The Kansas State High School Activities Association has approved a change for 6A and 5A football teams in 2016. Just that there should be ANY change should be deemed noteworthy. The KSHSAA  and change are not usual bedfellows. Bishop Carroll football coach Alan Schuckman said, “Anytime there’s change in Kansas high school football, and it’s only been once in my 20 years, it’s pretty shocking.”

As of 2016, 6A and 5A will eliminate the district system and instead will be divided into East and West of 16 teams each. The teams will be seeded based on their regular season results for the playoffs.

Thus, EVERY team in 6A and 5A will make the playoffs. Wheee! We’ve finally got there. Every team gets a ribbon and makes the playoffs!

I shouldn’t complain. To twist some kind of change in the playoff system out of the KSHSAA took 20 years. We should celebrate change for change sake, though it doesn’t solve the problem.

The entire classification system in Kansas is a mess. There are too many classes . 6A, 5A, 4A1, 4AII, 3A, 2A-1A, 8Man Div.I and 8Man Div.II. Eight classes for a small state. Too many, too unwieldy. The problem starts with too few teams in 6A and 5A. Only 32 schools in each class. That should be expanded to 48. Put 48 in 4A, 3A and 2A with the remainder in 1A or 8Man. This seemingly plausible approach though, has been resisted by the 6A and 5A coaches and administrators. They like the ease with which teams make the playoffs and state tournaments with a 32-team field.

These changes would put Hays and McPherson back into 5A where they belong, where their natural rivalries exist. It would make for outstanding playoff and state tournament action in 6A and 5A, something somewhat lacking today.

However, the change to a seeded playoff system in football will benefit the Western Athletic Conference which includes Dodge City, Garden City, Great Bend, Hays and Liberal. Those schools have always struggled to fill out their schedules. Under this system, their schedules would be completed in football as all 6A and 5A teams would have a nine-game schedule.
Yes it puts everyone in the playoffs but it eliminates the problems of the past where a sub-.500 team might make the playoffs while a team with a good record would not because they were in a tougher district.

So, some good, some bad but it’s change and change has been hard to come by!
                                  ……………………………………………………………………………
CHALK TALK: Stafford County basketball fans just might be exchanging their blue and white for purple next year as two St.John Tiger basketball players will take the court for Kansas State. All-Everything Dean Wade, 6-9, will be joined by former point guard Kade Kinnamon. Kinnamon will be a preferred walk-on for the Wildcats. Don’t be too surprised to see him make that squad and get playing time sometime in the future! | Larned and Hoisington will once again open the season against each other in football as the Cardinals and Indians tangle on the artificial turf in Hoisington Sept. 4th | Congrats to  the Larned Indians on their CKL championship in baseball | Steve Kerr, Warriors coach on why there is so much demand for star players to take the last shot in close games: “ It’s because people are idiots, that’s why!” Gotcha Steve! | Do you suppose Dennis Rodman would serve as a travel guide if I wanted to go to North Korea? | The whole football “Deflategate” thing brought to memory Richard Nixon’s words, discussing Watergate in a 1978 interview: “I was not lying. I said things that later on seemed to be untrue.”