IHSA schools will vote to change the football scheduling process. Here’s what it means

Football scheduling is back on the table for Illinois high schools.

Illinois High School Association schools next month will vote whether or not to significantly alter the way most regular-season football games are scheduled across the state.

Schools will decide if they wish to eliminate the current scheduling system and adopt a district format, in which the state predetermines the schools within the eight enrollment classes and places them in "districts" within each.

How would the IHSA's district system work?

Programs would no longer set their own schedules or play within a conference, they instead would be placed in one of 64 districts and play a round-robin schedule of seven opponents with similar enrollments. The multiplier and success factor both would be applied. The top half of teams, four in each district, would make the playoffs, which will be seeded similarly to how they are now. Teams in the same district cannot meet in the first round.

Games in the first two weeks of the season would be non-district games set by each school, leaving room for geographic or traditional rivalries.

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According to IHSA playoff guru Steve Soucie of Friday Night Drive, the district system would need 512 playoff-eligible teams to work as designed.

"Last season there were 498 playoff-eligible teams to start the season, four of those schools did not finish or only partly completed the regular season," wrote Soucie. "There were also 22 teams in the Chicago Public League that participated, four of which also did not fully complete seasons, but were not playoff eligible."

Soucie went on to say the proposal does not explain what happens if there are not enough or too many programs to fill the 512 districts spots, or how the state would handle either scenario.

"The districts would be built entirely on a geographical basis. No consideration will be given for relative levels of previous success" Soucie wrote. "If two neighboring districts have an imbalance in terms of competitiveness nothing will be done to adjust them."

What is the full proposal and when is the vote?

The Big 12 Conference — home to Peoria High, Peoria Notre Dame, Richwoods and Manual — along with league members of the Apollo, Interstate 8 and DuPage Valley submitted the district proposal, officially called Proposal 18.

The proposal reads: "Establishes districts in the sport of football to be determined by the IHSA using geography and classification. Eight districts in each class with eight schools in each district. District games in weeks 3-9 of the regular season. Top (four) schools in each district qualify for the IHSA playoffs. Seeding procedures will be similar to current seeding procedures with teams from the same district not to play in the first round."

This is not the first time district football has been on the ballot. A move to districts originally passed in 2018 and was rescinded a year later. When the original proposal passed in 2018, just 17 votes separated the final verdict, 324-307 with 69 voting "no opinion." The 2019 overturned vote came in at 374-241 with 87 voting "no opinion."

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This time around, any change would go into effect July 1, 2024, leaving potentially no opportunity to overturn the proposal prior to the start of next season.

Voting begins Monday, Dec. 4 and schools have until midnight, Dec. 18 to cast their ballots. A simple majority will decide the vote.

What coaches are saying about IHSA districts

PND coach Pat Armstrong speculates that one of the biggest reasons the Big 12 attached its name to this proposal is that "nonconference games are just brutal to try and schedule every year," he said.

In PND's case, this "monumental task" resulted in the Irish's Week 8 game for 2024 being empty for over a year and a half. Finally, St. Louis Christian Brothers College, which has won the last two state titles and plays for a three-peat on Saturday, filled that vacancy — forcing PND to play Missouri's top team from its largest enrollment class.

PND, though, was not involved in drafting the current proposal, but Armstrong confirms that the Irish will vote yes. "I am for districting," he said. "I do think it’s a very good idea."

Manual coach Dennis Bailey welcomes districts, saying Manual is in favor of Proposal 18.

"As a program, we are hopeful for the change," he said. "Districts are widely used in other states with proven results. One big one is Texas and Missouri (where) high school football is thriving."

Bailey says this would benefit not just his program, but high school football in general by leveling the playing field. His team has "taken on the challenge because our guys are competitors" of playing in a league filled with schools with larger enrollments. However, he can't help but wonder what it would be like to compete against similar size schools on a regular basis.

"We are a (Class) 3A/4A program that consistently competes against (Class) 5A/6A/7A playoff teams due to the conference structure," Bailey said.

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Both Bailey and Armstrong said they want to keep River City rivalries in tact. Armstrong is not opposed to keeping Richwoods, Peoria High or Manual on the schedule.

"I think that's the beauty of the way the (district) schedule is," Armstrong said. "You can play those rivalry games up front and keep them on your schedule. Keep the city engaged and energized but still have a competitive schedule afterward for the districts.

"Having rivalry games is part of football, and I think that having those non-district games out there, I think is great."

What other IHSA proposals are on the ballot?

The so-called district scheduling system is one of 14 proposals approved by the IHSA Legislative Commission on Tuesday and to be put up for a statewide vote. They were selected to be put on a ballot after the organization heard feedback during a statewide series of town hall meetings throughout November.

You can read about all the proposals at ihsa.org. Some of the other notable proposals include:

• Reducing the summer contact days from 25 to 18 days.

• Creating the opportunity for football teams to conduct a pre-season scrimmage with another school using IHSA officials, no special teams and play limits per player.

• Increasing the number of girls wrestling contests from 18 to 25.

Adam Duvall is a Journal Star sports reporter. Email him at aduvall@pjstar.com. Follow him on Twitter @AdamDuvall.

This article originally appeared on Journal Star: IHSA district football proposal up for vote in December 2023