Football playoff changes considered | Prep notebook

Is it time for the WIAA to change Washington's high-school football playoff system?

That depends on which coach or official weighs in, but there is a groundswell among members of the Washington State Football Coaches Association to make a change in the seeding format for first-round playoff games.

"We're not saying it's a horrible structure, what it is," Kennedy Catholic coach Bob Bourgette said. "We're just trying to improve it. There are pluses and minuses to the whole thing and what we're trying to say is the first round has been tough to some schools."

In the current system, a preliminary round of games for 32 teams determines first-round seeds out of each district. The surviving 16 teams are sorted into a predetermined state bracket based on the district seeds.

The proposed change would have the 16-team first-round bracket seeded by a committee of retired coaches, athletic directors and, potentially, members of the media.

"I think it's an awesome idea," Skyline coach Mat Taylor said. "It's something that has definitely needed to happen and I'm glad to see there's at least some discussions about it. Hopefully it gets implemented as soon as next year. Other states have proven they can do it, so I think it's time we do it."

Momentum for change has built over the past two seasons in an attempt to prevent top-ranked teams from facing each other in the first round. Last fall, in Class 2A, third-ranked Tumwater beat No. 2 Lynden in the first round.

KingCo 3A schools were also frustrated because all four of their playoff teams were placed in the same half of the bracket.

"That kind of brought it to a head, because the KingCo league was just phenomenal this year," Bourgette said. "It was scary. They are naturally a strong league, but this year it was really strong. They were all in that upper bracket. They really got upset about that, and rightfully so."

A lot must happen before the football playoff system is overhauled, like the basketball format was this year.

"The one thing I've told the coaches association is that they're going to have to be of a single mind that this is what they want," said Mike Colbrese, WIAA executive director. "It's got to be pretty objective. No. 3, they're going to have to make sure that they understand that the board is going to look at all the draw criteria. They can't just say, 'Football is going to be this, and basketball is going to be this and volleyball is going to be this.' There has to be some kind of connection between all the criteria.

"While people may not like some of the outcomes of the bracketing that's going on, it's objective criteria. If you start making it subjective like they're proposing, it's pretty darn difficult to defend."

The coaches have asked to meet with Colbrese and, if a proposal is presented it would be up to the WIAA Executive Board to hear the concerns and weigh them against all sports before seeking input from the athletic administrators association, the athletic directors and schools.

"All of us realize it's not a perfect plan, but we're just trying to get it closer to a much better situation," Bourgette said.