The Merit System

[CoachT]

I know this has been talked about elsewhere so please go find those posts and copy them here. Lets try to have one topic that discusses the pluses and minuses of the merit system itself without getting into the shoulds or shouldn'ts of the public-private debate.

[lazarus]

nothing new from me, as far as the pluses and minuses of a merit system.

but a synopsis of how i think a merit system should look. for those who have heard it all before, i apologize for the repetition:

 

football-

 

throw everyone back together and divide the state teams into 5 numerically equal classes, based on a 3-year running average of the 3 or 4 computer systems currently ranking the teams combined (the more numbers you use, the more accurate the outcome).

you avoid the peter principle, since you are not "punishing" anyone for winning titles or having one exceptional season, but simply re-aligning based on recent performance.

 

divide the classes into whatever number of districts it takes to keep the districts at 6 teams or less. district alignment should be based purely on travel distance.

ample schedule wiggle room for natural rivals, money games, or the cupcake of the week club.

 

run playoffs for each class similar to what we do now, altho there will be some adjustment required in the number of teams per district, and the method for selecting wildcards.

 

add a state championship playoffs, selecting the top 16 teams, regardless of class, based on the combined computer ranking system average for the year.

give every team making it to the playoffs a dadgum gold ball or a banner or something to commemorate the achievement.

 

replace the 16 teams in their respective class playoffs with the next team in line.

 

if privates win the championship every year, go to a 16 team public and 16 team private state playoffs, crown public and private champions and let them play it off in week 5 for the overall crown.

 

basketball, softball & baseball-

same as football except maybe fewer classes.

 

golf, track, & wrestling-

one set of district, region, and state meets (tournaments). wont waste your time with the reasons here, but small schools actually have a better shot at the title in a combined championship. small school exceptionalA athletes are better served by better competition.

 

volleyball, bowling, badminton, crochet, cheerleading, band-

i dont know enough to offer a good opinion.

 

soccer-

soccer is an abomination.

[cbg]

nothing new from me, as far as the pluses and minuses of a merit system.

but a synopsis of how i think a merit system should look. for those who have heard it all before, i apologize for the repetition:

 

football-

 

throw everyone back together and divide the state teams into 5 numerically equal classes, based on a 3-year running average of the 3 or 4 computer systems currently ranking the teams combined (the more numbers you use, the more accurate the outcome).

you avoid the peter principle, since you are not "punishing" anyone for winning titles or having one exceptional season, but simply re-aligning based on recent performance.

 

divide the classes into whatever number of districts it takes to keep the districts at 6 teams or less. district alignment should be based purely on travel distance.

ample schedule wiggle room for natural rivals, money games, or the cupcake of the week club.

 

The "MERIT SYSTEM" is the only true way to be fair with every school.

 

run playoffs for each class similar to what we do now, altho there will be some adjustment required in the number of teams per district, and the method for selecting wildcards.

 

add a state championship playoffs, selecting the top 16 teams, regardless of class, based on the combined computer ranking system average for the year.

give every team making it to the playoffs a dadgum gold ball or a banner or something to commemorate the achievement.

 

replace the 16 teams in their respective class playoffs with the next team in line.

 

if privates win the championship every year, go to a 16 team public and 16 team private state playoffs, crown public and private champions and let them play it off in week 5 for the overall crown.

 

basketball, softball & baseball-

same as football except maybe fewer classes.

 

golf, track, & wrestling-

one set of district, region, and state meets (tournaments). wont waste your time with the reasons here, but small schools actually have a better shot at the title in a combined championship. small school exceptionalA athletes are better served by better competition.

 

volleyball, bowling, badminton, crochet, cheerleading, band-

i dont know enough to offer a good opinion.

 

soccer-

soccer is an abomination.

 

Laz,

 

Everything sounds great but I would have 4 classifications for football, basketball, and baseball. Tweak, rework (or whatever you want to call it) the divisions every 4 years so that teams can have the home & away schedule and it be even. It would be great if each league, region or district had 6,7 or 8 teams in them so that each school could schedule 3,4 or 5 games outside of the mandatory schedule. This would also allow for a team to schedule very tough teams if the know that their league is weak. I like the idea of placing everyone back together and taking the top 16 teams in each division to the state football playoffs.

Edited November 22, 2006 by cbg

[Bighurt]

The Bighurt merit system (football only). Similar to laz's.

 

1. In each classification over a 4-year period, teams would earn points based on playoff performance – 1 point for making the playoffs and 2 points for winning a playoff game. For example, a team that won a state championship would amass 11 points (1 + (5 * 2)) and a team that advanced to the third round and lost would amass 5 points (1 + (2*2)).

 

Questions -

a. I settled on 4 years because 2 years seems too short a timeframe and 3 years means problems with scheduling.

b. Points awarded are arbitrary. Each year in each class, 16 teams would get 1 point by losing in the first round, 8 teams would get 3 points by losing in the second round, 4 teams would get 5 points by losing in the third round, 2 teams would get 7 points, 1 team would get 9 points and 1 team would get 11 points.

 

Examples from a random sampling for 2002-2005 (assuming my math is correct) –

Maryville – 40

Riverdale - 36

Alcoa – 36

Lipscomb – 36

Fulton – 34

Boyd - 34

Melrose – 32

Huntingdon – 28

Milan – 24

Ridgeway - 24

USJ – 24

Trousdale County – 22

Goodpasture – 22

Smith County – 20

Tyner – 18

CPA – 17

Friendship Christian – 16

Mt. Pleasant – 14

Cloudland - 14

 

 

2. At the end of the 4-year period, the 4 teams within a class with most points would move up one class and the bottom 4 teams within a class could choose to move down.

