new year new ideas and some old ones

[Trojanmp52]

Been thinking about this for a while and thought I would throw it out their and see what others people think.  I know ihsaa will never use any of my ideas but would love to hear what have to say about them.

 

First change i would make is  to the last week of July.  I would make this  camp week where schools could have a mini camp.  They could hold it during  4 of the 5 days of the week.  I  Would make Saturday and no contact day so the kids and families  could have the last weekend before the season starts to do family stuff.  During your camp you can have  up to  3 full pads pracites  during the 4 days  the rest  would be pro pads.  It would be like the old 2adays we had  back in the day. The first Monday in Aug.  would be the  start of normal football operations    The reason for this is to make more fair across the board some since not all schools start at the same time. 

2nd change would be to move the start of the games up a week. For example  this year Aug 7 would be the scrimmage and Aug 13 would week one.  By doing this you would be doing two things one is give 5A and 6A  the same amount of games played  as the rest of the class, the second thing it would do is give the lower class a bye week.  There is a lot ways to this but i think the easiest way is to make the  bye  week 10 right  before the playoffs start. 

3rd change would be in the playoffs to seed the teams.  I know this is a dead horse that has been beating a lot,  but here is my take on doing this.  You would give ever team and 1 threw 16 or 32 number.  Now that number is not to be  used to see who plays  each other,  I  keep that the same as it has been, but to see who get to host the game.  In doing this i would also do away from the whole idea of a neutral field let the host school treat it as a home game.  I feel you lose a little bit of what make Friday Night Lights great in the playoff because of the whole idea of a neutral site idea the Ihsaa has.  Their is had been talk on here about making the regular season mean more and I believe this would be a way good way to make it happen.  I know their can  be a lot of ways to come up with the rankings but I think the easiest way is to  use the sagarin rating.  I know it is not perfect but it  would be a could place to start with

 

I know like others i have more changes i would like to see but i want to get other people thoughts on these ideas. 

 

[Trojanmp52]

sorry about any grammar or spelling errors it will not let fix them

[JustRules]

Logical and well articulated suggestions. I don't necessarily agree with them, but you bring up good points to support your suggestions.

As for the home field part, NCAA (FCS/D2/D3) and NAIA use seeds to determine home field until the finals, but they also limit what teams are allowed to do. It's not as restrictive as IHSAA, but it's similar. They become NCAA/NAIA events but hosted at one school's site.

[Staxawax]

The beginning of the season is already too hot.  Moving back further into summer makes it worse.

[Trojanmp52]

23 hours ago, Staxawax said:

The beginning of the season is already too hot.  Moving back further into summer makes it worse.

Both those Friday’s now are being used as inter squad games and the next one is scrimmage si the kids are already in the heat.  But a fix to that is move games times back to 730 give it. A little more time to cool down

[Staxawax]

15 hours ago, Trojanmp52 said:

Both those Friday’s now are being used as inter squad games and the next one is scrimmage si the kids are already in the heat.  But a fix to that is move games times back to 730 give it. A little more time to cool down

........or 8:00.  That was the starting time back in my day.

[superjay]

I’m all for moving back to 730.  With daylight savings time it makes it even worse.

[Gipper]

Keep everything as is, I see very little wrong with it.

[Gipper]

Then again, 7:30 starts would  be OK.

Edited January 4, 2020 by Gipper

[oldtimeqb]

22 hours ago, Staxawax said:

........or 8:00.  That was the starting time back in my day.

I’m struggling to think of a game that started later than 7:00 due to heat in Evansville.

But we are central time, which the whole state should be on.  Until Indianapolis wisens up (not likely) and realizes they should be central time, heat will be an issue for 82 counties early in the season.

http://sagarin.com/counties/timezone.htm

[whiteshoes]

I have a couple of ideas to throw into this discussion as well:

1.   The use of video replay in the state finals.   Several states are already going to this and there were several instances at this years finals where I heard people say "can't they look at that" to see if the call was correct.    The equipment is there so why not use it.

2.   To help with the decline in participation numbers, either create "co-op" teams, i.e., a team comprised of more than one school, or let kids from non-playing schools play for schools that have programs.     I bet Loogootee/Barr-Reeve could put together a very good Class A team.   Again, this concept is used in several other states and seems to work well.

3.   Add a rule to the success factor that a team cannot drop more than once in a ten year period.    The current system still needs some changes as a 5A team was allowed to play and win the 3A championship this season.    Also to be noted was the fact that most of the final games this year were not very competitive which is another indication that something needs to be fixed.

4.   My favorite suggestion still remains.    The concept of semi-state doubleheaders on Saturday at small college or large high school sites.    This season I stood five deep in the end zone at East Noble on a cold, dark Friday night while less than a thirty minute drive there were facilities that had more seating, parking, concessions and bathrooms.    Saturday gives families and fans a chance to attend the game without having to cut out of work on Friday.   In addition, it gives the teams at semi-state level the excitement of playing at a big facility which most will remember for a lifetime.      The double-header idea brings the attendance to the point that the site would need to justify it's expenses.   If planned correctly, it would also cut down travel time for at least half the teams in the tournament.

[Gipper]

Cheaper nachos at the concession stand!

[Gipper]

1 hour ago, oldtimeqb said:

I’m struggling to think of a game that started later than 7:00 due to heat in Evansville.

