4 in playoffs!

[Old Dog]

The Austin newspapaer had an article posting coaches views on the 4 team per district playoff system. Coach Valastro of LaGrange was quoted as stating "before long, everybody will make the playoffs so the UIL will make more money and the self esteem of athletes won't be shattered". This echos what many of us here have thought! Taylor's Coach Holt reflected the opposite side stating, "anytime a team has the opportunity to make the playoffs, it is an indicator of success in a program-for kids, coaches and community". Does Holt really think 4th place is success?

According to the article, if 4 teams advance, 58% of the states teams will be involved in the playoffs. Sorry, this reeks of "little league-everybody gets a trophy"!

[ThaRealBulldog]

That has to be one of the worst ideas i've heard. Just think about 12-5A (John Tyler, Tyler Lee, Lufkin, and Longview) it's a 4 team district. Are they all gunna make the playoffs? That's Crazy, teams need to accually earn a playoff spot.

[zeke]

If they were going to make another change, I have a suggestion that would make the playoffs much fairer. Since we already have 2 state champions in each classification, why not divide the playoff teams based on true enrollment. Currently in the Division 2 playoffs in 3A you find schools with 800+ kids competing against schools with only 350 students, which is very unfair. Currently there are 207 teams in 3A. Allow ALL the top 104 teams based on enrollment to compete in a 7 round playoff system(currently we have 6 rounds) to compete in Division I. Do the same thing for with the 103 teams at the bottom half based on enrollment in Division 2. To offset a longer season just allow teams to schedule 9 games since all teams would be assured 1 playoff round.

[PhiI C]

I agree with you there Zeke. I know what you are saying is that some schools that have low enrollments of maybe 400 students would be division one because it is the biggest school in it's district and this team has to compete with schools that have close to 900 students. This is decided by the luck of the district replacement. YOu have a good point Zeke.

[zeke]

In my above scenario, these are the schools that would compete for the Division 2 State Championship. The number to the right is their enrollment at last assessment. You'll notice that last years State Champ, Bandera(#29-774 students), is not included and would have to compete in Division I.

104. COLUMBUS 531.00
105. RUSK 529.00
106. COMMERCE 527.00
107. CAMERON 525.00
108. BRECKENRIDGE 520.00
109. CHINA SPRING 519.00
110. HUNTINGTON 519.00
111. MIDLAND GREENWOOD 517.00
112. GROESBECK 514.00
113. FALFURRIAS 513.50
114. LITTLE ELM 513.00
115. PALESTINE WESTWOOD 509.00
116. ARANSAS PASS 508.00
117. LORENA 508.00
118. INGRAM MOORE 506.00
119. SMITHVILLE 505.00
120. PROGRESO 503.50
121. COLDSPRING 502.00
122. ROCKDALE 500.00
123. CROCKETT 500.00
124. VENUS 495.00
125. FAIRFIELD 494.00
126. DIBOLL 494.00
127. ORANGEFIELD 493.00
128. EDNA 491.00
129. LLANO 491.00
130. TARKINGTON 489.00
131. YOAKUM 487.00
132. BOWIE 484.50
133. CANTON 484.00
134. PALACIOS 483.00
135. MARLIN 482.00
136. KIRBYVILLE 482.00
137. DAINGERFIELD 479.00
138. CLYDE 476.00
139. MOUNT VERNON 476.00
140. AMARILLO RIVER ROAD 475.00
141. BUNA 473.00
142. GLEN ROSE 472.00
143. LYFORD 471.00
144. SHEPHERD 470.00
145. KEMP 469.00
146. LONGVIEW SPRING HILL 469.00
147. LIBERTY HILL 464.00
148. WHITNEY 458.50
149. JEFFERSON 455.00
150. LULING 454.00
151. WHITESBORO 452.00
152. POTEET 450.00
153. MERKEL 448.00
154. RICE CONSOLIDATED 447.00
155. ORANGE GROVE 442.00
156. LYTLE 441.00
157. NEW BOSTON 439.00
158. CORPUS CHRISTI WEST OSO 439.00
159. HEMPSTEAD 438.00
160. EMORY RAINS 436.00
161. GOLIAD 434.00
162. SAN DIEGO 432.00
163. POTTSBORO 430.00
164. WOODVILLE 424.00
165. PRESIDIO 420.00
166. DENVER CITY 419.00
167. BULLARD 416.00
168. KERMIT 416.00
169. WINNSBORO 414.00
170. MULESHOE 406.00
171. EARLY 403.00
172. VAN ALSTYNE 400.00
173. GLADEWATER SABINE 400.00
174. LITTLEFIELD 399.00
175. MINEOLA 399.00
176. BRADY 397.00
177. MARION 396.00
178. WHITE OAK 392.00
179. GODLEY 391.00
180. COMANCHE 385.00
181. HALLETTSVILLE 384.00
182. TAFT 382.00
183. ANAHUAC 380.00
184. NEVADA COMMUNITY 379.00
185. HUTTO 379.00
186. TATUM 379.00
187. DALHART 379.00
188. COTULLA 378.00
189. QUEEN CITY 376.50
190. TULIA 375.00
191. FARMERSVILLE 372.00
192. TROY 368.00
193. PILOT POINT 368.00
194. SLATON 367.00
195. JOURDANTON 364.50
196. DIMMITT 362.50
197. HARDIN 359.00
198. BISHOP 357.00
199. TRINITY 355.00
200. BALLINGER 354.00
201. KOUNTZE 354.00
202. EUSTACE 354.00
203. NEWTON 353.50
204. HEBBRONVILLE 352.00
205. CHILDRESS 350.00
206. TEAGUE 349.00
207. CELINA 347.00

