Thu - 15 Sep
Written by Jim Ecker
Imagine a district for Class 4A football that includes Linn-Mar, Kennedy, Jefferson, Dubuque Hempstead and Dubuque Senior.
Also imagine a 4A district that includes Washington, Prairie, Iowa City High, Iowa City West, Muscatine and Burlington.
Imagine Xavier moving down to Class 3A for football, and imagine the Mississippi Valley Conference being eliminated as a premier football league.
It could all happen as soon as the 2012 campaign, even though the five Metro public schools are opposed.
Todd Tharp, an assistant director of the Iowa High School Athletic Association, made a two-hour presentation about the Class 4A district proposal Thursday to all of the Mississippi Valley Conference athletic directors at Jefferson High School.
When it ended, the athletic directors from Linn-Mar, Kennedy, Washington, Jefferson and Prairie all said they'll vote "no" on the district proposal, expressing strong feelings about protecting the integrity of the Mississippi Valley Conference. Mike Winker, the athletic director at Xavier, declined to state an opinion.
The proposal for Class 4A district football is gaining speed around the state. Surveys have been sent to all 47 Class 4A teams, with their answers due by Friday.
The survey begins with a simple question: Are you in favor of having districts for 4A football or not?
"We're going to vote no," said Scott Mahmens, the athletic director at Linn-Mar. "I just think our conference is the best in the state and we feel a loyalty to our conference."
If the state adopts a district format for Class 4A, it would eliminate conference standings and eliminate having a conference champion at the end of the year. There would be district champions, but no conference champions.
"We have a rich history in the MVC," said Aaron Stecker, the athletic director at Kennedy. "I don't want to see it go away."
Under the current proposal, there would be eight Class 4A districts with five or six teams apiece. A total of 44 teams would be placed in those districts, and the two smallest schools in the MVC - Xavier and Dubuque Wahlert - would drop to 3A in football.
"I'm a lifelong Cedar Rapidian and know all about the MVC," said Scott Kibby, the athletic director at Jefferson. "The part I struggle with is just giving up the conference traditions. That will be hard to give up."
The Mississippi Valley Conference would remain a league in other sports but not football, if the IHSAA Board of Directors approves the plan in the coming months.
"We're happy with the conference the way it's operated and the tradition of the Mississippi Valley Conference," said Paul James, the athletic director at Washington. "From our selfish standpoint we'd like to see it remain status quo.
"But we're not the only ones in this issue," he said. "So we'll see how the vote comes out and what the Board in Control decides to do with it and be prepared to go with whatever is decided."
The district proposal would not change how many teams make the Class 4A playoffs. There still would be 32 teams in the playoffs, but how they qualify would change.
Under one proposal, only district games would count toward making the playoffs. The top four teams in each district would make the playoffs, regardless of the number of teams in their district.
Under another proposal, district games and non-district games would both affect the playoffs, because the results of all games would count in a point system, similar to the system currently in place.
Under the first proposal, a team could start the season with four or five straight non-district games, none of which would have any bearing on making the playoffs.
"Your first four games mean absolutely nothing. They're glorified scrimmages," said Rocky Bennett, the athletic director at Prairie.
"I'm going to tell you right now, I'm voting no," Bennett said. "What I'm struggling with is the integrity of our league. We have a great thing going."
Winker said he's "open-minded" about the district proposal, but said he wanted to confer with his football coach and principal before expressing an opinion. In the past, Xavier has always preferred to compete against schools of similar size, if given a choice.
"You can always move up if you want," Winker noted. "And we never have, to this point."
Xavier belongs in Class 3A, based strictly on student population, but the Saints agreed to play Class 4A football when they joined the Mississippi Valley Conference.
All the other classes in the state went to district football in 1992, all except Class 4A.
There are currently 47 schools in Class 4A for football. Xavier, Wahlert, Davenport Assumption and North Scott would drop to 3A if the proposal is adopted, leaving 43 schools in 4A, but the number would climb to 44 when Ankeny Centennial High School opens in 2013.
"We're not going to have 48 schools in Class 4A district football," Tharp said. "That's not going to happen."
The move toward Class 4A districts is due to geography, scheduling issues and mileage in other parts of the state. The proposal appears to be more popular in other regions than it is here.
