytim.rivals.com/news/ihsa-proposed-districts

St. Rita and MC would win half their games by forfeit in these Districts.

 

[stl705]

Can’t have strict school size restrictions imo. Class size should be heavily weighed, but should not be limit common sense, geographically close schools from being paired in the same district.

 

[cigaros]

St. Rita and MC would win half their games by forfeit in these Districts.

Thank you! Well stated

 

[olderbytheminute]

Can’t have strict school size restrictions imo. Class size should be heavily weighed, but should not be limit common sense, geographically close schools from being paired in the same district.

not doable as the district format has teams qualify for playoffs based on district standings and all teams in a district must be in the same class. I believe their were 8 districts for each class and the top four teams in each district would make the playoffs for 32 teams per class.
Mixing districts so that there are 3 8A schools and 4 7A schools and 1 5A school, does not work in terms of the top four in each class advancing to the postseason.

 

[4Afan]

not doable as the district format has teams qualify for playoffs based on district standings and all teams in a district must be in the same class. I believe their were 8 districts for each class and the top four teams in each district would make the playoffs for 32 teams per class.
Mixing districts so that there are 3 8A schools and 4 7A schools and 1 5A school, does not work in terms of the top four in each class advancing to the postseason.

That was just in this specific proposal. Definitely agree with stl705 in that it needs to be flexible and not so strict by size. treat the districts similar to conferences and put them together by location and keep the size within a class or two and keep the playoffs the same as they are now.

 

[DadCoachSports]

I like the idea of Districts but I feel the thinking needs to be outside the current scope of what the IHSA is doing for Football.

I have two thought processes one with 8 classes and one with 6 classes but also Open Division.

Without doing a deep dive here is what I would propose.

8 Class System
Class 1 A & AA
Enrollment up to 417

Class 2 A & AA
Enrollment up to 892

Class 3 A & AA
Enrollment up to 1820

Class 4 A & AA
Enrollment above 1820

Each class will have 16 - 8 to 9 team Districts. If you place in 1st or 2nd in your conference you receive an automatic bid to Playoffs. The IHSA will then use a system, maybe current system or use MaxPreps rankings or something similar to award the last 32 playoff spots. The largest 32 teams will be the AA of each Class. BY combining the classes in districts you have more schools in each area to make the district which should hopefully limit the travel.

 

[ramblinman]

Until someone can come up with a solution to those handful of 7A and 8A schools in far southern Illinois and how they, and their closest similarly sized schools outside of their region are assigned to reasonable districts geographically, this idea is a non-starter.

I like the idea in general for the majority of schools, but I seriously don't understand why it still has legs. You can't change geography.

 

[DadCoachSports]

Class 4 A & AA
1. Edwardsville (H.S.) - 2307
#2. O'Fallon (H.S.) - 2488
3. Belleville (East) - 2439
4. Belleville (West) - 2111
5. Collinsville - 1902
#6. Alton (Sr.) - 1910
7. Granite City - 1810

 

[Formicidae13]

Class 4 A & AA
1. Edwardsville (H.S.) - 2307
#2. O'Fallon (H.S.) - 2488
3. Belleville (East) - 2439
4. Belleville (West) - 2111
5. Collinsville - 1902
#6. Alton (Sr.) - 1910
7. Granite City - 1810

You’re definitely onto something here, but it would either need an eighth or give some schools up north the short end of the stick by making them play in nine team districts. There’s also the issue that several of these teams would be lucky to make the playoffs once a decade due to the competitive gaps.
Destroying the Southwestern also means that East St. Louis will have to massacre local 5A schools and nobody benefits from that.