[Old School Hound]

Most everyone on here is probably a lot smarter than me when it comes to high school sports. I just watch the games and appreciate the young athletes who entertain us.  What I want to ask , though, is this --- Do you think the current playoff format is the best possible way to determine a champion? Personally, I don't have a lot of gripes about it but there are some things I'm not crazy about. 

I was just curious if you were commissioner or on a board to determine a better playoff system, what changes would you make? I wish there was a way to do away with some of these first round matchups that only serve to embarrass the kids on teams that are way overmatched.  Some of those first round games, quite honestly, shouldn't be played.

 Would  you shorten the postseason ?  Are you okay with using RPI in later rounds to determine home field? Do you like cross-districting?

What would your playoff system look like if you had the power to determine it?  Do you have some changes in mind that would make it better or do you like it just the way it is?

[BlackcatAlum]

If anything, I'd eliminate the first round and shorten the playoffs. Top 3 teams from each district qualify for the playoffs and 1 seeds get a bye. Making the playoffs should mean something.

[Running wild 14]

Shorten a round and whole playoff seeded by RPI

[Hound05]

Shorten a round and whole playoff seeded by RPI

You beat me to it! 

I’ll go even further, keep it seeded by RPI geographically until the semis. That way you’re not having Paducah Tilghman traveling to to bell county the first round. And shorten it like you said as well. I’d be fine with 2 teams but I’d like 3. Sometimes the 2nd and 3rd place teams in a district are about even. 

Or

if they wouldn’t do that, and I wouldn’t like it as much, but instead of 8 regions, do it like the NCAA does. Make a north, central, east, west bracket. Regions 1/2 are seeded in the west. 3/4 seeded in the central. Etc. top 4 get to pick which bracket they want to play in. That way only one team would possibly have to travel a ways. (Not a big fan of this personally)

Or 

take the top 16 teams and they go to the playoffs. Regardless of what district region they are from. This year boyle and Lex both would be in it from the same district. And district 78 wouldn’t have any make it. This would almost guarantee the top 2 teams meet in the finals. Or start out with the top 8 teams. There’s about 99% chance no one under 8 in RPI will ever win a championship, unless they just loaded up on out of state teams. 

finally, keep it like it is with RPI. And the same model (ie districts 2 districts per region) but seed each region instead of cross bracketing. The. Region finals will be seeded geographically, and then semis it don’t matter where you’re from. i wouldn’t mind this, not wpuld Change outside of early matchups.

[rookie57]

Go back to the way it was before RPI, but only top 2 teams from each district make the playoffs.

[Hoot Gibson]

Allow all teams into the playoffs, eliminate the RPI, reduce the number of classes to 5, create a playoff system based on Indiana's, and replace the incompetent and corrupt KHSAA staff from the top down. Other than that, the current system is okay as it is.

[RAMDAD50]

RPI has to go. It sucks!! I will never be in favor of doing away with a week of football. We seem to forget this is about the kids. I’ve said this 1000 times. Real life is coming for them at a fast pace so let them play as many games as they can.

[Hoot Gibson]

RPI has to go. It sucks!! I will never be in favor of doing away with a week of football. We seem to forget this is about the kids. I’ve said this 1000 times. Real life is coming for them at a fast pace so let them play as many games as they can.

Exactly. More football, not less, makes the sport stronger. I like Indiana's system because it does not penalize teams for playing strong regular season schedules. Their playoffs decide champions and the regular season is used to develop player skills and to prepare them for the playoffs. In the end, what matter most is having a system that produces the best players and teams and shortening the season does not help a state to reach that goal.

[DukeBoy]

Winners and Runner-ups are all that move into the playoffs. I mean really, what 4 seed is looking forward to going and taking another beating this late in the season. Less games, less injuries. Better weather for Championship game: 13 games is plenty.

[Old School Hound]

RPI has to go. It sucks!! I will never be in favor of doing away with a week of football. We seem to forget this is about the kids. I’ve said this 1000 times. Real life is coming for them at a fast pace so let them play as many games as they can.

I wonder how many of the Lynn Camp kids (and coaches and families ) are really looking forward to making the trip to Pikeville where they have zero chance to have any competitive fun on the football field?  I'd rather them enjoy some real life  fun at a museum instead of getting their brains beat in by the tune of 42-0 in the first quarter. Too many of the first round games offer no value in the way of competition. Plus, it's boring as hell to watch a game that is 28-0 after 6 minutes.

What is there about Lynn camp at Pikeville and Conner at Fred Douglass that makes the sport stronger? Absolutely nothing, imo.

[plantmanky]

I wouldnt change the playoff system at all.  What I would do is allow an independent division.  Teams that play regular season, but not in post season playoffs.  They can still play district teams in regular season like they do now. 

