LEGISLATOR SAYS “TOO MANY TEAMS IN UIL PLAYOFFS”
A West Texas lawmaker says too many high school football teams reach the playoffs and has introduced a bill that would reduce the number of playoff teams.
Republican Sen. Charles Perry of Lubbock says the University Interscholastic League's playoff system has become "watered down" and allows up to 74 percent of teams to make the playoffs.
This past football playoffs, Houston Scarborough advanced to the playoffs without winning a single game in 2014.
The bill he filed Thursday looks to reduce the number of schools that advance from each district from four to two.
Perry tells the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that his bill is meant to keep away noncompetitive teams. But he says it's also a cost-saver because some rural districts spend $8,000 to travel to a single playoff game.
I’m not going to get in a hissing match with you, Footballer, but with your reference to a 5 team district and 4 are eligible for playoffs, you made my point for me. Scarborough’s trophy WAS the participation. I’m sure Scarborough worked hard also, but Navasota and others achieved more with their work for whatever reason. They SHOULD get commended for their achievement.
I’m not sure how the current playoff system demeans real accomplishment. Yes, Scarborough made it into the playoffs without winning a game, but that was an exception, not a rule. They were in a five team district and one school shut down. Since the UIL goes into large and small divisions, Scarborough went in as the small division second seed. They were pounded 64-0 in the first round. I’m pretty sure they were not given a trophy. I’m also pretty sure that when Navasota wins state this week that Scarborough making the playoffs won’t demean their hard work.
Absolutely, good common sense. Don’t limit the limitation to just football. If you let all but one team in a district in, there would still be compassion for that one team. Two per district is good. Goes a long way toward rewarding excellence. Gets away from continuation of the little league “everybody gets a trophy” routine that demeans true accomplishment. It IS okay to teach that achievement (WINNING) is good in high school, because soon those people will be in the “real world”, where (legal) achievement is still a good thing.
Not to mention the amount of taxpayer money the entire state school system saves, by not running 8, 10, 12 busses per team for in some cases 6 extra weeks, all over the state. And that’s just one sport.
And while we are it, we could save untold $ by not air conditioning all the schools in the state for 1/2 of the hottest month of the year in Texas (August) by starting school the Tuesday AFTER Labor Day like we did when I went to school here in Texas.
None of these changes would impact CLASSROOM learning, except to take away a bunch of peripheral expenditures, leaving more money for the TEACHING function.