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The Illinois High School Association is made up of the principals of the state's 766 member high schools. They vote on measures that affect thousands of boys and girls who participate in IHSA-sponsored sports programs and extra-curricular activities.
So logic says that the principals ought to be interested in what the IHSA is doing.
Bu only 39 percent of them bothered to cast a ballot when the IHSA chose to scrap a two-class basketball playoff that had been in place for 35 years and adopt a four-class format.
And when principal Bob Peterson of Putnam Country canvassed other principals following the recent 1A/2A and 3A/4A tournaments, the percentage of responses was even less.
According to Peterson, who is a member of the IHSA's basketball advisory board, only 61 principals from 1A and 2A schools were in favor of staying with the four-class plan while 47 favored a return to the two-class system. Only a handful of 3A/4A principals responded to his survey.
"I just don't think they care," Peterson said.
"I was in favor of the two-class plan. For 35 years, it was great. But the crowds this year in Peoria weren't what they used to be. Will Peoria be in favor of hosting again when the contract comes up for bid the next time? After one or two years, it is hard to tell if something is going to be good. In 1972, people had the same questions. How long will the IHSA look at it?"
Maybe Peterson should have asked the principals if they wanted a raise in pay or a country club membership or a month-long vacation in Hawaii.
They always find enough time to show up in Peoria to pick up a trophy in front of a television camera, don't they?
The happiest principal in Peoria was from Woodlawn, the small community near Mount Vernon that qualified for the state finals for the first time since the school opened in 1920. That's what IHSA executive director Marty Hickman said the new format was designed to do, provide opportunities for small schools that never experienced the joy of participating in the state finals.
Schools such as Woodlawn, with an enrollment of 200 students, Fairfield, Beecher and Richmond-Burton cheered for the new system while traditional powers such as Pinckneyville yearned for the good old days of the two-class tournament.
Critics argue that the four-class plan waters down the tournament and, worse, diminishes the prestige of an event that once was considered a showcase among all high school events in the United States. And they point to a lot of empty seats at Peoria's Carver Arena as proof that it isn't working, just as it doesn't appear to be working in neighboring Indiana.
But Hickman, principal Jim Woodward of Anna-Jonesboro, president of the IHSA's board of directors, and other administrators believe it is more important to provide more opportunities for kids to have a state-tournament experience, that the mission of the IHSA isn't to showcase an all-star basketball event featuring all of the state's top-rated teams and five-star players.
Do you think, Hickman and Woodward wondered, that the people in Woodlawn were any less excited to reach the 1A final than the people from Whitney Young in Chicago when they advanced to the 4A final?
They have a good point. In the end, it's all about the kids. Or it should be. So maybe the principals should get as excited as their students are.
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Taylor, a correction. The four-class format does not provide more opportunities for kids to have a state-tournament experience. The exact same number of teams make it to state now as under a two-class system.
If the main criterion for a state tournament is how excited people are to make it to the final and how happy they are about winning a trophy, then four classes are not enough. We should have six or eight or 10. After all, more happy people is a good thing, right? And who really cares who wins a state title, or if those teams really were any good?
Were this really about the kids, the IHSA wouldn't have said kids riding buses all over Illinois in often-dicey weather in February and March to accommodate the new, far-flung brackets four-class sports has wrought. Marshall to Macomb on a Tuesday night? How about Harvey to Normal? Someday, some kids or fans are going to get hurt or, God forbid, killed making those previously unnecessary long trips. What will Hickman and Co. say then?
Then again, this is the way education in general is going. No more valedictorians, no more class rank. Excellence is not worth rewarding anymore. Equality of outcomes, not equality of opporutnities, is paramount.
When looked at that way, I suppose the question isn't why the IHSA went to four classes. It's more surprising two classes lasted as long as it did. The state tournament never will be the same, and it will be worse than it was before. The IHSA wants to give "more" kids the state-tournament experience (which is patently false), but what if the experience isn't the same as it was?
Taylor,
Can you imagine if the IHSA member principals were running the Olympics?...
They would gut it....
Yes, they would reason that small countries like Paraguay, Ireland, and Costa Rica are at a disadvantage and should have their own games. Tough luck to runners from countries like Kenya and Ethiopia... You guys cant compete against the big boys anymore because your country is just to small. But we got a lot more medals to hand out in this new format!! Everyone goes home happy with a prize.
The current NCAA tournament wouldn't survive either. No more of this "One Shining Moment" nonsense. Davidson, Western Kentucky and Sienna would have to play in the NCAA "Class B" tournament.
I come from a high school that has been in existence for 45 years and has never had a boys team advance to even a sectional final much less go down state ...... and we have no complaints.
Many principles have come to accept the process of rewarding mediocrity. Its a more "fair" concept to lower the standards and make everyone a winner.
WHY WOULD YOU EXPECT PRINCIPAL'S IN THE CPS TO RESPOND,
THE CPS OPENED THE DOOR FOR THE 4 CLASS SYSTEM, WHEN THEY
GAVE UP THEIR AUTOMATIC BID IN THE TOURNEY, WHEN THE
TOURNEY WAS A TWO CLASS SYSTEM!
SO THAT RULES OUT OVER 64 PRINCIPALS RIGHT THERE!
THE FOUR CLASS SYSTEM HAS BEEN VERY GOOD TO THE CHICAGO
LAND AREA, SETON,LEO, NLCP, MARSHALL, SIMEON,VON STEUBEN,
CVCA, YOUNG, CRANE WHEN COACH LONGSTREET WAS THERE!
THE FOUR CLASSES PREVENT MARSHALL AND YOUNG FROM CANCELING
EACH OTHER OUT, SINCE ONE IS 3A AND THE OTHER!
I KNOW WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN, SETON WILL NO LONGER BE
A 2A SCHOOL, AND NLCP MIGHT GET BUMPED UP ANOTHER NOTCH
TO A 4A SCHOOL, JUST MY HUMBLE OPINION!
TO NLCP GET RID OF THOSE UNIFORMS!
TROPHIES FOR EVERYONE!!!!!!!IS THAT WHAT WE WANT? I UNDERSTAND THAT WE WANT A FAIR PLAYING FIELD, BUT 4 CLASSES DON'T MAKE IT ANY MORE FAIR THAN 2 CLASSES. WE CAN SIT AND ARGUE ALL DAY AND BOTH SIDES HAVE VALID POINTS, HOWEVER I THINK I HAVE THE ANSWER... WHY DON'T THE 4 CHAMPIONS PLAY FOR THE "REAL" STATE CHAMP TITLE. NOW I THINK THAT WOULD BE "THE TICKET". WHAT DO YOU THINK?
I am not defending principals but I think they are pretty busy. West Aurora's prinicpal was the AD before he took over his current position. With a successful basketball coach at his disposal for input I would hope that he voted. Unfortunately that scenario does not play out very often. Out of 766 high school principals how many actually do care or have time to care?
Why not have the ADs attend meetings (They can be over the internet.) and then vote. Tabulate the votes and let the ADs take the results to the respective principals. Some ADs may have to become very close to the prinicipal to get the vote, but that's part of the job. Get out the vote!
I do not know all the workings behind the choice of sites. Do the principals vote on site selection as well? Nothing against Peoria but a more central location makes sense.
I think it was your recent blog about tradition that fits right into this discussion. You remarked that Indiana attendance is down. So is Ohio. That's 3 states with the same problem. Any