Coaches propose sixth class, among other changes

Updated: May 5, 2011 10:56PM

Last year, Munster’s football season ended against Crown Point — a school with 916 more students than Munster.

In 2009, the end came against Lake Central — a school with 1,609 more students than Munster (almost exactly twice as many, actually). In 2008, the last game was against Merrillville, a school with 780 more students than Munster.

Under a new proposal by the Indiana Football Coaches Association, so-called bubble schools such as Munster would have a fighting chance.

“Look at Munster and Chesterton — those guys are in an uphill battle,” said Morton coach Roy Richards. “They’ve got very good programs, but as soon as they get into tournament play, they’re playing someone with 1,000 more kids than they have. They don’t complain; they’re competitors. But realistically, how do you tell your kids, ‘Let’s go for the Dome’ given those numbers? If they get there, it’s an unbelievable effort by their coaches and players and it’s incredibly unlikely to be able to duplicate it. I think all of us feel that’s not fair, whether you’re a Munster fan or a Chesterton fan or not. We want what’s fair for everybody.”

Coaches across the state of Indiana are currently voting — overwhelmingly in favor — on the new proposal, put together by 15 members of the IFCA (the official proposal said they came from “across the state from public and private schools and from all five classes,” but none of them were from Northwest Indiana).

As of Thursday afternoon, there were 232 yes votes and just 23 no votes, with 60 votes yet to be cast. After it passes, the IFCA will present it to the IHSAA in hopes of implementing it by the 2013 season, after the current two-year reclassification cycle.

There are four parts to the proposal, beginning with the long-anticipated addition of a sixth class, composed of the 32 biggest schools in the state. The next 32 schools would make up 5A. That would separate the likes of Munster (1,616 students) and LaPorte (1,839) from Ben Davis (4,892, the state’s biggest) and Lake Central (3,225, the region’s biggest).

Lake Central, Portage, Crown Point, Merrillville and Valparaiso would all be in 6A under the proposal, with Chesterton (1,986) going from the 34th-biggest 5A school to the second-biggest 5A school.

Eight of the last 10 5A titles have been won by what the IFCA terms “mega schools” — Warren Central (five), Ben Davis (two) and Carmel (one). Those are the three biggest schools in the state.

“To me, that’s the most important thing, to go to six clases,” said Munster coach Leroy Marsh, who’s been charged with corraling all the votes from Lake and Porter county coaches. “That’s the biggest inequity in the playoff system.”

There are three other dramatic changes in the proposal:

Teams with overwhelming success will be bumped up a class, based on a point system. A school gets five points if it wins a state championship, three points if it wins a semistate, two for a regional and one for a sectional. If a school earns 10 points in a four-year span, it will move up a class.

The IFCA calls it the “tradition factor,” and while the stated target is private-school dominance — 23 of the last 40 state titles in 1A-4A have been won by private schools, which make up just eight percent of schools — the point-system would be factored in for all schools.

That means Lowell theoretically would have been bumped up a class after the 2008 season after winning a state title, a sectional, a semistate and a regional (11 total points).

In the past four years, only seven schools would have earned at least 10 points — Carmel (which already is in the highest class), Cathedral, Reitz, Bishop Dwenger, Chatard, Bishop Luers and Lafayette Central Catholic.

And yes, schools can theoretically move up four classes if their dominance continues.

Dwenger has won three straight 4A regionals and two of the last three semistates, including a 48-12 win over Morton last year. Richards said he’s not a huge fan of the point system, but understands why it’s part of the proposal.

“I don’t agree with punishing someone for being successful,” he said. “As a competitor, I just want to get another crack at them. I want to beat them. It’s not like they have 1,000 more students than Morton does. But I understand. Private schools are less likely to go through cycles like all of us. Those schools, the talent just feeds into their buildings.”

The third part is a “socioeconomic factor,” borrowed from a recently approved system in Ohio. Under the proposal, schools that have at least 60 percent of their students on reduced or free lunch plans would have 15 percent of the number of students on those plans deducted when determining classes. So a school of 1,000 students would count as a school of 910 students if it had 600 or more students receiving free or reduced lunch plans.

“I think it’s a great clause to have in there because it shows it’s a consideration,” said Richards, who expects Morton would be among the schools to benefit from the proposed change. “I don’t think it should be a huge determining factor, but it’s nice to see somebody in athletics acknowledging that a disparity exists, because nobody downstate in education will acknowledge it.”

Richards said more affluent schools have advantages that go far beyond better equipment, better facilities and more summer availability.

“We wanted to do an 11-on-11 against a certain team, and they pulled out because they’re taking their entire team to a Division I campus for a three-day camp,” Richards said. “God, that’d be cool. But that doesn’t happen here.”

Finally, the last part of the proposal is to partially seed the sectionals. Under the new rules, the top two teams in each sectional based on the Sagarin computer ratings — after the second-to-last week of the regular season — would be placed on opposite sides of the bracket, increasing the chances that the best two teams in each sectional will reach the final. The proposal says this will be a benefit both in terms of competition and revenue, since a better matchup likely will lure a bigger crowd.

“I think the different elements of the proposal take into account 20 years of frustrations by coaches at every level in Indiana,” Marsh said. “Everyone put aside their differences and came up with legitimate ideas, and I think it’s an outstanding package.”

It’ll be a long haul to get the proposal implemented. First, the IFCA has to finish voting. Then it has to pitch it to the IHSAA, likely in the fall. Then, if the IHSAA gives it the go-ahead after forming committees and discussing it, it must be approved by school athletic directors and principals.

Richards expects it to be altered by that process, but believes that in 2013, the tournament will definitely be drastically different, starting with the sixth class.

“I never think the initial suggestion is the right one, and that’s why a lot of times things don’t pass,” Richards said. “But by voting no, you’re saying the current system is good. Voting yes means, ‘Let’s make a change.’ It won’t necessarily follow this word for word — we’ll talk about it, we’ll meet about it, and we’ll make it even better, and we’ll make sure it’s fair for everybody. This is just the beginning.”

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