Come post season the independent teams get to play in 1 additional game, bowl game, at a said few sites across the state.

In a sense, this would probably remove most of the 4 seeds everyone talks about.

If you keep the teams in a district for regular season, this allows for teams to make a 2 year decision to be independent if they choose.

[jamesclay]

I would ban Corbin from the playoffs but other than that, I think they are okay.

[64SUR]

I would reward the 3rd and 4th seed in first round home field advantage. Ok I said it!!!

[#GoCougs]

My opinion probably isn't popular & that's fine, but I think if the KHSAA just fixed the classification system there would be more parity & therefore the playoffs would be fine as is.

I think that the population of the county that the school is located needs to be factored into their classification rather than just the enrollment of the school. I say the enrollment should still be the main classification criteria but the population of the county that the school is located in should be factored in as well as how many schools are in that county.

Its kind of just common sense, if your school is located right in the middle of a city of 100,000+ people you are going to have access to more talent than a small, rural county school in which there isn't even 10,000 people within a 30+ minute drive. But that's just my opinion and what do I know?!

[Shogun]

Introduce a promotion/relegation system to increase parity and give more teams a shot at the title.

[Eagleland]

I believe the past 4 seasons the championship games have been more competitive. Last 3 been under RPI??? I would do away with 4th seed making playoffs 1 seed gets a bye. I think some changes need to be made with RPI maybe throwing (1) game out. Some of the teams cannot get a full 10 game schedule and have to rely on out of state teams to fill their schedules. I know it always comes up travel and cost. Keep RPI East West RPI will rank all East bracket and all West bracket Semi Finals reseed both East and West together

2021 1A Pikeville 30 Russellville 27
2020 1A Paintsville 38 KCD 7
2019 1A Pikeville 43 Paintsville 0
2018 1A Pikeville 20 Beechwood 21

2021 2A Lexington Christian 21 Beechwood 23
2020 2A Lexington Christian 23 Beechwood 24
2019 2A Somerset 34 Mayfield 31
2018 2A Christian Academy Louisville 34 Mayfield 26

2021 3A Paducah Tilghman 28 Belfry 33
2020 3A Etown 14 Ashland 35
2019 3A Bell Co 20 Belfry 30
2018 3A Central 20 Corbin 18

2021 4A Boyle co 30 Johnson Central 13
2020 4A Boyle 31 Franklin Co 28
2019 4A Boyle 20 Johnson Central 21
2018 4A Franklin Simpson 14 Johnson Central 12

2021 5A South Warren 38 FD 26
2020 5A Owensboro 7 Bowling Green 17
2019 5A Cov Cath 14 FD 7
2018 5A South Warren 20 Cov Cath 16

2021 6A Male 21 St x 31
2020 6A Trinty 28 Male 0
2019 6A Male 6 Trinty 28
2018 6A Male 37 Scott Co 20

[Orange Blaze]

My opinion probably isn't popular & that's fine, but I think if the KHSAA just fixed the classification system there would be more parity & therefore the playoffs would be fine as is.

I think that the population of the county that the school is located needs to be factored into their classification rather than just the enrollment of the school.  I say the enrollment should still be the main classification criteria but the population of the county that the school is located in should be factored in as well as how many schools are in that county.

Its kind of just common sense, if your school is located right in the middle of a city of 100,000+ people you are going to have access to more talent than a small, rural county school in which there isn't even 10,000 people within a 30+ minute drive.  But that's just my opinion and what do I know?!

Schools like Raceland, Pikeville, Hazard, and Johnson Central are no where near being urban and they seem so do just fine.

[Patriot1]

I don’t have the answer to any of this but I remember playing in some games that my team got hammered by some very good teams and in this day and time would have been a running clock. I was glad I got to put them uniform on 1 more time that year and believe me we got beat pretty bad by those Highland and Ashland teams in those years but I believe this generation is different so I guess I really can see both sides of this process

[RAMDAD50]

RPI has to go. It sucks!! I will never be in favor of doing away with a week of football. We seem to forget this is about the kids. I’ve said this 1000 times. Real life is coming for them at a fast pace so let them play as many games as they can.

I wonder how many of the Lynn Camp kids (and coaches and families ) are really looking forward to making the trip to Pikeville where they have zero chance to have any competitive fun on the football field?  I'd rather them enjoy some real life  fun at a museum instead of getting their brains beat in by the tune of 42-0 in the first quarter. Too many of the first round games offer no value in the way of competition. Plus, it's boring as hell to watch a game that is 28-0 after 6 minutes.

What is there  about Lynn camp at Pikeville and  Conner at Fred Douglass that makes the sport stronger? Absolutely nothing, imo.