Questions -

a. Why give schools a choice of dropping down a class? So, that a school could remain at their natural level if they so choose.

b. What if one region “lost” several teams? I think this would work out to where a region would only “lose” two at the most – one moving up and one moving down. It would be very difficult for two teams from one region to amass a large point total because only one team from a region can advance past the third round in given each year. From my quick calculation, 2 teams from the same region could 32 points each over 4 years - 2 championships and 2 third round losses. However, there should be a provision that a region would only “lose” two teams during one period.

 

 

3. At the start of every 4-year period, the point totals would start over.

Questions -

a. What about the initial classification? You could easily go back 4 years and retroactively calculate the point totals based on a 4-year playoff history like I did above. I assume that teams would move up only one class unless they choose to do so.

b. What about Division II teams? My thought is include them but . . .

Edited November 22, 2006 by Bighurt

[CoachT]

What would happen to a team, say 4A, that has never made the playoffs?

[Coniglio]

Ok. So that's for football. What else for non football teams? Or is football the only thing the T$$AA cares about?

[OnlineLC]

Being the Brit that I am, I would prefer a modified forced relegation and promotion system based upon a 2 year cycle.

 

I would also have 8 Regions in 5 Classifications (Public and Private) which would somewhat be Geographic.

 

The team in say Region 4-2A with the most points after 2 years would move up to Region 4-3A, and their spot would be filled by the team with the least points from Region 4-3A. In addition to playoff points we would probably need to count some factor to include region games also. (Say 0.25 for each Region win)

 

Likewise, the bottom team in Region 4-2A would be relegated and replaced by the top team from Region 4-1A.

 

A couple of advantages come to mind

 

1. The Regions will maintain some geographic meaning without having to recalibrate every few years.

2. For those of you who have never experienced it, a race to avoid the stigma of relegation is just as exciting as one to gain promotion. Gates would improve for a lot of teams.

3. The Regions will be very dynamic with two new teams every two years.

4. The Winner of the 5th Classification is the true State Champ.

[Bighurt]

What would happen to a team, say 4A, that has never made the playoffs?

That is a very good question. I assume there would be tiebreaker rules for both the top teams and the bottom teams. I like OnlineLC's idea (boy, I hate saying that ) about points for region wins but you have to make allowances for region with fewer teams thus fewer region games. It is not a perfect system by any means.

 

Coniglio,

laz thought about that. Look at his post which addresses all sports except soccer which he says is an a abomination. Would OnlineLC care to respond?

[BigG]

soccer-

soccer is an abomination.

 

I think that there is a lot to the merit system, but I think it would require a heck of a lot of extra work for someone at the TSSAA.

[CoachT]

I think it should be set for two years at the start and then every four years thereafter, in order to correct obvious errors. Problem for me is that four years is an entire graduating class and a lot of things can change in a school's makeup in that amount of time. The players responsible for a team's success or failure have come and gone.

[VolunteerGeneral]

For football only here`s my plan in a nutshell which was the original merit plan on here.

 

First you go back 5 years and compute a teams success and put them into one of 5 (or 4) tiers or classes. Each team is given a power ranking and they would be divided into classes by numerical power rankings like we do now with enrollment figures.

 

There would be no regions or districts. There would be no need for them. You schedule anyone you want to schedule. I think conferences would once again rise up for scheduling alliances.

 

I know there are people smart enough to figure out some sort of equation for ranking overall strength based on wins, losses, strength of schedule, home losses, road wins, etc...

 

Once the season is over the next Saturday morning the TSSAA has a statewide show produced to announce the first round brackets. I`m assuming they could sell sponserships and actually make money on this.

 

The top 32 teams in each tier would be in the playoffs. This will eliminate some of the sorrier teams getting in the playoffs and teams like Huntingdon who had a pretty good team this year but was in a very strong region would be able to get into the field. No.1 would play No. 32....No.2 would play No. 31 and so on...

 

Some might say this would mean a team might have to travel a long ways for a first round game but imo opinion it would offer a chance to play teams you would normally never get to play. Most teams never play anyone out of their grand district unless they go deep into the playoffs. But how often would I get a chance to see Maryville play living in West TN? or how often do folks in Knoxville get to see Melrose play? Yes its further travel, but I think schools would get more accustomed to using buses to transport fans.

 

With no regions you could actually take the year end power rankings and reclassify teams every year. It wouldn`t be hard to do. The beauty of the whole merit system is thst it would put all the very best programs in the state into one class. All the small rural schools that complain about not having facilities and small populations to get students from would be competing in the same class and have a legitimate shot at their own championship.

 

On the side teams would get to compete for conference championships and local bragging rights if they chose to form one.

[OnlineLC]

I have no idea why people think soccer is an abomination. Like all sports it requires an understanding of the game. Anyway, soccer is the very foundation of a merit system. Every other country on the planet uses merit even for the pro leagues and relegation and promotion are what make it interesting year after year.

 

I foresee that it would be set up for each sport. Some schools are basketball powerhouses, others football, CAK has won soccer 4 years in a row. If a program has a great football program and play at say 4A, why punish the kids who may play baseball or softball if their level is only 2A? Each school could play at a classification for a sport that gives them both challenges mixed with success.

 

As for extra work being required by the TSSAA.......Good. Carter has done nothing of value for Tennessee High School Sports apart from a huge lawsuit. Maybe it is time the organization started to do some real work for a change.

Edited November 23, 2006 by OnlineLC