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WFCA's Wisconsin Football Playoff Matrix continuing through process, big test next week

01/30/2025, 11:45am CST
By Travis Wilson

Change could be coming to the high school football playoffs, as the proposed Wisconsin Football Playoff Matrix, with 87.5% coach supports, has been moving through the WIAA's committee process, with a potential vote for implementation looming next week.

Coming on the heels of a high-profile error by the WIAA in determining the football playoff qualifiers last fall, as well as increased questions and complaints about the WIAA's regional grouping and seeding processes in recent years, the Wisconsin Football Coaches Association advanced a proposed shortly after the season that would make sweeping changes to how the postseason is administered.

The plan was officially introduced through the WIAA Football Coaches Advisory meeting earlier this month, and yesterday it was reviewed by the WIAA Sports Advisory Committee made up of athletic directors from around the state. The group's vote was just advisory, but did support implementation and advancement of the proposal.

Next, the plan will be reviewed by the WIAA's Advisory Council on Tuesday. The group is made up of 15 athletic directors and administrators, and several years ago a membership constitutional initiative provided the Advisory Council the ability to not just provide feedback on any proposals, but the group can vote down any plan and prevent it from being advanced to the WIAA Board of Control.

If the Advisory Council votes by a simple majority in support of the plan, it would then advance to the final step, the WIAA Board of Control. That group meets on Wednesday in Stevens Point, with a simple majority needed to vote in support for final approval for the 2025 season.

The Wisconsin Football Playoff Matrix was developed by Edgewood head coach Jesse Norris and assistant Andy LaVoy. The plan would utilize a points-based system to change how playoff qualification is determined, how teams are grouped within their divisions, and how teams are seeded within their groupings.

The WFCA proposed the full plan as one piece, however, the WIAA requested that it be split into two parts with a separate vote on each item: one piece that would implement the plan for qualification and seeding only, and a separate piece that would implement the plan for regional groupings.

"The WFCA feels strongly that both parts of this plan should pass, and that passing one piece without the other is not in the best interest of high school football," said WFCA president Brian Kaminski of Sun Prairie East.

The Wisconsin Football Coaches Association surveyed head coaches in December, with 400 responding. A whopping 87.5% (350) voted in favor of the proposal, a rare number of support for any idea in high school sports.

"We believe that the benefits of the Playoff Matrix are significant, including more transparency and accuracy, better balance of regional groupings, much improved seeding process and outcomes, and a more competitive overall tournament, all of which have been concerns shared by our member coaches in recent years," said Kaminski. "All of this is accomplished with minimal impact on overall travel, with a very small increase of about 6% compared to the WIAA's actual brackets the last three years. This plan also maintains the tenets of geographic representation that allow teams from across the state to advance deep into the playoffs, even improving potential geographic representation in five of seven divisions compared to the WIAA's assignments last year.

"Overall, this is a huge opportunity to better the football playoff process and we hopeful the WIAA will approve it next week."

To view the details of the plan, please click here. To view the impacts of this plan on the 2024 season (as well as 2023 and 2022) if applied, please click here.

Explainer Video:  https://www.loom.com/share/7c231f2d83df4ecd95a6fff78d850e25

2024 Hypothetical Results Website:  https://andylavoy.com/football

Webinar/Q&A Video: https://youtu.be/yLX7EnxoipE?si=IqREgIEExrG8r0O8


About the Author

Travis Wilson serves as the WisSports.net General Manager, Football Editor, and contributing writer for other parts of the site. Wilson was selected as part of the Sports 40 Under 40 list by Coach & AD Magazine and the National High School Athletic Coaches Association for 2019. The Wisconsin Football Coaches Association (WFCA) named Travis the 2015 recipient of the Dave McClain Distinguished Service Award. He currently serves on the WFCA Executive Board and is a member of the Executive Board of the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association. A graduate of Richland Center High School and Mount Mercy College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Travis was a three-sport athlete in high school (football, baseball, basketball), inducted to the Richland Center High School Hall of Fame in 2023, and currently resides in Reedsburg. You can follow him on Twitter at @travisWSN.

For the latest and most up to date football news and recruiting information, follow Travis on Twitter @travisWSN. Email story ideas, recruiting info, etc. to Travis at travis(at)wissports.net.

Tag(s): News Archive  News  Travis Wilson  Football Playoffs