So because you bring up two examples where teams don’t have a chance to win you think it’s ok to change the system so that other 4 seeds that have a chance won’t even be in the playoffs? You say they don’t have a chance so they shouldn’t even try? What are we teaching kids? Hey….don’t bother with applying for that job….. you don’t stand a chance quit now. Hey….don’t go ask for that raise cause you’re not gonna get it. What kind on logic is this ??

[Waitaminute]

Don't touch it.

[Orange Blaze]

I  don’t have the answer to any of this but I remember playing in some games that my team got hammered by some very good teams and in this day and time would have been a running clock. I was glad I got to put them uniform on 1 more time that year and believe me we got beat pretty bad by those Highland and Ashland teams in those years but I believe this generation is different so I guess I really can see both sides of this process

My last game was as a 3rd seed in the 4 class system and we had to travel to play a Beechwood team that would finish as the state runner up.  We got hammered in that game but playing one last last game with my friends that I played with since 3rd grade was worth it.

[Old School Hound]

Giving the top seed in the ditrict a bye and letting the 2's and 3's duke it out seems fair and equitable.

Should the NFL give a 3-win Texans team in the playoffs to go against the Bills? Should the 0-14 Tampa Bay Bucs in the seventies have been allowed in the playoffs? How many # 4 seeds have done enough on the resume to be a viable playoff team? Admit it, most on here want this first round to be over with asap so we can get to some real competition. Do Pikeville fans want to see a couple of their star players risk an injury by tripping over a fallen Lynn Camp player? Can't we all agree that Round 1 is pretty much turd games?

[RAMDAD50]

How bout we ask the kids if they want any of their games taken away ??

[DukeBoy]

This is a game, not a job interview. Let the 3s and 4s play each other from the other districts if you want to get them more games. We are trying to find out who the absolute best is now.

[wolfcat]

I would be satisfied going back to 4 classes. We have way too many championships for the population of our state. This would make the playoffs way more competitive. When I played we had as many as 6 or 7 teams in my district. This made a district tie mean something. The weaker teams were eliminated during the season so you had much better matchups in early rounds because most of the cupcakes had already been sent home. This made regular season more exciting because you were fighting for your playoff life.

[#GoCougs]

My opinion probably isn't popular & that's fine, but I think if the KHSAA just fixed the classification system there would be more parity & therefore the playoffs would be fine as is.

I think that the population of the county that the school is located needs to be factored into their classification rather than just the enrollment of the school.  I say the enrollment should still be the main classification criteria but the population of the county that the school is located in should be factored in as well as how many schools are in that county.

Its kind of just common sense, if your school is located right in the middle of a city of 100,000+ people you are going to have access to more talent than a small, rural county school in which there isn't even 10,000 people within a 30+ minute drive.  But that's just my opinion and what do I know?!

Schools like Raceland, Pikeville, Hazard, and Johnson Central are no where near being urban and they seem so do just fine.

I'm admittedly not as familiar with the eastern side of the state, but just looking at the numbers of your examples, they kind of fit the criteria of exactly what I'm talking about. These are all small schools located in some of the more populous counties of the state:
* Raceland is a single A school located in Greenup County which ranks at #30 in population with almost 36,000 people.
* Pikeville is a single A school located in a county of over 57,000 people (ranks #17 in total population) .
* Hazard is a single A school located in a county of over 28,000 people (ranks #38 in total population).

Looking at 2A - going back to 2007 - which I believe was the first year KY moved to 6 classes - 11 of the 13 state champions have come from counties that are ranked in the top 15 of the state for total population (Kenton, Pulaski, Jefferson, Campbell & Christian). The other two state champions were Mayfield from Graves County (#29 in population) and Danville from Boyle County (#33 in population). Those numbers are a far cry from other 2A schools such as: Hancock Co (#100 in population) McLean County (#101 in population) Butler County (#88 in population) Clinton County (#102) Metcalfe County (#99) Green County (#95), etc...

Also, my point isn't that these more rural schools can't have good years, of course they can. Metcalfe Co has had a great year this year. McLean & Butler Co are both 2 loss teams, so great seasons for them. But also at the end of the day, the only 2A schools anyone on these message boards is giving a realistic shot to win it all are from Kenton Co, Fayette Co, Daviess Co & Graves Co - all smaller schools in much more populous areas than the other schools I mentioned. Again, I fully admit that I am just some random guy, and I might be completely missing the mark here, but it makes sense to me & its just my opinion.

[wolfcat]

My opinion probably isn't popular & that's fine, but I think if the KHSAA just fixed the classification system there would be more parity & therefore the playoffs would be fine as is.

