Evergreen Park coach Jim Ramazinski saw his team finish on the wrong side of the bubble this fall, going 4-5 and missing the playoffs.
That’s going to change now.
The Illinois High School Association will expand the state playoffs in football for the 2026 season.
“I think it’s a good opportunity for a lot of schools across the state,” Ramazinski said. “I think about teams that start 1-5 or 2-5 and now it will be much easier to keep them engaged.
“Then look at a team like us, a 4A school that mostly plays 6A and 7A schools. This gives us a chance to get in and compete with schools our size.”
Moving forward, there will be 384 teams that make the playoffs instead of 256. The number of classes will not change, so each of the eight classes will have 48 teams instead of 32.
Ramazinski believes it’s a positive change for more schools and athletes to get to experience postseason football.
On the other side, some coaches lamented what they perceive to be a diminishment on the importance of the regular season.
Sandburg coach Sheamus Murphy pointed out the feeling of accomplishment that comes with qualifying for the playoffs will now be lessened.
“I think it really takes away from the importance of being a playoff qualifier,” Murphy said. “The teams that I’ve coached at Sandburg, Eisenhower and Back of the Yards have qualified for the playoffs eight straight years.
“That’s something we hang our hat on. I think that’s something that makes football special — you have to earn that playoff spot, so this really changes that.”
A key driving force that sparked support for the proposal was the difficulty some programs have had in scheduling regular-season games as some schools tried to avoid playing top competition in order to reach five wins.
Providence coach Tyler Plantz is hopeful that more coaches will return his calls with the so-called “drive for five” eliminated.
“It’s an opening to be more aggressive with scheduling,” Plantz said. “We reach out to some area schools that we don’t hear back from. I think that teams should be more willing to go out and challenge themselves in their nonconference games now.”
Plantz also dismissed concerns about regular-season games losing importance.
“For us, playing in the Catholic League and in the area that we do, every game matters and that’s not going to change,” Plantz said. “I know that we’re going to go out there to win every week and our opponents are going to do the same.”
The season start date will remain Aug. 10, but the first regular-season games will be played Aug. 20, one week earlier than originally planned.
IHSA member schools approved the expansion in a vote.
“Too often throughout the years, football decisions have negatively impacted other sports at IHSA schools,” IHSA Executive Director Craig Anderson said. “We are hopeful that this football playoff expansion will provide intended relief to our schools by stabilizing conference movement and eliminating the difficulty of scheduling football games that many of our schools face each year.
“It may create some short-term complications for some schools, conferences and coaches, but we remain optimistic it will create long-term stability in football and beyond.”
Staff reports contributed.
