UIL Drafts Proposal To Spilt Football Conferences

[BUNA95]

They may have to if this doesn't pass.

This needs to be done. Many schools are operating in the red, and if fuel keeps going up it could cause issues.

Yep. And does ANYONE really believe that 300 mile roundtrips won't decrease fan support?? 

I agree. I might have to break out the AM radio. ;D

[Cardinal Supporter]

They may have to if this doesn't pass.

This needs to be done. Many schools are operating in the red, and if fuel keeps going up it could cause issues.

Yep. And does ANYONE really believe that 300 mile roundtrips won't decrease fan support?? 

So there will probably be fewer visiting fans and the visiting schools will be paying a lot more fuel cost. That equates to a loss of money by the schools. Schools do not like that. I am not saying I am for it or against it. Just something else to think about.

[tvc184]

Yep. And does ANYONE really believe that 300 mile roundtrips won't decrease fan support?? 

By the time the football season gets around in 2009, the cost of gas will be about $6 (or more) a gallon. I wonder how many fans will be willing to drive 300+ miles. It will be a $100+ trip just for the gasoline.

[Guest ECBucFan]

Exactly. Reality will set in...

[stangchain]

One of the problems was that the other sports might want to change to the schedule as well?  Well, why NOT?  If they are going to do it in football, then don't the baseball, basketball, soccer, softball, tennis,etc. sports deserve the same "break"?  I don't like it at all.  It just looks to me like they are creating a way for teams that never get in the playoffs an opportunity to make the playoffs, no matter how bad they are. 

I agree that there is a problem with the way things are now, but this is not the "fix".

[Guest Kelly Football]

Travel like Private Schools do alot! 

[DP#1FAN]

This is not going to happen. The cost of travel is out of control.

[KFDM COOP]

UIL studying proposal for split district alignments

The UIL hasn't given up on a split conference alignment for football districts.

The plan, which is based on enrollment and would reshape the current alignments, was brought to the UIL's Legislative Council in October.

The Legislative Council postponed consideration of the plan, but asked the UIL staff to come up with a split conference alignment based on the numbers submitted for the realignment and reclassification released in February.

A split conference alignment would create 16 districts in Division I made up of the schools with the largest enrollment in each classification and 16 districts in Division II made up the schools of the smallest enrollment in each classification.

Four teams would still advance to the playoffs in Class 5A and 4A and three teams in Class 3A and below, necessitating a first-round bye in one division.

Area football coaches agree something needs to be done to make the numbers more equitable, but they give mixed reviews to the proposal recently released by the UIL.

"I just don't like the whole idea," Memorial's Mickey Finley said. "I think it's all going to be a lot more travel, a lot more money. The way gas prices are now money's getting tight on travel budgets. It has to be more travel for everybody."

The proposal would place Memorial in a Class 5A, Division I district with Converse Judson and Wagner, Laredo United and San Antonio Churchill, Madison, MacArthur and Roosevelt.

"We can stay within the San Antonio-Corpus Christi area, but when you start talking big school are you going to throw in a Laredo or downtown Houston somewhere?" Finley asked. "That's where it starts to get complicated."

Finley doesn't see as much of a problem with the disparities in enrollment among Class 5A schools as he does in the smaller classifications.

"There may be a difference in 5A, but if you've got a couple of thousand students there's way plenty to pick from," said Finley, who has coached at every classification level. "I think where it really affects you is like at 3A. I remember when we were at Cuero and playing Southlake Carroll for the state championship and their enrollment was double ours and we weren't a small Class 3A school."

The gap between the largest and smallest schools in Class 2A is the reason Refugio's Jason Herring supports the proposal.

"I think it levels the playing field as far as the number of kids," Herring said. "The numbers game is going to get you. If you make those long, deep runs in the playoffs it makes a difference. This will level the playing field for more schools. It will take away a school with 215 having to play a school with 415."

El Campo's Bob Gillis is also in favor of the proposal, even though the Ricebirds would be placed in a Class 4A, Division II district with La Marque.

"I think it's a positive," Gillis said. "I've been an advocate of it because it seems like the most fair way you can do it as far as numbers. I know everybody looks at what district they're in, but numbers-wise it's fair."

The proposal would also eliminate first-round playoff games between district champions, as sometime occurs in Division I bi-district games.

"There should be a reward for winning the district championship," Herring said. "I'm a big believer in that. In the current format, you can have a 10-0 team vs. a 10-0 team in week one. This is a more balanced format and it gives you a little reward for winning the district championship."

Many coaches believe the UIL came up with the split conference alignment plan as a way to avoid creating a Class 6A.

"I know they're trying to stay away from 6A," Cuero's Mark Reeve said. "This is not a bad alternative. They've got to do something. It can't be any worse than it is now."

"I don't know how they would do it," Gillis added. "It's easy to say go to 6A. The better question is how do you create a more equitable system. It could be 6A or it could be 8A."

The biggest opposition to the split conference alignment has come from superintendents and athletic directors from multiple-school districts in urban areas who don't want their teams placed in different districts.

"You're going to have rivals split up out of districts," Gillis said. "There are going to be some scheduling problems and there are going to be some costs associated with this. Sooner or later you have to come up with something. The gaps are widening."

Finley knows the Victoria school district's situation will change when the new high schools are built. He also wonders how long the split conference alignment will be only for football.

"It's just football the first time," Finley said. "Then they're going to expand it next time because that's the way they work."

[Guest ECBucFan]

The UIL hasn't given up on a split conference alignment for football districts.

"I just don't like the whole idea," Memorial's Mickey Finley said. "I think it's all going to be a lot more travel, a lot more money. The way gas prices are now money's getting tight on travel budgets. It has to be more travel for everybody."

"We can stay within the San Antonio-Corpus Christi area, but when you start talking big school are you going to throw in a Laredo or downtown Houston somewhere?" Finley asked. "That's where it starts to get complicated."

"It's just football the first time," Finley said. "Then they're going to expand it next time because that's the way they work."

The UIL's timing on this is impeccably bad. 5-10 years ago it might have worked, but with gas going to $6 a gallon, this is just WRONG. Can you imagine adding in all sports? Can parents drive 125 miles one way for a 9th grade game on Thursday, then another 250 mile round trip for big brothers game on Friday night? I say again: Reality will set in. It always does!   

[KFDM COOP]

Oh come on BUC you would travel to see them Bucs. 

[Guest ECBucFan]

Oh come on BUC you would travel to see them Bucs. 

Naaaaawwww! I'm "jus' a poor mountaineer, barely keepin' his family fed!"  ;D 

(actually, getting off 12 hr shifts at 6PM would be the real stopper... :'( )

[KFDM COOP]

12 Hr. shifts?  Shoot you can pay our way!  ;D

[Guest ECBucFan]

Check this out.... 

http://beaumontenterprise.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=19748076&BRD=2287&PAG=461&dept_id=512588&rfi=6