I think that the population of the county that the school is located needs to be factored into their classification rather than just the enrollment of the school.  I say the enrollment should still be the main classification criteria but the population of the county that the school is located in should be factored in as well as how many schools are in that county.

Its kind of just common sense, if your school is located right in the middle of a city of 100,000+ people you are going to have access to more talent than a small, rural county school in which there isn't even 10,000 people within a 30+ minute drive.  But that's just my opinion and what do I know?!

Schools like Raceland, Pikeville, Hazard, and Johnson Central are no where near being urban and they seem so do just fine.

I don't know about Raceland but Hazard, JC and Pikeville all have a Walmart and at least 1 McDonalds that makes them urban in my books.

Those 3 programs and I'm assuming Raceland as well pour significant amounts of money into their programs which attracts others from neighboring areas. A schools could be from a town with 1000 people but if they have a good coach, nice facilities and uniforms and put fans in the stands on Friday night they are going to be just fine because the good players will find them. Look no further than Alabama in college they aren't from an urban area in fact Tuscaloosa outside the university is small as is Athens, Ga, etc. But they are competing on this highest levels because they are attracting the top athletes.

[Hoot Gibson]

It seems like some people believe that high school football exists primarily to provide entertainment for fans, just like big time college football and the NFL. It makes business sense for the entertainment to place a higher value on its revenue-generating "stars" than to mere mortal players, whose injuries would have no impact on the quality of entertainment provided.

Kentucky high school football is already way to top-heavy with too many poorly coached teams who are relieved to see an early end to their seasons. Why are so many people so eager to cut the season even shorter for the worst teams in the state. Does anybody believe that excluding a team that played 9 or 10 games this season from playing another game is going to benefit those players who return next season? Look at any list of top college recruits in the country, categorize them by state and then adjust for each state's population. Does anybody believe that Kentucky ranks high in that list for producing outstanding football players? Does anybody believe that playing less football statewide is going to improve the quality of players in the state?

Kentucky should be studying states that produce top football players and teams every year. I know that some states restrict playoffs based on regular season records and some states have even more classes than Kentucky. States with huge populations don't have much choice but to restrict the number of playoff teams but that is not a problem for Kentucky. It is a fairly big state with a relatively small population. Improving the entertainment value of first round playoff games is not a good reason to shorten the season by excluding teams from the playoffs. 

Avoiding injuries to "star players" is also not a good excuse. The health and well being of every high school kid who participates in a football program, from a team's best player to the team managers should be given the same priority. If a team has not developed any depth during the season because somebody insists that their boy set individual records in blowout games, then if one injured player costs the team a state title, then the coach may want to consider utilizing more players the following season to better prepare them to deal with adversity.

[Hoot Gibson]

My opinion probably isn't popular & that's fine, but I think if the KHSAA just fixed the classification system there would be more parity & therefore the playoffs would be fine as is.

I think that the population of the county that the school is located needs to be factored into their classification rather than just the enrollment of the school.  I say the enrollment should still be the main classification criteria but the population of the county that the school is located in should be factored in as well as how many schools are in that county.

Its kind of just common sense, if your school is located right in the middle of a city of 100,000+ people you are going to have access to more talent than a small, rural county school in which there isn't even 10,000 people within a 30+ minute drive.  But that's just my opinion and what do I know?!

Schools like Raceland, Pikeville, Hazard, and Johnson Central are no where near being urban and they seem so do just fine.

I don't know about Raceland but Hazard, JC and Pikeville all have a Walmart and at least 1 McDonalds that makes them urban in my books.

Those 3 programs and I'm assuming Raceland as well pour significant amounts of money into their programs which attracts others from neighboring areas. A schools could be from a town with 1000 people but if they have a good coach, nice facilities and uniforms and put fans in the stands on Friday night they are going to be just fine because the good players will find them. Look no further than Alabama in college they aren't from an urban area in fact Tuscaloosa outside the university is small as is Athens, Ga, etc. But they are competing on this highest levels because they are attracting the top athletes.

There is some truth to what you are saying but Johnson Central has probably lost far more good athletes over the years than it has picked up through transfers because the program did not always have a good coaching staff and a competent administration. Coaches like Jim Matney build programs. He certainly did not build Sheldon Clark's program by drawing talent away from Lawrence County or Belfry. Sure, once a program is established, they will draw some talent from schools that do not have the elements for success that you listed, but establishing a good program is hard work and there are great potential athletes in every school just waiting to be developed by the right coaching staff.

[Manster]

If you want to play more games, go back to the set up in the late 80's early 90's. 11 game regular season, top 2 teams from each district make the playoffs. At least that way you avoid all the 1st round blowouts and everyone still gets that extra game in the regular season.