An EDGY Man for EDGY Times

So what am I rambling on about today you ask?

Yesterday the IHSA announced that longtime assistant executive director and football czar Dave Gannaway is retiring at the end of the 2009-10 school year. 

So now that the IHSA looks to have an opening for a new Czar of Football, I'm ready for the task.

Yes, I would like to be considered as the next Czar of Football for the state association.

Ok, stop laughing. I mean it.

So if this was a political race (and let's face it, what state association job isn't a political deal) I would need to present my platform.

So for your consideration, here is my "platform" that I will run for the position of Czar of Football for the IHSA.

Here's my plan.

First of all, I would........

1. Go back to seeding each class a true 1 thru 32 based on merit- bye bye geographical principle. Goodbye "let's make sure to have equal representation" in each class. Let's get rid of the current "everyone gets a pizza and a trophy" mentality and let's get the best teams to a state final regardless of locale. No more early matchups of conference opponents.

While I understand the issue involving travel, I also feel that the IHSA has dropped the ball and fails to realize the educational importance of having a team load up the "yellow rockets" and traveling to new parts of the state. Kids are missing out on that unique experience and under my reign this won't happen anymore.

2. Play the state final football games on any other weekend except Thanksgiving weekend- not a huge one here but I still can't understand the need to play the state final games on one of the worst weekends of the year for attracting fans. I say play the games a week before or the week after Thanksgiving weekend.

3. Allow some form of spring football in Illinois- we are so behind as a state when it comes to having spring football. Kids in other states basically have one extra year of football for development that the Illinois kids don't have now. I understand the need to not impact the other "spring" sports and I support those sports as well, but other states seem to be able to make it work so why not us? I say allow 10 contact days in the spring and curt the contact days in the summer from 25 to say 20 or less.

4. Be more flexible in determining the state final hosting sites- I have no issues with the University of Illinois as a host and I feel Champaign has done a pretty good job with the state final games. However, I feel that no question the state association needs to continue to explore more potential state final sites and honestly they need to give Chicagoland another try. Let's try the bigger classes up north next time around. Let's sign a 3 year deal instead of a 5 or 7 year deal and let's see how much competition is out there to host the games. Also, if a place like Toyota Park wants to host games despite not having field turf, as long as they understand that the risk involved in ripping up it's field then let them play there. Kids are playing on much worse fields to get to the state finals anyways.

5. Play all state semifinal games at neutral sites- again it's a controversial issue because your basically taking away home field advantage for teams. The benefits? Your "spreading the wealth" of allowing other facilities to host these games. You have facilities all over the state who would be more than capable of hosting these games and your giving all teams a solid playing surface and a facility capable of hosting these bigger events. Your also getting a nice preview of how well these same facilities could potentially handle hosting a state finals.

I'm honestly just touching on some low hanging fruit here and I know there are a ton of thoughts and ideas out there.

What are your thoughts/suggestions?

So when the IHSA is ready for a new Czar of Football, I'm here for them.

It's time to bring in an EDGY Man for these EDGY times.