ROUND ROCK — Starting next school year, there will be major changes to the postseason format for various UIL sports.
A proposal to restructure playoffs for basketball, soccer, volleyball, softball and baseball, splitting each class into two divisions, was approved at the UIL Legislative Council’s June meeting on Tuesday. The playoff structure for those sports will be similar to 6A football’s postseason format, which splits qualifying teams into two divisions based on enrollment and determines two champions in each class. Class 1A volleyball, softball and baseball will be unaffected.
State tournaments have traditionally included semifinals, finals and often back-to-back games, but under this new format they may be limited to just the finals. Dallas Morning News The move could result in fewer playoff games and potentially eliminating the regional quarterfinal rounds in basketball and soccer and the district rounds in volleyball, softball and baseball, according to documents obtained through a public records request in May.
UIL officials have said they believe splitting team sports other than football into two divisions will promote fairness in competition across the state and give member schools more opportunities to win state championships.
In reality, the new format should narrow the roster gap between playoff opponents.
The UIL has been considering the format since the 1990-91 school year, when it had two divisions only in Class 5A football, UIL Deputy Director Jamie Harrison said. news Tuesday after the proposal passed. Class 6A didn’t exist until the 2014-15 school year, so the UIL’s highest class at the time was Class 5A.
“Since then, every other sport has wanted the same thing,” Harrison said, “and every other conference wants it too. It started in 5A and has worked its way down.”
In football’s postseason format, teams in Classes 1A through 5A are assigned to Division I or Division II athletic districts each reclassification and realignment cycle. Schools that fall into either classification compete in their districts only against other teams in the same given division. Class 6A teams are not assigned a division until playoff eligibility is determined, so a 6A school may be Division I for the postseason one year and Division II the next.
The new playoff formats for basketball, soccer, volleyball, baseball and football will mirror the 6A system for now to avoid disrupting the current placement structure or adding additional moves to district play. The 2024-26 UIL realignment cycle begins this upcoming school year.
“This is not the only option we analyzed. We put five, six or seven options on the table and as soon as we announced the adjustments, we identified multiple split meetings and so on. This is not what we have just done. [Class ]”7A. Everything,” Harrison said. “We tried to track each one individually until we found a clear reason why it wouldn’t work at this time, and we ran into that reason with every other option except this one.”
Harrison added: “The only obstacle to this was, ‘But next year? That’s a bit too soon.’ So tell me why can’t we do it next year, why not? The more we started working on it, the more we realised we could do it. This is something people have been asking for, this is the option to go forward with, and it’s just the first step.”
Ahead of the vote, some Dallas-area coaches said they supported the change, while others questioned why football was the only sport with two championship brackets. Harrison said Tuesday that when the model of splitting conferences for football’s postseason began, the numbers showed that enrollment would affect football more than any other sport.
“All sports will be affected by enrollment, but football will be affected more dramatically than other sports because it’s a numbers game,” Harrison said. “Basketball will be affected a little less than baseball and softball.” [Basketball] There are five players at a time. [Baseball and softball] “It takes nine hours. Football takes 22 hours.”
Harrison said another obstacle is the schedules of other sports besides football: Football games are played once a week, usually on a weekend, while sports like basketball tend to be played twice a week on school days.
Johnny Carter, executive director of the Texas Basketball Coaches Association, said during a conference hearing Tuesday that the association is advocating for a basketball state championship tournament.
Before the vote, some coaches said the new format would make games less competitive, while others said they hadn’t heard much about the proposal, which wasn’t posted on the UIL’s website until last week. news I received the documents.
“I would urge them to engage with us or one of the coaches’ associations where they can get their support,” Harrison said in response to those worried about the changes. “This is [various coaching associations]They engage with those organizations extensively, so if they are not engaged with those organizations, they cannot hear you and they cannot share your voice. [your] Let’s raise our voices together.”
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