Adidas410s
01-19-2006, 01:12 PM
UIL's suspense drives speculation
David G. Campbell, Staff writer
Thursday, January 19, 2006
They say when Harry Houdini escaped from the Chinese Water Torture Cell he would read a newspaper behind a curtain while suspense built in the audience.
Suspense is building again for the University Interscholastic League's realignment and reclassification.
I wonder if the UIL, like Houdini, already has completed the task. Are we just waiting for the moment when UIL athletic director Dr. Charles Breithaupt steps out from behind a curtain, dripping wet and gasping for air?
Representatives of the Texas Six-Man Coaches Association hope the conclusion is not foregone. They are in Austin today to present their arguments, while not knowing if they are arguing for or against what the UIL has planned.
The picture may not become clear until the morning of Feb. 2, when new districts are announced.
Coaches and athletic directors, especially those in Class 3A, should pay careful attention to the six-man football coaches and their concerns. They might be next.
The six-man coaches' organization has done a lot for its game, but it was caught off-guard when its schools were split into two divisions. It didn't ask for a new structure for six-man football, that was the UIL's idea.
The six-man coaches had expected to have three teams advance to the playoffs with no other change in the way six-man football decides its state champion. The district champion was supposed to have a bye.
That was changed to Division I and Division II playoffs. The plan then spread like a virus into separate Division I and Division II districts. It is now no longer just for the playoffs. It's a regular-season thing.
Trying a pre-emptive step
Given no time to develop a cure, six-man coaches are at least trying to treat the symptoms.
If the UIL goes with eight districts in the big-school six-man classification and eight more in little school six-man, no more teams are headed to the playoffs than the last two years. Different teams would go, though, and the quality of playoff teams could go down.
The six-man coaches will suggest 12 districts for each division. If they don't get that – and they probably won't find out today – they will ask for four teams to advance to the playoffs from each district.
It would be a system that makes the UIL playoffs even more convoluted, but remember, the coaches didn't want this. They're just trying to hold it together with duct tape.
In the all-out scramble to finalize games for the next two years, football coaches can get tunnel vision. They should find time to tape or DVR the realignment announcement show on FSN Southwest. It could be enlightening.
For years Breithaupt, who coached in 3A, has tried to cut down a very real enrollment disparity in that classification. The UIL took a pretty good stab at it two years ago. It resulted in some five-team districts, like 18-3A, but you have to take some bad with the good.
So when the UIL athletic director mentions the 3A disparity again, don't be distracted by the sleight of hand. See if he is palming that six-man, two-division plan and slipping it into his pocket for a larger classification.
Doesn't the thought of 16 districts in 3A Division I and 16 more in 3A Division II make you all warm and fuzzy?
Could it all be a test?
If this was a good idea for six-man, the UIL would have to love it for 3A. If there aren't an overwhelming number of complaints from six-man, a split-level 3A classification seems inevitable.
Yet, if the six-man system fails over the next two seasons, the little guys will have taken the hit for the bigger classifications.
There is real magic to the UIL's realignment process, which is why there is an announcement show on television to begin with.
The day they announce the new districts, and which teams are changing in classification, many of us are like kids waiting for gifts on Christmas morning. You know what you want, but you really don't want to know in advance. It would take away the magic.
Don't confuse magic with illusion, though. In this case, it could only be a matter of time before the experiment tested on six-man football could be applied to 3A.
David G. Campbell, Staff writer
Thursday, January 19, 2006
They say when Harry Houdini escaped from the Chinese Water Torture Cell he would read a newspaper behind a curtain while suspense built in the audience.
Suspense is building again for the University Interscholastic League's realignment and reclassification.
I wonder if the UIL, like Houdini, already has completed the task. Are we just waiting for the moment when UIL athletic director Dr. Charles Breithaupt steps out from behind a curtain, dripping wet and gasping for air?
Representatives of the Texas Six-Man Coaches Association hope the conclusion is not foregone. They are in Austin today to present their arguments, while not knowing if they are arguing for or against what the UIL has planned.
The picture may not become clear until the morning of Feb. 2, when new districts are announced.
Coaches and athletic directors, especially those in Class 3A, should pay careful attention to the six-man football coaches and their concerns. They might be next.
The six-man coaches' organization has done a lot for its game, but it was caught off-guard when its schools were split into two divisions. It didn't ask for a new structure for six-man football, that was the UIL's idea.
The six-man coaches had expected to have three teams advance to the playoffs with no other change in the way six-man football decides its state champion. The district champion was supposed to have a bye.
That was changed to Division I and Division II playoffs. The plan then spread like a virus into separate Division I and Division II districts. It is now no longer just for the playoffs. It's a regular-season thing.
Trying a pre-emptive step
Given no time to develop a cure, six-man coaches are at least trying to treat the symptoms.
If the UIL goes with eight districts in the big-school six-man classification and eight more in little school six-man, no more teams are headed to the playoffs than the last two years. Different teams would go, though, and the quality of playoff teams could go down.
The six-man coaches will suggest 12 districts for each division. If they don't get that – and they probably won't find out today – they will ask for four teams to advance to the playoffs from each district.
It would be a system that makes the UIL playoffs even more convoluted, but remember, the coaches didn't want this. They're just trying to hold it together with duct tape.
In the all-out scramble to finalize games for the next two years, football coaches can get tunnel vision. They should find time to tape or DVR the realignment announcement show on FSN Southwest. It could be enlightening.
For years Breithaupt, who coached in 3A, has tried to cut down a very real enrollment disparity in that classification. The UIL took a pretty good stab at it two years ago. It resulted in some five-team districts, like 18-3A, but you have to take some bad with the good.
So when the UIL athletic director mentions the 3A disparity again, don't be distracted by the sleight of hand. See if he is palming that six-man, two-division plan and slipping it into his pocket for a larger classification.
Doesn't the thought of 16 districts in 3A Division I and 16 more in 3A Division II make you all warm and fuzzy?
Could it all be a test?
If this was a good idea for six-man, the UIL would have to love it for 3A. If there aren't an overwhelming number of complaints from six-man, a split-level 3A classification seems inevitable.
Yet, if the six-man system fails over the next two seasons, the little guys will have taken the hit for the bigger classifications.
There is real magic to the UIL's realignment process, which is why there is an announcement show on television to begin with.
The day they announce the new districts, and which teams are changing in classification, many of us are like kids waiting for gifts on Christmas morning. You know what you want, but you really don't want to know in advance. It would take away the magic.
Don't confuse magic with illusion, though. In this case, it could only be a matter of time before the experiment tested on six-man football could be applied to 3A.