Plainfield Teams Could Be Impacted by IHSA Changes

The Illinois High School Association board has approved a pair of recommendations that significantly adjustments to the state’s multiplier waiver and classification policy, and could change the division in which Plainfield sports teams compete.

The impact it will have on prep sports won’t be known until 2011-12 enrollment figures are released by the state this summer.

The new multiplier waiver policy adopted this week establishes criteria for an automatic waiver of the multiplier in individual sports and activities, taking into account each program's advancement in state-tournament action the past six years. Previously, a school had to apply for and receive a waiver that covered all of its sport and activity programs.

“We have been studying the impact and effectiveness of the multiplier since its inception in 2005,” IHSA Executive Director Marty Hickman said in the press release.

“Over the years, we have seen a number of instances where the multiplier has been overly punitive to some programs, resulting in lopsided outcomes in postseason contests. Now we have four years' worth of data since the class expansion that occurred in 2007-08, and we felt that we could address some of the inadequacies in the system.”

The multiplier was established in 2005 and alters a member school’s enrollment by 1.65 to determine the class it will compete in during certain IHSA postseason tournaments.

The new policy grants an automatic waiver to any sport that, as a team, has not accomplished any of the following over the last six school terms:

Won a trophy;

Qualified for the state final tournament;

Won a sectional;

Won two or more regionals;

Finished second or third in the sectional two or more times (track and field only) or;

Won a first-round football playoff game.

“Our previous waiver policy was well thought out, but it simply turned out to be too conservative,” Hickman said in the release.

“There have been a number of compelling cases around the state where one highly successful team at a school or a few highly successful individuals have prevented all the other teams from that school from being able to receive the multiplier waiver. Our board felt the right thing to do was to change the waiver policy and give these student-athletes the chance to compete on more equitable ground.”

As a result of those changes, the state has addressed imbalances in the classification system currently in place. It also takes into account, “the downward movement of programs receiving waivers.”

This coming school year, each sport and activity will have its own set of cutoffs.

“Our board looked at and discussed a number of different options for classification cutoffs,” Hickman said. “Some felt the most logical option might be simply cutting things squarely, for example having 25 percent of the schools in each class for four-class sports. In the end, the new percentages keep the cutoffs closer to the current system while distributing the entries more evenly than in the past.”

Enrollment cutoffs will differ in each sport depending on the number of classes.

“Different sports offered different challenges during this process,” Hickman said. “For example, the board felt good about the breakdown when three-class team sports were evenly split with a third of the competing schools in each class.

"Yet, when you look at the three-class individual sports, it was necessary to increase the percentage of schools allocated to Class 1A because many of the 1A schools have only a few individuals competing and don’t field full teams, which would alter the competitive balance for team advancement in the State Series for those sports.”

The change is sure to meet some skepticism throughout the state.

“There is no doubt that this is one of the biggest changes the IHSA has undertaken in some time," Hickman said. "History tells us that some schools will be happy with these changes and others will be disappointed by them. I commend our board for having the courage to look at the big picture and make a decision that they believe is in the best interest of all our member schools and their students.”