Separate classification rules for football? Not so fast, Idaho coaches say
Debates over how to classify Idaho’s high school sports teams typically revolve around the elephant in the room — football.
But it turns out the state’s football coaches and high school administrators don’t have any widespread desire for a change, according to a survey revealed Wednesday by the state’s high school sports governing body.
The Idaho High School Activities Association found only 52% of the 238 it surveyed favored allowing schools to change classifications in football only.
Adding a seventh and additional classification just for football was met with even more resistance. Only 40% voted yes with 60% voting no.
The survey included football coaches, athletic directors, principals and superintendents around the state. Its results shocked many members of the board of directors for the IHSAA.
Idaho sets its classifications every two years in September, and arguments over what school belongs in what classification return regularly.
“I was floored by the results,” IHSAA board member Ted Reynolds said during the meeting. “I’ve been to those September board meetings for 17 years, and the big contention was always football because football is a numbers game.
“I was stunned that they did not want to come up with another classification for football only. So I’m as confused as everybody else on this, and it makes me wonder. We’ve always been asked to try to figure this out. And now I feel like we’re back at Square 1 trying to figure out what to do.
“Or do we need to do anything with classification?”
The 5A and 4A Southern Idaho Conferences brought the idea of allowing schools to move down a classification for football only to the IHSAA during its January meeting.
A pair of its schools have struggled on the football field for decades. Boise has one winning season in the past 27 years and finished last season with only 28 players on its varsity team. Caldwell hasn’t had a winning season in 14 years.
“If we don’t address this in the long term, football is going to be in a lot of trouble,” Boise Athletic Director Brian Barber said. “And Boise High would be just the tip of the iceberg.
“I don’t know exactly what the answer is. But I don’t think this is something we can sweep under the mat.”
But that worry did not carry over to the rest of the state. Football coaches voted against the two ideas more strongly than the state’s administrators.
Football coaches voted 34-31 (52%) against allowing schools to move down a classification in football only. They also voted 35-31 (53%) against adding another classification.
“When we’re talking classification, we always seem like we say, ‘Well, yeah, except football.’ Or we say, ‘but football,’ ” IHSAA board member Chad Williams said. “Maybe we shouldn’t be saying that anymore, at least according to this survey.”
MAXPREPS RANKINGS FOR STATE TOURNAMENTS
Strong survey results have the IHSAA moving forward with a proposal to seed all of its state tournaments via MaxPreps.com computer rankings.
Slightly more than two-thirds (68%) of coaches, athletic directors, principals and superintendents voted in favor of using the rankings to seed state tournaments in team sports like basketball, soccer, volleyball and softball.
It would not change how teams qualify for state. And it does not apply to individual sports like track, wrestling, cross country, golf or swimming.
That response came despite the warning schools from the same conference could meet in the first round of the state tournament. For example, two teams could face each other in a district championship one week, then turn around and play again in the opening round at state.
But the state’s coaches and administrators preferred the computer rankings over the state’s long-held practice of drawing the brackets before the season based on district tournament finishes.
The IHSAA moved the proposal from its discussion agenda to the action agenda for its Aug. 5 meeting. It must pass twice before taking effect as early as the 2021-22 school year.
Idaho already plans to use MaxPreps rankings to seed the 4A, 3A, 2A and 1A Division I football playoffs this fall.
GIRLS WRESTLING STATE TOURNAMENT
The IHSAA also took a step toward adding a separate girls wrestling state tournament for the 2021-22 school year.
Coaches have asked the state for a separate girls state championship for years, even organizing their own unofficial state tournament in Pocatello the past two seasons.
The survey showed overwhelming support for a single girls state tournament for all classifications, with 87% of coaches and administrators voting in favor.
“This looks overwhelming that we need to do something with girls wrestling,” IHSAA board member Ron Anthony said during Wednesday’s meeting. “… I’m not proposing that we look at going to a full 15 weight classes, but we need to look at getting it started and building.”
Coaches and administrators also voted 78% in favor of adding girls wrestling as a separate sport. But doing so would mean girls could only wrestle other girls, a move the IHSAA board balked at.
Like the MaxPreps rankings, girls wrestling still has a long way to go before becoming official. It moves to the Aug. 5 action agenda and needs to pass two board votes. Questions of how many weight classes and how female wrestlers would qualify for state remain unanswered.
This story was originally published June 3, 2020 at 4:14 PM.
