New high school football playoff system draws mixed reviews from coaches

When it comes to finding a suitable football playoff system, the Missouri State High School Activities Association has a growing playbook.

MSHSAA has a history of tinkering with the formula that ultimately leads two teams in each class to the state championship game at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis.

The playbook has had a much-maligned points system, followed by four-team districts that first advanced one team then two to the state playoffs.

The MSHSAA Board of Directors recently went back to the drawing board and created a new approach.

Beginning in 2012, the Missouri high school football playoffs will use a format that appears to be a hybrid approach of past systems. Districts will be expanded to eight teams and will be seeded by a point system that has yet to be unveiled.

District play will begin in Week 10 with the first round of the eight-team districts. Winners will advance to the semifinals in Week 11, and a district champion will be crowned in Week 12. The eight district winners then will go to the traditional quarterfinal round.

"You still have to win 15 games to win a state title," Scott City coach Jim May said. "And that's not going to change. It just changes things a little in Weeks 10, 11 and 12."

The current system has four-team districts with the top two teams advancing into the playoffs.

While the new format still is about 15 months away, it's already being scrutinized by coaches around the state.

"There's good points and bad points," Jackson coach Van Hitt said. "And I think that's what it's going to be. There's no set plan. If there was, you wouldn't have 50 states with 50 different systems. No two states have the same playoff system."

Hitt said he likes the emphasis placed on all nine regular-season games. Although the point system remains a mystery, winning undoubtably will build a school's point total for the seeding process.

He also likes the emphasis on winning in Week 10, something that isn't required under the current system. Jackson competes in Class 5 District 1, which sent 3-6 Seckman into this year's playoffs.

"I like once you get into district, you have to win to stay in it," Hitt said. "It's not like the way we've been the last couple years where you can still get in with a loss. Now there's a major emphasis on win or check your gear in."

Hitt said he likes the current two-team format, which he said can look really good or really bad.

"It really looked good this year when Cape and Sikeston both got in the playoffs," Hitt said. "Our district was really poor this year. For a team to get in that was 3-6, that's not deserving. But it really pays off when you've got two really good teams in the district to keep on playing."

New Central coach Nathan Norman has been more a beneficiary rather than a fan of the two-team district format that will conclude its four-year run in the upcoming season.

"Whatever the state says, you have to do, so you better be happy with it and move on," Norman said. "I have benefited twice by the old system where we were No. 2 in the district both times and were able to move on both times. In two different school districts we won a playoff game being the second team out of districts. I was kind of an advocate of the old system."

By the old system, Norman was referring to one team advancing from the four-team districts. It was the format used when Norman starred for a Jackson team that made consecutive Class 4 championship games in the 1990s.

That format was scrapped for the 2008 season, when the current system was passed in a vote by 260 MSHSAA members in 2007.

The recent change was made based on a questionnaire returned by MSHSAA members and was not decided on a vote by the schools. The 10-person MSHSAA Board of Directors instead voted on the issue, which rankles many coaches.

"The thing that was most upsetting is they just passed this and nobody got to vote on it," Hitt said. "The member schools didn't even get to vote yeah or nay on it."

St. Vincent coach Paul Sauer has a host of concerns. He wonders how soon teams will find out the seeding after the Week 9 games. His current Class 1 District 2 member Cleveland NJROTC does not have lights on its field and he wonders if he'll have to wait an extra day to find out his Week 10 opponent. Will there be enough officials if everyone is required to play on Friday night in Week 9?

"I may really like it, and I'm just not privy to all the fixes and the questions that I have," Sauer said. "That's the one thing that kind of disappoints me is that we never got an opportunity to meet as coaches and discuss and pose these questions and have them answered. They may very well have answers to all these questions, but as a head football coach I've never had the opportunity to ask them or hear what the answers would be."

While much is in the air, May has a good handle on the bottom line, which carries its own downside.

"Week 10 the playoffs start," May said. "Everybody's in. You win, you keep going. You lose, you go home. It'll be a good system for that. But we went from 16 district champions to eight district champions, and that means something to a lot of schools. To win a district title is a big, important thing."

That downside was echoed by most of the local coaches.

Perryville coach Keith Winkler said football already lacked the hardware of other high school sports.

"With football, the only trophies you can win is with the district titles," Winkler said. "In basketball you can win a Christmas tournament or a conference tournament title, but in football, the real thing you play for, yeah you can play for conference, in the end you're playing for a district title. And you've just eliminated half of those."

Winkler said he likes the system currently in place but is withholding judgment on the new eight-team districts.

It's unanimous that the four-team districts and the newly adopted format are better than the old point system, which sometimes left undefeated teams out of the playoffs.

"The old point system before they went to the four-team district was horrific," May said.

And while the thoughts of points making a comeback may make some coaches cringe, the use of points for seeding is more palatable.

"I talked to some other coaches about the old points system and how everybody hated it, but at the same time that was eliminating teams," Winkler said. "Everybody will get in now. So now it's just a matter of seeding."

Winkler added to the list of dislikes when he noted that the top four seeds will have home-field advantage throughout district play.

"If a No. 8 seed beats a No. 1 seed, why don't they deserve a home game?" Winkler said. "They beat the No. 1 team. They're always going to go by seeding, and I understand that in the first round. After that I think it should be whoever didn't have a home game at that point."

And if a team is not awarded a top-four seed in district play, it may play six of its 10 games on the road. Other teams could have as many as eight home games.

"There'll still be some people upset about where they get seeded and things like that," May said. "But the fact you may lose a home game is troublesome where you have to play six away games. And that's a big benefit for some schools because football makes schools a lot of money. That could be problematic for some schools."

MSHSAA has addressed that concern, stating that visiting teams in Week 10 will receive 40 percent of the gate receipts, minus expenses.

Another concern has been teams trying to fill out a nine-game schedule before the onset of district play in Week 10. Teams are having to fill two more dates on their schedule that previously had been occupied by district opponents.

"I think scheduling has been the toughest," said Chaffee coach Charlie Vickery, whose team made its first playoff appearance in 27 years this past fall by finishing second in its district. "I don't think for people in the city it will be hard, but rural areas like us, I think it's going to be tough."

Finding an opponent with the same open slot has been a tricky puzzle.

"People are kind of scrambling around trying to find some games," said Vickery, adding that Charleston has been added to the Red Devils' schedule for 2012.

May said the week has been hectic from a scheduling standpoint.

"I don't know where we're going to find a Game 8," May said. "We're going to be going to St. Louis two or three times now. But that's just the way it is."

And there is the possibility of teams in Class 5 having a bye in the first week of district play. The 32 largest schools in Missouri currently play in Class 6. Classes 1 to 4 have 64 teams apiece, while Class 5 gets the largest schools that remain, which numbered 51 in 2010.

"Any time you have a break in routine, an open date, it really hurts you," Hitt said.

The new format also will mean more travel for many schools.

When District 1 and District 2 are combined in Class 5, Jackson will see the addition of four St. Louis schools, which likely will include 2010 state runner-up Webster Groves.

The good news is the 2011 season will serve as a buffer.

"It'll be interesting, but it's still a year away," May said. "Everybody is all worked up over it and next year is going to be just the same as it was last year. We've got plenty of time to worry about it."