Suburban Life-area coaches react to IHSA football playoff expansion: ‘It is a net positive’

As the IHSA announced an expansion of the football playoffs starting next season, Suburban Life-area coaches offered their reactions. "I'm excited about the opportunities our kids might get. It is a net positive for us."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
Suburban Life area coaches react to IHSA football playoff expansion.
It is a net positive. This article is being read
by an automated voice brought to you by Everlyn. Jared
Amlsh is the coach of a Hinsdale South program that
was on the wrong side of the playoff bubble for

(00:26):
four consecutive years from twenty twenty one twenty twenty four,
finishing with four and five records that all changes next season.
And yet Amolsch, a longtime assistant coming off his first
year as head coach, has mixed views of playoff expansion.
As an old school football guy, he remembers when teams

(00:47):
were not even promised a playoff spot with six wins,
prestige came with earning that spot. That is the old
man in me. From a Hinsdale South perspective. Though he's
coach of the smallest school in the West Suburban Conference,
the sheer numbers alone is a lot to overcome in
that sense. I'm excited about the opportunities our kids might get.

(01:10):
It is a net positive for us, a Mulch said,
But I hear the old school guys argument. It's valid
to me. Waiting to see how this shakes out cautiously
optimistic that this will be a good thing for high
school football. Change is coming to Illinois high school football
starting next season. It was announced Tuesday that a proposal

(01:32):
to expand the IHSA football playoffs by one hundred and
twenty eight teams was passed by a school wide membership
vote three hundred and seven seven two fifty two with
ninety six abstentions. Under the proposal submitted by Monticello High School,
the playoff field will expand by one hundred and twenty
eight teams, increasing the field of qualifiers from two hundred

(01:52):
and fifty six teams to three eighty four. Wheaton Warrenville
South coach Sean Norris, whose program was on the right
side of the playoff dividing line in twenty twenty one,
twenty twenty three, and twenty twenty four at five to four,
wasn't surprised at the votes outcome. Using data from previous seasons,
all teams with three or more wins will make the playoffs.

(02:16):
In the case of twenty twenty five data, thirty two
teams that ended two to seven would have made the field.
People have different opinions, but I generally think it's a
positive thing for the sport. Noras said, at the end
of the day, it provides more schools and opportunity to
get to the playoffs. Football is a developmental game. Talk
to most coaches, you hope to be playing your best

(02:37):
football at the end of the season. Teams that might
struggle early on find their stride later in the year.
A lot of possibilities with that playoff experience. The eight
classifications will remain, but instead of thirty two teams in
each field, they will become forty eighteen fields. The highest
sixteen seeds in each bracket one through sixteen in Class

(02:58):
seven A and Class eight A, and the top eight
seeds in the North and South brackets in Class ONEA
through Class six A co will receive buys into the
second round. Hinsdale Central coach Brian Griffin was kind of
indifferent to how the vote went, but is excited to
see how expansion plays out. Griffin is essentially considering those

(03:20):
opening round games playing games similar to the NCAAA tournament
in basketball. Most coaches talking to teams, it's not going
to be the playoffs. That first game is not the
game we're trying to reach, Griffin said, we're still trying
to make the round of thirty two. My messaging to
my team is we're trying to reach that. In my mind,
we're not counting that first round as playoff wins in

(03:41):
terms of goals. Again, we'll see how it plays out.
ISSA executive director Craig Anderson said in a news release
that he hoped the expansion will provide intended relief to
our schools by stabilizing conference movement and eliminating the difficulty
of scheduling football games that many of our schools face
each year. There is mixed reaction whether playoff expansion will

(04:04):
remedy the scheduling issues. It will definitely have an effect
if you can get into the playoffs with three wins
or even two wins and a strong schedule. Amalsch said,
if I am a power school, I don't have to
schedule a cupcake week one to get my five wins.
How will that play out? I'm optimistic. I think it
might help with the scheduling, but time will tell. Montini

(04:24):
coach Mike Pukkowski said, if you get in with a
four or five mark, you have a little leeway, So
I think that can help be I'll be honest. The
schools that shied away from scheduling tougher opponents. I think
they're still going to do the same thing. Particular season
still will include nine games, but the beginning of the
season will start one week earlier to accommodate the extra
week of playoffs games that need to be scheduled. This

(04:46):
adjustment will eliminate the scrimmage week and will allow for
only ten dates to get in nine practices in the
preseason to meet the previously established state acclimatization practicing. With
that in mind, Pukovski wish that this plan had either
been approved back in August or the implementation pushed back
to the twenty twenty seventh season. I think it will

(05:07):
cause a very hectic period between now and next year,
a lot of things in the air. I know for
a fact there will be all kinds of problems because
of the schedule. People already have family reunions and vacations
and things like that, because that is what you did
during the dead week. In quote, Poulkowski said, now as
I read this thing, no more dead period between summer

(05:29):
and start of football. It's going to be a mess.
Scheduling wise. Challenge this year is going to be the
scheduling piece of it. Noraris said being prepared week one,
adjusting from sixteen practices to now ten is going to
be a challenge. Norris hears the cries of the traditionalists
that expansion waters down the playoffs. He still believes it

(05:50):
to be a net positive in the long run. I
get that. I appreciate the tradition. At our school there
was some sort of badge of honor, and rightfully so
for earning your five or six wins to get in
the playoffs. That is an accomplishment that any team had
pride in. Norris said, there is an adjustment, but at
the end of the day, the best teams will have
success and it will work itself out.