Illinois High School Association football scheduling will remain the same in 2024.
A proposal that would have significantly changed football scheduling in the state by moving to districts failed to pass in a vote of member schools.
Under the proposal, the IHSA would have predetermined the schools within the eight enrollment classes and placed them in eight districts.
Nearly 90% of member schools voted on the proposal, with 379 voting no, 272 voting yes and 76 having no opinion.
District 205 Director of Athletics Eric Matthews tells WGIL that Galesburg voted in favor of the move to districts.
“I viewed the football districts to be a positive thing for Galesburg football,” Matthews said. “It would allow us to play more schools similar in size and keep our transportation to a minimum.
“We would have had the potential of having some non-district games at the beginning of the schedule.”
Matthews said a downside of the district proposal for Galesburg would have been a loss of tradition that would have resulted from not playing all of the Western Big 6 Conference schools.
“My other concern with districts is that some newly formed conferences, because of football, might break up,” Matthews said. “That would then cause some conference shifts that we have been trying to eliminate.
“It would have been a huge shift for a lot of people. This proposal had its pros and cons, but it was trying to help eliminate/stop schools from jumping conferences in search of the almighty 5 wins, which makes you playoff-eligible.”
IHSA executive director Craig Anderson said the IHSA board now will form a football ad hoc committee to address “issues that are at the root of different football proposals.”
“They recognize the myriad issues in IHSA football are unique and can be based on geography, school size, conference affiliation, and the traditional success of a program, which is why no recent proposals have garnered enough support to pass,” Anderson said.
“There is likely no singular answer to these issues, but the Board wants to explore the idea that a large and diverse group from around the state might be able to find some solutions that the high school football community in the state would support.”