There are only four Class 4A conferences in the state with the Mississippi Valley Conference (14 teams), the CIML (18 teams), the Mississippi Athletic Conference (10 teams) and the Missouri River Conference (5 teams).
Schools would be allowed to schedule whoever they want for non-district games, regardless of class or conference alignments. If non-district games do not count for playoff consideration, schools would be free to schedule anyone. But if non-district games do count for the playoffs, Class 4A schools might be reluctant to play 3A teams because they wouldn't be worth as many points.
Mahmens thinks strong teams like Cedar Falls, Iowa City High and Linn-Mar could have trouble finding opponents for non-district games if the results count toward the playoffs.
"Who's going to want to play us if they say you have to find non-district games?" he said. "We have a hard time finding boys basketball and girls basketball non-conference games. Is is going to be the same way?"
On the other hand, Linn-Mar (4A) could play a non-district game with Marion High School (3A) if the game doesn't count for playoff purposes, because it wouldn't affect the winner or loser. "I think it would be a huge gate," Mahmens said.
If Xavier drops to Class 3A, the Saints might have trouble getting a 4A team on their schedule if the 4A school could be adversely affected in the playoffs.
Kennedy and Jefferson were placed in one proposed district, but Washington was placed in another. Kennedy and Jefferson would automatically meet every year in a district game, but would they continue their annual rivalry with Washington?
"We'd be adamant that we have to play Kennedy and Washington," Kibby said. "We can't survive (financially) without those games."
All 47 schools have been asked to vote in the survey, but it's not necessarily a case of majority rule if 24 schools (or more) vote one way or the other. Tharp said the IHSAA Board in Control will review the survey results in October, then could vote on the issue in November or December.
Tharp provided both sides of the argument during his presentation, including the possibility that two 0-and-8 teams could meet in the final district game of the regular season to decide who gets the fourth and final playoff spot in their district.
"Is that good, to have a 1-and-8 team in the playoffs?" he asked the athletic directors. "That could happen."
The proposal Tharp gave the athletic directors Thursday included possible non-district games for every 4A team in the state.
Here are the hypothetical schedules for Linn-Mar, Kennedy, Washington, Jefferson and Prairie:
LINN-MAR -- Clinton, Davenport North, Washington, Prairie, Mason City, Dubuque Senior, Hempstead, Kennedy, Jefferson.
KENNEDY -- Xavier, Washington, Davenport Central, Bettendorf, Jefferson, Marshalltown, Dubuque Senior, Linn-Mar, Hempstead.
WASHINGTON - Cedar Falls, Kennedy, Linn-Mar, Jefferson, Burlington, Prairie, Muscatine, Iowa City High, Iowa City West.
JEFFERSON -- Waterloo West, Xavier, Pleasant Valley, Washington, Kennedy, Hempstead, Waterloo East, Dubuque Senior, Linn-Mar.
PRAIRIE -- Pleasant Valley, Cedar Falls, Waterloo West, Linn-Mar, Muscatine, Washington, Iowa City High, Iowa City West, Burlington.
Here are the proposed Class 4A districts:
District 1 (5 teams) -- Council Bluffs Lincoln, Council Bluffs Jefferson, Sioux City East, Sioux City North, Sioux City West.
District 2 (6 teams) -- Ames, Ankeny, Ankeny Centennial, Des Moines East, Fort Dodge, Urbandale.
District 3 (5 teams) -- Cedar Falls, Marshalltown, Mason City, Waterloo East, Waterloo West.
District 4 (5 teams) -- Kennedy, Jefferson, Hempstead, Dubuque Senior, Linn-Mar.
District 5 (6 teams) -- Bettendorf, Clinton, Davenport Central, Davenport North, Davenport West, Pleasant Valley.
District 6 (6 teams) -- Burlington, Washington, Iowa City High, Iowa City West, Muscatine, Prairie.
District 7 (6 teams) -- Des Moines Lincoln, Des Moines North, Dowling Catholic, Indianola, Ottumwa, Southeast Polk.
District 8 (5 teams) -- Des Moines Hoover, Des Moines Roosevelt, Johnston, West Des Moines Valley, Waukee.
