Winds of change

Changes are coming to the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association football playoffs this fall. The WIAA’s Board of Control approved recommendations by the fall coaches’ advisory committees, including a plan that replaces the 11-player and 8-player football playoff qualifying and seeding system. The Board voted to support the plan created by the Wisconsin Football Coaches Association at the recommendation of the Football Coaches Advisory Committee. The changes came two months after the WIAA errored and left Madison West and Greenfield out of the playoffs. There were also several questions regarding inconsistent or incorrect seeds for several teams. “We commend the Wisconsin Football Coaches Association leadership in conjunction with the WIAA Football Coaches Advisory Committee on their communications with our staff and the football coaches across the state on this redesigned qualification and seeding process,” WIAA Executive Director Stephanie Hauser said. “They provided tutorials and welcomed feedback from coaches and member schools. “This process is a reflection of WIAA’s mission to be responsive to its membership and make key decisions about programs, rules, and eligibility with transparency among all stakeholders,” she continued “The WIAA Board of Control and WIAA staff support this new qualification and seeding process and will continue working collaboratively to enhance its procedures, ensuring greater efficiency and the best service possible for its member schools.” Here are the key components of the new format:   Teams will be evenly distributed before  the season begins Prior to the 2025 season, teams will be divided equally in seven divisions based on enrollment and application of the performance factor for 11-player football programs.  In past years, the WIAA determined the 224 playoff qualifiers first, and then assigned those schools to divisions.   Wins are ranked  on a points system In 11-player football, wins receive an initial value corresponding to the division placement of the opponent.  A win over a Division 1 school is worth 6.5 points and decreases by 0.5 points by division. So a win over a Division 7 school, the lowest division based on enrollment, is awarded 3.5 points.  In addition, teams will be rewarded points for each Tier 1 victory of their defeated opponents for all games played (Tier 2). The sum of each tier is divided by the total number of games played. The total points calculated for each tier is added to determine a team’s total point value for ranking within its own division. The four teams with the highest total points in each division are designated the top seed in the four groupings. Seeds 2, 3 and 4 would then be assigned to each region with respect to minimizing its travel time to the No. 1 seed.  The No. 3 and No. 4 seeds would be positioned in the bracket to face their likely second-round playoff opponent, the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds, respectively. The No. 2 seed will be placed in the region corresponding to its closest No. 1 seed. Seeds 5, 6, 7 and 8 will prioritize minimizing travel for first-round opponents. Each permutation of the 24 No. 3 through No. 8 seeds is calculated, with the matchups yielding the lowest total travel time being chosen. The WFCA says potential benefits include equity, reducing travel, increased transparency, providing checks and balances to the WIAA’s process, improved schedule control and better geographic representation.   How does the plan look in practice? The proposal summary uses Franklin’s 2024 season as an example of implementation of the plan. It begins with the context that 364 teams competed across the state in 2024, which would divide evenly under the plan in divisions of 52 teams.  Franklin’s enrollment would put it in Division 1 as one of the top 52 schools by enrollment in the state. The Sabers went 9-0 in the regular season, beating five D1 teams (worth 6.5 points each), three D2 teams (worth 6.0 points each) and one D3 team (worth 5.5 points each). Their points for Tier 1 would be computed as follows: (5 x 6.5) + (3 x 6) + (1 x 5.5) = 56 Tier 1 points That number is then divided by the nine games Franklin played to form a Tier 1 score of 6.22. Adding together the defeated opponents of all nine of Franklin’s defeated teams yields a Tier 2 point total of 228.5. That number is then multiplied by 9 and divided by the total number of games played by opponents, which in Franklin’s case was 81. The final calculation then appears as follows: (56 / 9) + (9 x 228.5 / 81) = 31.61 Franklin’s total score would have ranked higher than every other team in D1, earning it a No. 1 seed. Other teams that would have received No. 1 seeds in the other three regions of D1 under the proposed plan would have included Verona (9-0), Kimberly (8-1) and Oconomowoc (8-1).  Under the existing WIAA qualification formula, Franklin and Verona received No. 1 seeds, but notably Kimberly (No. 2) and Oconomowoc (No. 6) were denied top seeds in favor of Waunakee (8-1) and Marquette (8-1).   How did this  plan come about? The Wisconsin Football Coaches Association (WFCA) proposal, dubbed the Wisconsin Football Playoff Matrix, is modeled after the system that has been utilized in Ohio for many years. Developed by Andy LaVoy and Jesse Norris of Edgewood High School in collaboration with the WFCA Executive Board, the system, “introduces what we feel to be a fair, data-driven approach to high school football playoffs, designed to ensure transparency, limits travel impacts, and provides consistency.”   Expansion in  8-man football There was an 11-0 vote in favor of 8-player football expansion that moves the number of qualifiers from 16 teams to 32 teams, beginning in 2025. With more than 70 total 8-player teams and more than 50 that are eligible for the playoffs, it brings the ratio of qualifiers-to-teams in line with the 11-player divisions. In the 2024 season, there were several teams with winning records that did not qualify for the playoffs, including some that went 6-2. The 8-player football playoffs would expand to five levels of competition, though the state championship game would continue to be played at the Saturday of 11-player state semi-finals at Wisconsin Rapids. The start of practices and the first week of games would be moved up one week in 8-player football to accommodate the expanded playoff schedule. Both would move in line with 11-player football. The enrollment cap for playoff eligibility would remain in place, as only those teams with a trailing three-year enrollment number of less than 200 students would be eligible for the 8-player postseason.