Area football coaches weigh in on playoff and district changes

The Iowa High School Athletic Association recently handed down the newly redesigned football districts and playoff qualifying formula.

A full breakdown of the changes was included in Friday’s News Advertiser.

The main changes concerned teams being allowed to schedule out-of-state games once more and as well as the alteration of how at-large teams qualify for the playoffs.

Every district champion will still qualify for the playoffs, but an RPI criteria will be used to determine at-large qualifiers.

Those three criteria are the team's winning percentage (weighted at 37.5 percent), the winning percentage of opponents of the team in question, (weighted at 37.5 percent) and finally opponents' opponents winning percentage (weighted at 25 percent). These criteria are explained more in full in Friday's News Advertiser and on the IHSAA website by going to https://www.iahsaa.org/category/football/ and clicking "FAQs for Football RPI in 2018-2019."

Coaches weigh in

Coaches, administrators and media members immediately publicized qualms with the most recent changes, many of whom took the state to task for grievances they had. Most notably, many coaches believed their thoughts and opinions on the incoming changes were ignored.

Other coaches spoke out in favor of keeping the number of playoff qualifiers at 16, and did not take issue with the changes.

Creston/Orient-Macksburg coach Brian Morrison, who approaches his ninth year as coach of the Panthers, took to Twitter the day of the announced changes to speak out.

“The I.H.S.A.A decision will cripple (a lot) of programs in the future. They have made 3A almost impossible for most schools to compete after private schools dropped from 4A over the years and now adding 6 schools this year from 4A (two qualifying for the playoffs).”

CNA sports reporter Carter Eckl spoke with Morrison about his qualms around the changes.

“The way the state set it up, we have a board (of coaches) for the football association that recommends to state what needs to happen and they looked away and did nothing with it,” Morrison told Eckl. “I know a lot of coaches are upset about that. They had a good gameplan as far as still keeping it a week out from (playoff) games. It’s upsetting that they don’t listen to the coaches.”

Scheduling concerns

Having even less control concerning who non-district opponents will be (the Panthers will play five district games and four non-district games this upcoming season), has been another issue the coaches feel burned about.

Many coaches feel they don’t have many options in scheduling quality opponents that could help their RPI.

“It kind of limits us cause in (southwest) Iowa listening to talk on KMA, it’s beneficial for teams that can play teams that are closer non-district,” Morrison said. “But in our case, who are you going to play? It’s just a different scenario, I get it. Unless you’re in eastern Iowa or around the metro in Des Moines. Our only option right now is to travel an hour and a half which is fine, but typically we’ve done non-district closer around the area.”

Mount Ayr coach Delwyn Showalter, the co-head coach of the Raiders since 2001 and a coach on staff since 1985, he agreed that the IHSAA didn’t nearly enough consider the opinions of coaches.

The Raiders, in Class 1A District 8, will also play four non-district games.

“Sometimes I feel that they forget they work for the schools — they are supposed to represent us, but there are many times that they ignore the schools and do what they want,” Showalter said. “75 percent of the schools (8 man to 3A) wanted to go back to 32 qualifiers, and they said no. The state Athletic Directors Association and the state Football Coaches Association both endorsed a plan that went back to 32 qualifiers, preserved a nine-game regular season, maintained six days between playoff games, and finished before Thanksgiving, but the IHSAA rejected it. In the interest of player safety, the coaches association even proposed no level 4 or 5 contact in practice once the postseason started, and they rejected that.”

Coach Anthony Donahoo, heading into his third season at Southwest Valley, feels that these changes affect the playoff chances of small schools the most, noting that it really hinders the at-large chances of 8-player and Class A schools in southwest Iowa.

The Timberwolves, in Class A District 9, will play in a six-team district with four non-district games.

“How do we schedule quality non-district games and where do we go and do we tell our crowd we’ve got to go three hours to schedule a quality opponent?” Donahoo posed that question among others.

Donahoo had hoped for a 24-team playoff picture.

He was pleased with the small district, and believes that with the amount of senior talent departing in the Class of 2018, that this district could be extremely competitive.

Mount Ayr has been on Southwest Valley’s schedule the last two years. Each season, that has been the best quality team the Timberwolves have faced in non-district game.

