4A Conference Realignment

[DrainTheSwamp]

As long as I am on these boards, I'm going to whine about 4A going to districts. They're stupid. They're dumb. I hate them. Here is what the IAHSAA should resort back to.

Western Half

Missouri River Conference
Council Bluffs Abraham Lincoln
Council Bluffs Thomas Jefferson
Lewis Central
Sioux City East
Sioux City North
Sioux City West

Central Conference
Ankeny
Centennial
Dowling Catholic
Johnston
Southeast Polk
Urbandale

Iowa Conference
Ames
Fort Dodge
Marshalltown
Newton
West Des Moines Valley
Waukee

Metro Conference
Des Moines East
Des Moines Hoover
Des Moines Lincoln
Des Moines North
Des Moines Roosevelt
Indianola


Eastern Side

Mississippi Conference
Waterloo West
Mason City
Waterloo East
Clinton
Dubuque Senior
Dubuque Hempstead

Valley Conference
Cedar Rapids Washington
Cedar Rapids Jefferson
Cedar Rapids Kennedy
Cedar Rapids Prairie
Cedar Falls
Linn-Mar


Athletic Conference
Iowa City
Iowa City West
Iowa City Liberty
North Scott
Muscatine
Burlington

Southeast Conference
Bettendorf
Pleasant Valley
Davenport North
Davenport Central
Davenport West
Ottumwa



*Western Dubuque, Epworth was not included, assuming they would be replaced by Iowa City Liberty in 2018.

This way, tradition could be put in place instead of facing random opponents after every two seasons. Conferences could go about creating trophies or whatever to instill some more motivation for young men. How much more motivated would the boys in Clinton be if they were in that conference? How about the kids on the Northwest side of Des Moines? Some could argue that Hoover might have won the old CIML Metro a year or two ago.

Playoff pairings could be as simple as selecting the top two members of each conference. That, or they could go back to scoring each W/L, each strength of schedule, etc. etc. so they wouldn't be beholden to putting a Des Moines school in over a 3rd-placed Johnston or Ankeny.

I'm just saying, guys. From the western side of the state's perspective, district football really puts a downer on the second half of the season. I truly don't get pumped up going to Valley Stadium to watch Dowling play when the Wolverines of Sioux City come to town.

Discuss.

 

[screwloose]

Well, Western Dubuque would probably not be the team to go down. More than likely, it would be Newton. Newton's enrollment has been pretty static, Western Dubuque's has steadily risen

Back to the drawing board.

 

[DrainTheSwamp]

Well, Western Dubuque would probably not be the team to go down. More than likely, it would be Newton. Newton's enrollment has been pretty static, Western Dubuque's has steadily risen

Back to the drawing board.

In that case, Mason City would go back to the Iowa Conference on the western half of the state and Western Dubuque would replace them in the Mississippi Conference

 

[HawkeyeDog]

I do agree with that current District concept and playoff has to go. It's like the first 4 games are just pre-season games, a team could lose all 4 and theoretically still make playoff. Several good teams did not make playoffs with 6-3 records because of the District they are in. And switching every two years is absurd. It's nice to have ongoing rivalries.

 

[HawkeyeDog]

I do agree with that current District concept and playoff has to go. It's like the first 4 games are just pre-season games, a team could lose all 4 and theoretically still make playoff. Several good teams did not make playoffs with 6-3 records because of the District they are in. And switching every two years is absurd. It's nice to have ongoing rivalries.

 

[scattermanx]

I think they should call the districts conferences. And have an invite only playoff. That will keep out the unpopular schools.

 

[screwloose]

I think if you really do this geographically, like DrainTheSwamp is trying to lay out, it has to look more like this...