[Old Dog]

Zeke....it's always gona be unfair to SOMEBODY no matter how it is sliced up! Burnet is really doing well now (as a very large 3A school), but if we move up to 4A, we will most likely be playing some Killeen schools that came down from 5A last realignment. It's just the luck of the draw and where you are standing. Most everybody has been on the bottom at some point, which makes being on top so nice.

If I understand you, we might as well abolish the districts and just have a free for all until playoff time! There has got to a advantage to winning your district, otherwise what's the point? Athletics is based on competition, and you compete to win, not just participate! Participating does help the kids learn teamwork. In life too someone's going to be 1st and the rest follow. As for the 2 divisions, it's crap and always will be.....sorry if I offend!

<small>[ July 29, 2003, 12:51 PM: Message edited by: Old Dog ]</small>

[Chief Woodman]

The dividing of the class sounds good except for one thing. This is Texas, not Rhode Island or New York. If we divide 3A in half by enrollement, some teams would have to start booking hotel rooms just to play district games. Our state is just to big to support this concept without losing lots of school days and spending enormous amounts of money on travel. Can anyone say "Pay to Play"?

[Big Cheese]

By dividing 3A into two groups some districts would have very few to none in the bottom half. Take 24-3A for instance. Out of six teams two are in the bottom half: Smithville and Hutto. La Grange, Giddings, Elgin and Manor all are in the top half.

[zeke]

Old Dog, You are making my point. If Burnet did move up to 4A where the enrollment ranges from 900-1909 students, your playoff success would have a much higher probability of sucess under the system I espoused.
My personal feeling is that it is a good thing that you can have playoff success and not necessarily win your district.
Look at Jasper who has 876 students and they knock off little ole Newton with 353 students, Kirbeyville with 482 kids, Diboll- 494 students, Woodville - 424 students, Huntington - 519 kids. Heck Jasper will win that district every time because they should have a 2 to 1 advantage in the number of good athletes.
Look at Burnet with 858 students. In their district they play Ingram, Llano, and Liberty Hill who have almost half of Burnet's enrollment. You would have to have a bullies mentality to experience great satisfaction in defeating those teams that can't field as much talent.
There's nothing wrong with those smaller teams having an opportunity to compete in the playoffs with schools much closer in size to their own.

[zeke]

Look guys, I didn't say change or reconstruct the districts. The district makeup would remain exactly the same. Just the playoff format would change. You could still provide district standing success to give advantage in the playoff even if it meant pitting an eighth place team against a 3rd place team from another district. The travel consequences would remain relatively the same.

[Old Dog]

Zeke, no matter the break down, there always will be bigger schools that suck and little schools that will tear you a new one. Honestly I think I understand where your coming from, but no system will satisfy all elements we seek.

Guess I'm sadistic, because I enjoyed Burnet beating Liberty Hill. Even though they are smaller, they play a tough brand of ball and they have taken Burnet down in the past. I was disappointed when Burnet lost, so I should be able to enjoy when they win.

I'll just politely agree to disagree and stop hammering on it.

<small>[ July 29, 2003, 03:09 PM: Message edited by: Old Dog ]</small>

[Chris Hart]

I look at it like this, and I will continue to even if Burnet moves to 4A. If you want to win, then hire GREAT COACHES. Take Stephenville for example they have been on the low end of 4A for a long time and they are able to ALWAYS field teams that can compete with anybody in 4A-The reason is GREAT COACHING. Take Celina's #'s and I still don't think the Everman, Jasper, Forney, and Burnet teams would think a matchup with them is a gimme- the reason GREAT COACHING. GREAT COACHING works wonders. Everman could've challenged for the 4A state title the last 2 years and the reason is, that's right you guessed it-GREAT COACHING.