(1-9-24) It has been three years since the Ohio High School Athletic Association expanded the playoffs from 8 to 16 teams per region [or 64 teams per division].  To do this required adding another game, creating a six-game format. Let’s look at the tournament’s three-year statistics, since the expansion, but let’s do it through a specific lens.

 A few years back, when the OHSAA was threatened with a revolt leading to a potential public-private school schism in tournament play, the Association appeased the public-school crowd with something called “competitive balance.” Keep that in mind as you study the statistics:

Scoring average of the lowest 4 seeds vs the highest [First round games]:

          Seeds          2021                              2022                               2023

         1 vs 16:     41.6-7.8                        45.9-8.0                        46.6-6.6

         2 vs 15:     44.1-10.4                     44.0-11.1                      42.5-9.9

         3 vs 14:     37.3-13.5                     43.1-12.3                      42.9-12.5

         4 vs 13:     37.5-12.8                     42.9-12.0                      39.8-13.9

Games ending in “Mercy Rule” [non-stop clock running]

                                 99                                117                                 98

Games decided by 3 T.D.’s to 4 T.D.’s [But not “Mercy Ruled”]

                                 51                                50                                  49[1]

Total first round games [out of 224 per year]

                               150 or 67%                 167 or 75%                   147 or 65%

 A close observer of the playoffs is far from surprised by these noncompetitive numbers.  To expand the tournament to its present size, the OHSAA found it necessary to include teams with losing records totaling 82, 75, and 76 teams over this period.  Mix in each year an additional four or five dozen teams with 5-5 records, and one could have correctly predicted the carnage.

  This stems, in no small part, to the format the OHSAA adopted; specifically seeding teams based on strength of schedule as well as wins, then matching the strongest schools versus the weakest in each region. Not only were the early blowouts predictable, but the tournament’s structure influenced the competition far beyond the first round. To illustrate, let’s skip forward to the fourth game, regional final, pairings.  The championship seedings can be broken down into three groupings [again using three-year totals]:

  • 1-2-3 seeds, total 128 [with 63 being #1 seeds]
  • 4-5-6 seeds, total 30   [or 18% of the surviving teams]
  • 7-16  seeds, total 10[2]  [or 6% of the surviving teams]

Even to the midpoint of the tournament it was a steep climb for teams seeded seven and higher. Obviously, seeds four five and six had to be exceptional to survive as well. However, the OHSAA isn’t bothered by any of these revelations because the commissioners see competition as secondary to their main objective, harvesting money. And once this is realized, the mechanics of the tournament make complete sense. Optimum income is achieved when the winningest programs and their large followings are kept apart for as long as possible. In addition, the lower seeds are granted the home games, and it is that large fan base that the OHSAA wants to attract. The single responsibility of a losing team with its less than robust following is to play the role of the old Washington Generals [long time Globetrotter foil] …. And if by chance there is an upset, it gives an air of justification to the proceedings. [One would be remiss not to point out, the OHSAA authors no other tournament in this fashion]

 Certainly, one could argue that all of this is “grin and bear it” tolerable…. except for one very large unarguable fact.  The schools aren’t sharing in the millions being raked in.  The financial setup between the OHSAA and the football schools is clearly one-sided to the detriment of the participants. Most schools receive no money. Hosting schools [the lower seeds] receive a break-even minimal amount for expenses to pay officials, security, lights, etc.- traveling teams get no reimbursement until deep into the playoffs. One athletic director stated that after playing in the state finals his school got about 10-12% of a typical home game. And that was the total of their six-game income, including expenses.

Remember, early on traveling teams, seeds 9 thru 16, get nothing. And the OHSAA sees nothing cold in this arrangement.  Yet, one doesn’t have to search for long on google maps to find 1½ hours, 2½ hours, or even longer trips to first round game sites. The readers can decipher the tab for themselves:  Average hourly wage for a bus driver- $18.00 • Average mileage for a bus- 10 miles/gallon [diesel] • Let’s say a round trip of 180 miles [1½hours] • Multiply by 2 or 3 team buses • That many more buses for the band • Finally, maybe add a fan bus or two.

Of course, there are other hidden costs, especially for the winners. One startling fact stands out about the tournament.  There are more than a few schools making deep runs every year.  These dynasties are wearing out equipment much faster, especially uniforms, but one can also imagine there are only so many hits to a helmet or a pad. And it’s worth emphasizing, some of these teams have played a season and a half every year.

 The OHSAA sees none of these expenses as a shared responsibility. Nor is there any equivocation when it comes to ticket prices. While regular season game tickets fall into the $8-$9.00 range.  The OHSAA set first round live gate prices at $15.00 for everyone, including students- letting everyone know, including the state general assembly, who is really in charge.  A former commissioner, Fred Dafler, once pontificated that the OHSAA was a not-for-profit entity. This is hardly true today, or if it ever was. The Association has at its disposal $19,000,000 in investment capital and apparently that isn’t enough for those sitting today in their cushy six figure commissioner chairs.