Missouri River Conference
Council Bluffs Jefferson, Council Bluffs Lincoln, Council Bluffs Lewis Central, Sioux City East, Sioux City North, Sioux City West

Central Conference
Des Moines Hoover, Des Moines North, Johnston, Urbandale, Waukee, West Des Moines Valley

Iowa Conference
Ames, Ankeny, Ankeny Centennial, Fort Dodge, Marshalltown, Mason City

Metro Conference
Des Moines East, Des Moines Lincoln, Des Moines Roosevelt, Indianola, Southeast Polk, West Des Moines Dowling

Interstate 20 Conference
Cedar Falls, Dubuque Hempstead, Dubuque Senior, Waterloo East, Waterloo West, Western Dubuque

Highway 30 Conference
Cedar Rapids Jefferson, Cedar Rapids Kennedy, Cedar Rapids Prairie, Cedar Rapids Washington, Clinton, Linn-Mar

Quad City Conference
Bettendorf, Davenport Central, Davenport North, Davenport West, North Scott, Pleasant Valley

Southeast Conference
Burlington, Iowa City High, Iowa City Liberty, Iowa City West, Muscatine, Ottumwa


I agree this would spawn better rivalries or continue existing ones. The alignment I put together fixes a couple of flaws I saw with the aforementioned set-up. Namely the crossing of Ottumwa to the Quad City, where the five schools I put them with are all closer. The eastern half is actually a nice fit here for the metropolitan areas. Every conference except the Southeast would lie in one area or along one main travel artery. The western half uses the old Missouri River format, just as DrainTheSwamp had above. The six northernmost schools were lumped into the Iowa. This keeps the West Des Moines and Waukee schools all within 25 miles or so, with conference rivals. The Central and Metro use a split of the Des Moines metro and surrounding suburban schools based on both a north/south split but also gives a better balance to each, without compromising the ability to still have all desired match-ups in non-conference play.

Playoff structure could still be West and East or open qualifying. The old 4A Point System or something enhanced from that could be used, so all games actually mattered. Schools could be given a one lower class "exemption" for an opponent that would cost them valuable playoff points and be able to get a more local game in non-conference play. Each conference would get its champion in and eight wild cards could be selected from the rest.

 

[cidhawkeye]

I think if you really do this geographically, like DrainTheSwamp is trying to lay out, it has to look more like this...

Missouri River Conference
Council Bluffs Jefferson, Council Bluffs Lincoln, Council Bluffs Lewis Central, Sioux City East, Sioux City North, Sioux City West

Central Conference
Des Moines Hoover, Des Moines North, Johnston, Urbandale, Waukee, West Des Moines Dowling

Iowa Conference
Ames, Ankeny, Ankeny Centennial, Fort Dodge, Marshalltown, Mason City

Metro Conference
Des Moines East, Des Moines Lincoln, Des Moines Roosevelt, Indianola, Southeast Polk, West Des Moines Valley

Interstate 20 Conference
Cedar Falls, Dubuque Hempstead, Dubuque Senior, Waterloo East, Waterloo West, Western Dubuque

Highway 30 Conference
Cedar Rapids Jefferson, Cedar Rapids Kennedy, Cedar Rapids Prairie, Cedar Rapids Washington, Clinton, Linn-Mar

Quad City Conference
Bettendorf, Davenport Central, Davenport North, Davenport West, North Scott, Pleasant Valley

Southeast Conference
Burlington, Iowa City High, Iowa City Liberty, Iowa City West, Muscatine, Ottumwa


I agree this would spawn better rivalries or continue existing ones. The alignment I put together fixes a couple of flaws I saw with the aforementioned set-up. Namely the crossing of Ottumwa to the Quad City, where the five schools I put them with are all closer. The eastern half is actually a nice fit here for the metropolitan areas. Every conference except the Southeast would lie in one area or along one main travel artery. The western half uses the old Missouri River format, just as DrainTheSwamp had above. The six northernmost schools were lumped into the Iowa. This keeps the West Des Moines and Waukee schools all within 25 miles or so, with conference rivals. The Central and Metro use a split of the Des Moines metro and surrounding suburban schools based on both a north/south split but also gives a better balance to each, without compromising the ability to still have all desired match-ups in non-conference play.

Playoff structure could still be West and East or open qualifying. The old 4A Point System or something enhanced from that could be used, so all games actually mattered. Schools could be given a one lower class "exemption" for an opponent that would coast them valuable playoff points and be able to get a more local game in non-conference play. Each conference would get its champion in and eight wild cards could be selected from the rest.

Why split up Valley and Dowling? Same city.

 

[screwloose]

I know, it doesn't make sense to have West Des Moines Dowling and West Des Moines Valley in separate conferences, but what you have left are twelve teams in virtually a 15-mile radius. They would be split up just for competitive balance, the same as having all the Des Moines public/metro teams in one conference, with their overall weakness.