But we are central time, which the whole state should be on.  Until Indianapolis wisens up (not likely) and realizes they should be central time, heat will be an issue for 82 counties early in the season.

http://sagarin.com/counties/timezone.htm

I’d like for that to happen also, but it won’t...

[Trojanmp52]

5 hours ago, oldtimeqb said:

I’m struggling to think of a game that started later than 7:00 due to heat in Evansville.

But we are central time, which the whole state should be on.  Until Indianapolis wisens up (not likely) and realizes they should be central time, heat will be an issue for 82 counties early in the season.

http://sagarin.com/counties/timezone.htm

I agree with the time zone we should be in, also do not see the need of day light savings time

[Trojanmp52]

a 730 start time I think would help in a few ways. 

1 it would help with the heat and sun

2 it would give people a little more time to get home from work to and travel to the game.  A home game would not be as  big of deal but away game it could help with attendance

[FarmerFran]

Get rid of the non-contact days at the beginning of the actual practice season. I hate going from limited contact in shoulder pads  and helmets in your competition days during the summer to helmets only to start the season.

[btownqbcoach]

Neutral site games in regional and semi state. 

Get rid of intrasquad scrimmage, make that the opponent scrimmage. Make the opponent scrimmage week 1. We all get an extra game. The summer/early Aug is too long to wait to play. 

[JustRules]

On 1/5/2020 at 9:11 AM, whiteshoes said:

2.   To help with the decline in participation numbers, either create "co-op" teams, i.e., a team comprised of more than one school, or let kids from non-playing schools play for schools that have programs.     I bet Loogootee/Barr-Reeve could put together a very good Class A team.   Again, this concept is used in several other states and seems to work well.

I'm a huge fan of this idea. I'm familiar with a state that does this and it's a huge success. About half of the schools in their smallest class are co-ops. Some are a couple smaller schools joining a school that could possibly support their own team, but most of them would not exist if not for co-ops.

[US31]

On 1/5/2020 at 8:42 AM, oldtimeqb said:

Until Indianapolis wisens up (not likely) and realizes they should be central time, heat will be an issue for 82 counties early in the season.

http://sagarin.com/counties/timezone.htm

This in spades....and twice on Sunday.  Why we are on "east coast" time is a mystery to me.  I could go on and on about why....but it would derail the topic.  Without DST we were at least on a "normal" schedule half the year.

[JeffO2]

Good ideas, but not based on my limited experience (I'm biased.).

Since you can't have 2-a-days, does it matter if school is in session or not? How is starting earlier a disadvantage? For many teams, it's easier for players to get to practice once school starts. It does take up coach's time, so you might have a point there.

I don't know about 5A, but 6A doesn't need another game. Especially around Indy, most teams are having to play each other again in the playoffs. Too many teams are scheduling out of state games. I felt the week off was a blessing. 

I'd hate to lose a close game on the road during the regular season and then that team ends up with the home field advantage again in the playoffs because of it. Sagarin ratings would be the way to go, but I like it the way they are - meaningless.

You're right about neutral sites being a bad idea. I first heard that idea brought up after Carmel lost to Highland in the semi-state back in the 80's. It wasn't fair that they had to go up north and play in the cold in a rough part of town. They wanted all semi-state games played in Indy. I guess life truly isn't fair.

[dazed and confused]

Time was a good thing until the Government got involved...

[gonzoron]

17 minutes ago, dazed and confused said:

Time was a good thing until the Government got involved...

What we need is more cowbell.

 

[Gipper]

5 hours ago, JeffO2 said:

Good ideas, but not based on my limited experience (I'm biased.).

Since you can't have 2-a-days, does it matter if school is in session or not? How is starting earlier a disadvantage? For many teams, it's easier for players to get to practice once school starts. It does take up coach's time, so you might have a point there.

I don't know about 5A, but 6A doesn't need another game. Especially around Indy, most teams are having to play each other again in the playoffs. Too many teams are scheduling out of state games. I felt the week off was a blessing. 

I'd hate to lose a close game on the road during the regular season and then that team ends up with the home field advantage again in the playoffs because of it. Sagarin ratings would be the way to go, but I like it the way they are - meaningless.

You're right about neutral sites being a bad idea. I first heard that idea brought up after Carmel lost to Highland in the semi-state back in the 80's. It wasn't fair that they had to go up north and play in the cold in a rough part of town. They wanted all semi-state games played in Indy. I guess life truly isn't fair.

Neutral site games are an abomination.

[superjay]

Two proposals I would make are 1) allow teams with history of poor performance to petition the IHSAA/Coaches Association to move down a class for a cycle.  This could help struggling programs and create better matchups for the Frankforts ,Shelbyvilles, and Crawford Countys.  Set criteria of under .250 winning percentage and previous tournament "lack of" success factor as eligibility to apply.  Only allow a certain number (3 or 4) per class each year.   If we expect the "good teams" to play up then we should let the "bad teams" play down.  2) make 1A & 6A the 32 team tournaments.  Lots of 1A schools have less than 30 players.  A week off could be better served for these schools instead of 5A schools that have unlimited subs/players.  This would also help shake the tournament up a bit.  It seems that lately the only way to shake it up is to make wacky sectional alignments.  This would give a whole half a class of new schools/opponents.