I came across this in the fall IHSBCA newsletter, anyone hear anymore about this?
For the upcoming 2009 season, coaches could see a marked change in the way their team gets seeded for sectional contests. The Illinois Athletic Directors Association and the IHSA advisory committee are looking into the possibility of replacing the traditional seed-ing meeting with an on-line seeding format.
Essentially, on-line seeding would begin with each coach completing an on-line form de-scribing his team’s season. Next, based on the criteria set up by the IHSA and the coaches’ comments on the on-line form, voting would be done on the computer by the coaches. Naturally, the biggest change from previous years would be the loss of the face-to-face interaction and discussion that takes place at sectional meetings. Many coaches fear that this new format will make it easier for unethical coaches to rank teams unfairly because they can “hide behind a computer screen.”
Dave Gannaway, the new IHSA administrator for baseball, doesn’t feel this is such a major issue, however, if coaches are doing their job the right way. “Coaches shouldn’t have to meet face-to-face,” he commented, “if they are being honest and true. I think 95% of our coaches will do it effectively, and the ones that don’t, are probably the ones that aren’t being fair in the meetings we have now, anyway.”
The IHSA actually experimented with this type of format two years ago when some basketball, s****r, and volleyball sectionals seeded teams by fax rather than during a meeting.
Original Post