Donahoo noted, “I wish we had a lot of Mount Ayrs.”

“In class A and 8-man, we get the leftovers of everybody. I think it’s a little bit of oversight in how they do that,” he added.

Donahoo was also worried that these changes hinder his program’s chance of making the playoffs, and that this fact will take a hit on the number of players who come out for football.

“When we talk to a lot of kids about going out for football, they want to know they can get to the playoffs,” Donahoo said.

As far as eight-man is concerned, Matt Malausky, heading into his third year as head coach at Lenox, knows that non-district travel will be a bit easier for his program than many other 8-player programs.

In 8-player District 6 with eight teams, the Tigers will have two non-district games.

“Travel for non-district games is really going to be dependent upon where you are located in your district,” Malausky said. “We probably won’t have to travel that much as we are an outlier in our district, and are very close to a neighboring district (district 7, which includes Bedford, Clarinda Academy, East Mills, Essex, Fremont-Mills, Griswold, Sidney and Stanton).

Clarke’s Matthess not worried about changes

While most coaches who chose to speak out about the changes were against them, Clarke’s Duane Matthess comes from a different perspective. He says to wait and see.

“I don’t think it’s the worst thing that happened to high school football in 20 years,” Matthess said. “Is it the best thing? Who knows? There’s going to be hiccups. We have to evolve and change with it.”

Matthess was candid that his approach may differ as his Clarke squad looks to find its footing in 2018 after an 0-9 season.

His mind isn’t immediately focused on what the playoff picture could look like in nine months.

“I’m not going to make excuses to our players,” Matthess said. “That’s out of our control. I’m still not happy with our coaches association.”

Matthess thinks the coaches’ association (IFCA) could have done more with the IHSAA to relay its concerns, and was too focused on ensuring an expanded playoff field of 24 or 32 teams, both ideas popular with many of the state’s coaches. To him, the IFCA should share some of the blame that is going around, for not better advocating for its concerns and better working with the IHSAA. Matthess said the state approached the IFCA about their opinions on how to better select the wild card teams, but again, there was too much focus on expanding the playoff field rather than addressing how to get more squads in the postseason.

"Until we get into it, I'm not going to be the one who sits here and bashes it," Matthess said.
"A year from now, I may be in full agreement with other coaches. Until then, I'll see how it plays out."

He, like other coaches, warmed more to the idea of some district changes. One thing in Clarke’s favor is closer district contests. He likes the smaller districts as well.

Clarke had a potential rivalry game preserved with Chariton.

Concerns heard?

Malausky also believes the IHSAA ignored the coaches’ association.

“The coaches wanted 32 teams in the playoffs and to have a nine-game regular season,” Malausky said. “The IHSAA’s focus was on player safety/recovery time and having Friday games the whole way through. That’s part of leadership and being lead. Decisions are going to be made that we have no control over and we are going to have to deal with it.”

Showalter is excited about potentially having more control with scheduling more rivalry games in the future, but is worried that the state’s control over scheduling could leave Mount Ayr out in the cold and without teams they wanted on its schedule.

Showalter does admit that he can appreciate coaches who come around to new ideas of what is best for the sport and its players. That being said, he does believe that this new system hinders opportunities for many programs.

“When the playoffs first went to 32 teams, I was against it. I was a traditionalist, and I felt it watered down the field too much. But after a while, I saw the effect it had on teams. It gave players and coaches something to play for much later into the season. It created a lot more interest for fans, brought in bigger crowds, and brought money into our communities,” Showalter said. “Teams that had a key injury early in the year, or young teams that took a while to gel knew they still had a chance to make the postseason. Now that has been taken away. A team that loses in the first district game may very well be eliminated from playoff contention. In every other sport, every team has the opportunity to qualify for state.”

Morrison had stronger overall opinions than any of the coaches who were asked about the changes.

“They’ve done an injustice to the coaches in the state. I think a lot of coaches would say that,” Morrison said.” They made a decision not based off of what we are saying, but what they are seeing nationally.”

Other local coaches or just those interested in football are encouraged to share their thoughts on the recent changes with the News Advertiser. You can do so by emailing the sports department at sports@crestonnews.com or emailing sports editor Kaleb Carter at kacarter@crestonnews.com

CNA sports reporter Carter Eckl contributed to this report.