Coaches propose new Indiana Football system

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - A major change could soon be coming to a high school football stadium near you. It could impact the teams you'll see playing each other for years to come.

It all boils down to "class.” Not the kind with the chalkboard in front, but the ones based on a school’s size that determine who plays who on the football field.

It's a system some say is outdated and unfair. Take a look at some recent scores, and it’s clear why.

Under the Indiana High School Athletic Association’s current “blind draw” playoff system, lopsided scores are the norm. It wasn’t uncommon to see margins of victory topping 40 points during this year’s post season. Check out the championship trophies and you'll find it's nothing new.

“In the last 11 years now, Carmel, Ben Davis or Warren [Central] have won 9 of the 11 state championships in 5A,” said Ben Davis High School Head Football Coach Mike Kirschner.

And it’s not just the “big boys” cleaning up.

“There's only eight percent private schools in the state, but they're now winning more than 70 percent of all the state championships in football,” Kirschner told 24-Hour News 8’s Troy Kehoe. “I had a coach who has about 100 players on his team watching our practice last month, and he said—you have 240 players on your team. How do I match up with you? And the answer is: he probably doesn’t.”

The Indiana Football Coaches Association says it's time to change that.

“We want something just to create a balance, make high school football competitive, and try to continue to grow the game. What we want to do is we want to be fair to kids,” said Indianapolis Lutheran High School Head Football Coach Dave Pasch.

The IFCA formed a “playoff committee” last March, tasked with studying the issue and making a recommendation on how to improve the system.

“This has been debated for year, and we’ve been sort of split 50-50 on past proposals. Some schools might want one thing, but that’s not acceptable to another,” said Brebeuf Jesuit High School Head Football Coach Ryan Gallogly, who co-chaired the committee. “This time, again—we didn’t agree on everything, but we negotiated.”

Those negotiations resulted in a four-point proposal from the IFCA.

1) Add a New Class: 6A

“We would break 5A up into two classes--two 32 team classes,” Kirschner said. “So, there would be a 6A and a 5A. “The lowest 6A school would still have over 2,000 students, and we wouldn't start our tournament at the same time as classes 1-4. We'd start a week later. What that would do is give every 5A team five home games--because you play a 10 game season. So, 5 are at home. That's a way to sell it to the [athletic directors].”

2) “Seed” the Sectional Playoffs

“We wanted to seed everyone—all 64 teams. But, that's not geographically realistic to have say and Evansville playing a Fort Wayne. So we compromised on seeding the one and two in each class. They would go on opposite sides of the bracket, which would increase the likelihood they might be playing each other in the end,” Kirschner said.

That change could also making regular season records a factor.

“When everybody enters the IHSA tournament, it's just an open draw. And, really, your season is pretty meaningless. Seeding the tournament--at least the first and second seeds--that rewards you for your success,” Pasch said.

3) Use Socioeconomic Factors

This would be based on the number of students in a school who qualify for free and reduced lunch benefits. Schools with a higher number in that program would be given a “multiplier” for their enrollments, decreasing the number of students used to calculate which athletic class they are assigned.

4) The “Tradition Factor”

This would assign a “points” system to schools who go deep into the playoffs. Those with enough wins could be moved “up” into a higher class.

“If you achieve a level of success over a period of years, it very possibly that we may constitute or give the opportunity to that school to move up a class,” Pasch said.

“There is some inequalities at all levels,” agreed Kirschner. “When we looked at this proposal, we didn't want it to become: so-and-so is winning, so we better bump them up a class. I've never been in favor of saying all private schools get bumped up a level. That's not equitably fair. So, we said--if a public school has success, they'd bump up as far as a private school.”

Still, critics say that could unfairly penalize smaller, private schools with winning playoff records.

“There's no perfect system. Not everyone is going to be happy. But, if they don’t win, they can go back [to their previous class]. I know for some people, it will look like a public vs. private school issue. But, that's not what we're after here. We're just trying to make it fair,” Kirschner said.

“This will likely still be tweaked, but this is something people have wanted for a long time,” Gallogly said. “We just didn’t know how to get there. I think now, we do.”

IFCA says support behind its plan is growing. Of the 300 schools it surveyed,