Over the years the organization, originally created by the public schools to oversee the state tournaments, has successfully practiced mission creep and with it assumed additional power with little or no push back. This trend has particularly accelerated in recent times.  About 15 years ago, the Association added to their coffers by forcing coaches to be certified. Henceforth no matter one’s experience, expertise, or number of degrees, one could no longer coach in Ohio without their official blessing. No record of the OHSAA’s share could be found, but 70,000 Ohio junior high/high school coaches must have it to coach. At $65.00 per certification, an initial windfall of $4,500,000 was realized at its implementation [Using 2024 OHSAA numbers.]

More recently, because of the covid shut down, the OHSAA felt a financial pinch. Blind to the sufferings of the athletic programs statewide, like Celina High School who lost an estimated $50,000, they callously implemented a tournament tax which is still being collected three years later. This “Covid Tax” requires each school to pay $50.00 per team for the privilege of entering their respective sport’s state playoffs. Randomly picking a small D-7 football size school one counts 16 varsity sports. At $50.00 per sport that school must pony up $800. Extrapolate that over 800+ schools and that’s a quick $640,000 with a stroke of the pen.

To say that the OHSAA is leaning too far out over their skis is not an understatement. But Ohio’s high school principals, who are supposed to maintain oversight, have played a major part by neglecting, or not taking seriously, their responsibilities. Did any of them lose sleep over $15 tickets for their own students? Were any of them concerned about the optics of a school paying a $50 fee to be “mercy ruled”? Or care about the burden of travel expenses by schools that survive athletically only on season gate income and perhaps fund raisers? Sticking it to the taxpayer seems to be the motto or leave it up to local fund raising to pay the difference. The later point is truly rich when one considers that up to a few years ago the OHSAA demanded a cut of the tournament hosts 50-50 raffle drawings.

One Person’s Conclusion

Having a tournament is not the issue, but a six-game postseason is debatable. Statistics prove there are not enough competitive teams to warrant such expansion.  However, if this is to be the future, why should the OHSAA get any of the first-round gate? A 60%-40% split between the competing teams feels about right. [One cannot help but recall, the Association was making money in the previous five-game tournament format.]

Secondly, and more complex, the OHSAA is structurally broken.  The commissioners have lost touch with the schools they allegedly serve. In fact, it feels more like the OHSAA is doing the dictating.  The Board of Directors, consisting of active school administrators, are supposed to oversee the OHSAA but have apparently lost sight that they also have a duty to represent the best interests of the schools, coaches, and… oh yes, the athletes.

The athletes…. Remember when seemingly everyone was clucking their concerns about football related concussion injuries.  Dan Ross, at the time the head commissioner of the OHSAA, didn’t stick up for the sport or its coaches, he rode the wave: “with the support and leadership from the football coach’s association we have been out in front of concussion awareness and education.” Translated, this meant concussion seminars for all coaches and an opportunity for the OHSAA to micromanage football practice by limiting contact.

 A critic, some might prefer using the term cynic, claimed this was all posturing on the OHSAA’s part to inoculate themselves from any potential lawsuit down the road regarding head traumas: “It’s not us it’s the coaches. We did our part.”

But has the OHSAA been doing its part?  The reader might be surprised to learn that this organization, the one out in front of “concussion education” and enriching themselves via playoff expansion, has zero curiosity toward the tournament and its physical impact on the participants. No athletic director in the state of Ohio has ever seen an injury survey from the OHSAA. Like their position on school expenses, the OHSAA sees no shared responsibility in the injury cost.  An organization that was so concerned about head trauma in a ten-game schedule, loses no sleep over the issue in a tournament in which it receives almost all the profits while stretching the season to 16 games.  

It is time for a restructuring of the OHSAA to include people who have a grass roots level perspective and have demonstrated a lifetime connection with their athletes.  The OHSAA clearly has objectives other than what it was created for, and school administrators either don’t have the time, or will, to adjudicate their oversight duties. Is it not time to find a place at the OHSAA table for coaches… career coaches who have proven their dedication to the athletes and communities they’ve served. Perhaps through recommendations from the Ohio football coaches association.

Walter Shreffler

  • Retired public high school history and P.E. teacher
  • Master’s Degree- History
  • Master’s Degree- Phys. Education
  • Coached football 23 years [6 as a head coach]
  • Def. Coordinator- Celina 1983, D-2 State runner-up [Then a 3-game tournament]
  • Head boys/girls track coach for 33 years [5 more as an assistant]
  • State Runner-up, D-1, 1983
  • Ohio career coach of the year, 1992

To email – shrefflerw@bright.net

[1] Note:20 of these 2023 games were within a field goal of being mercy ruled. Perhaps suggesting some of these final scores were kept down by the “mercy” of the winning coach.

[2] It took 1260 games played before a team with a high seed [9-16] qualified to state. Springfield seeded 12th finally broke through, but Springfield has qualified for state for five consecutive years. One hardly sees this anomaly as a beacon of hope for teams with a much lesser pedigree. More to the point, is playing 1260 games to find one high seed worth the expansion?