 

[woodsiding]

I like it the way it is now. The MVC is much better than the MAC. The current districts mitigate that nicely. Each district has a good mix of teams. There was only one district that was noticeably weaker in the east, and some of that could be due to PV and North Scott just being down this year.

I am curious about the Dubuque. Hard to figure out why Hempstead and Senior are producing better teams right now. Hempstead has had some good teams and good tradition to build on, Senior seemed to hit an uptick for a little bit too. Seems like WD will be the team to beat in Dubuque for a while.

 

[EastIowaHawk]

I don't think that the 4A Dubuque public schools are much better, if at all, than they have been the last thirty years. Hempstead's all-time best ten teams are certainly not from the past ten years, and Senior is not nearly as good as they were a few decades ago. Their records are better because the schedules are very, very much weaker since the state went to districts. And participation has dropped way off. If a team makes the playoffs, they usually get annihilated. Many of the MAC schools that the Dubuque public school play are not on a par with the MVC teams those two schools used to play. When you are not playing the Iowa City schools, Wash, Kennedy, Cedar Falls, Lin-Mar, Xavier, etc. it literally gives a team several more victories each year, which makes you look better on paper, but not in reality. I don't think that a Dubuque school has come within 20 or 30 points of Xavier the last five or six times that they played. So when a school like that drops off the schedule, things get easier. And that is just one example. Basketball is a bigger sport in Dubuque than football. I go to most of the games, and since about 2000 football is only a shadow of the teams prior to that, sorry to say. If a Dubuque school has a Lenz or May or McCarron or Bonifas, they maybe are a little exciting for a year or two. Western Dubuque, if they stay 4A, has a few great athletes for a small school, but they lose a lot next year.

 

[makelovenotwar]

EastIowaHawk,
You are totally correct! Basically, Dubuque 4A teams came out of realignment with artificially weak schedules that hide the weakness that is Dubuque area football. Regarding this year, Senior was weak. Honestly, that was not a good team. Hempstead was more of a paradox in that that team could have been pretty good but the strength of the team the two lines never looked in sync. The whole lack of football in Dubuque has confused me for my 50+ years of living here.

 

[woodsiding]

I don't think that the 4A Dubuque public schools are much better, if at all, than they have been the last thirty years. Hempstead's all-time best ten teams are certainly not from the past ten years, and Senior is not nearly as good as they were a few decades ago. Their records are better because the schedules are very, very much weaker since the state went to districts. And participation has dropped way off. If a team makes the playoffs, they usually get annihilated. Many of the MAC schools that the Dubuque public school play are not on a par with the MVC teams those two schools used to play. When you are not playing the Iowa City schools, Wash, Kennedy, Cedar Falls, Lin-Mar, Xavier, etc. it literally gives a team several more victories each year, which makes you look better on paper, but not in reality. I don't think that a Dubuque school has come within 20 or 30 points of Xavier the last five or six times that they played. So when a school like that drops off the schedule, things get easier. And that is just one example. Basketball is a bigger sport in Dubuque than football. I go to most of the games, and since about 2000 football is only a shadow of the teams prior to that, sorry to say. If a Dubuque school has a Lenz or May or McCarron or Bonifas, they maybe are a little exciting for a year or two. Western Dubuque, if they stay 4A, has a few great athletes for a small school, but they lose a lot next year.

Shoot, I had a typo. My question was why are they not better?! I agree with everything you said there. It seems like between Hempstead and Senior at least one of them should good. Good sized schools, good athletes, the absolute best football stadium in the state!

 

[aucrma]

Putting the DSM suburban schools in the same conference would create defacto state title games during week 8.

 

[screwloose]

Putting the DSM suburban schools in the same conference would create defacto state title games during week 8.

As opposed to how it is now? What would be the difference?

 

[aucrma]

As opposed to how it is now? What would be the difference?

You'd likely be keeping quarter or even semifinal-caliber teams out of the playoffs entirely, which would be doing them a great disservice IMHO.

 

[screwloose]

Not if the state got rid of the stupid top two district qualifying rule. If they had eight champions and eight open qualifiers, the best 16 would still be in the playoffs.

 

[kennyarnold]

The answer is moving teams that have sustained zero 1 and 2 win seasons down a class and move perennial winners up a class. It's not just about population but about resources. Move the pellas and Xaviers of the world up to all classes more competitive!!