I have a proposed system that I believe will greatly improve the conferences and
playoffs in North Carolina.
1) First of all, I believe we need to realign to a 3-CLASS SYSTEM, 3A being the
largest and 1A being the smallest. I feel that there are currently too many
split conferences in North Carolina. I believe split conferences should only be
created in situations with true geographic hardship, such as the current
situation with Currituck and Hertford County in 3A, where no other schools
their size are anywhere nearby.
There are currently about 398 NCHSAA schools in North Carolina, which would
currently split into about 133 in each class. This number only continues to
increase year by year. When I modeled this system, I was able to create 17-20
conferences of 6 to 9 teams each (with the exception of a couple of leagues) in
each class, with good geography, and with NO SPLIT CONFERENCES. Conferences
are created based on geography, with a minimum of 6 football-playing schools
per league.
2) Playoffs: My proposed system would create 6 state champions in every sport.
As I stated earlier, there would currently be about 133 teams in each of the 3
classes. I propose that the top 64 teams in each class make the playoffs,
which would be the upper half of each class. Then there would be a subdivision
of the 64 teams into the 32 biggest and 32 smallest, creating 6 playoff
divisions, from 3AA being the largest, to 1A being the smallest. Then divide
the 32 teams into the 16 east and the 16 west, and seed much like the current
football playoffs.
Teams would qualify for the playoffs as follows: the top 3 finishers in each
league make the playoffs automatically. This would give you 54 teams qualifying
from 18 conferences. The first thing I would then do is have teams that finish
in a tie for 2nd or 3rd in their conference qualify automatically. The
remaining teams would be selected by their CONFERENCE WINNING PERCENTAGE
regardless of conference finish. For example, a 4th place team in a 9-team
football league usually finishes close to 5-3, whereas a 4th-place team in a
6-team football league usually finishes close to 2-3. This would help the
larger conferences get more teams into the playoffs. Overall records would
only be used as a tiebreaker between teams with exactly the same conference
winning percentage. In this system, a 4-3 5th place team would be chosen above
a 2-3 4th place team.
Seeding would occur as follows: Seed the teams in tiers much like football is
done now. 1st place teams are seeded first, followed by 2nd place teams, 3rd
place teams, and then wildcard qualifiers, BUT by their NUMBER OF CONFERENCE
LOSSES with overall record used as a tiebreaker. For example a team that is 6-0
and 10-0 would be seeded above a team in the same tier that is 8-0 and 9-1. A
team that is 5-1 and 9-1 would be seeded above a team that is 6-1 and 8-2, and
so on.
I believe this system would be a fairer way to pick and seed playoff teams than
the current pre-determined number of seeds from each conference each year that
is currently in effect(except in football). It also helps eliminate the current
8-football champions system that we have, and all the 2-8 and 1-9 1A teams that
make the playoffs. It also helps schools compete for state championships in
all sports with teams more their own size.
Attached is a model of what the system might look like, using 2011 ADM numbers:
