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Class Expansion Revisited
Opportunities for smaller and large mid-sized schools opened up with 2006's class
expansion
On January 11, 2006 the Illinois High School Association Board of Directors voted to
adopt class expansion in most of its sports.
Boys golf, boys track and field, and girls track and field expanded from two to three
classes, while girls volleyball, boys and girls basketball, boys baseball, and girls softball
expanded from two to four classes. Girls golf, boys and girls soccer and wrestling
expanded at later dates.
The move marked the first time in state history that a push for total expansion has been
adopted. Sports had been expanding into a classification system starting with the 1971
push to start a system for boys basketball. As the number of participating schools grew for
a particular sport, the IHSA visited the idea to set up a classification system. The most
recent case prior to 2006's mass expansion was with girls soccer in 2002.
Basketball was not the first IHSA sport to undergo a change to a classification system.
Boys track and field had two classes from 1914 to 1925, and had a brief try with three
classes in 1916. The larger schools competed in the “A” class, and the smaller schools in
the “B” class. The definition of the larger class in 1971 was “AA.”
Former Toluca coach Chuck Rolinski, now the Executive Director of the Illinois High
School Basketball Coaches Association, is called the father of the two-class system for
helping in the cause for splitting the state into two, which was a much-needed idea at the
time. After World War II, many families from Chicago moved out of the city and into nearby
rural communities that have since become the Chicago suburbs. The opportunity to start
anew in the suburbs, coupled with the baby boom, resulted in advantages for their high
school athletes over that of the rest of Illinois.
Eight of the 12 state champions in boys basketball from 1960 to 1971 came from Chicago
and its suburbs. The other four were Decatur, Collinsville and Pekin (twice), all with
enrollments over 1,500.
The two-class setup worked well because the large schools had their champions and the
small schools had theirs. However, the gap between the vastly-developed Chicago
suburbs and the rest of Illinois began to grow with wealth and opportunity rising in the
suburbs. By the time the 2000s rolled along, there was a visible gap in the Class AA
scene between upstate and downstate schools. Chicagoland began to grow out west, and
by 2000 the western border of the greater Chicago area included school districts such as
Burlington Central, Huntley, Kaneland and McHenry. Enrollments at these schools soared
and Central, Huntley and Kaneland were Class AA schools. McHenry was planning a
second high school, while Johnsburg, which was carved from the McHenry district in 1978,
was quickly becoming a Class AA school itself.
The stretch was enough to warrant a change in football classification. Football had a six-
class system (set up in a way to have teams play just one game a week) since 1980, but
20 years later scheduling problems became a problem. Most teams had difficulty finding
reasonable opponents. In June of 2000, the IHSA Board of Directors expanded the
number of classes from six to eight. The stretch of classes allowed for a smaller group of
schools in each class, making it less time-consuming to schedule opponents.
America was operating on a budget surplus during the final years of the Clinton
administration. However, the quick economic downturn after the events of September 11,
2001 brought prosperity to a halt.
Burlington Central found itself in an odd position in 2002: they were about to surpass the
enrollment cutoff, but be the smallest school in an area filled with school districts with over
2,000 kids. It would be a detriment come the postseason. In June of 2003, representatives
from Central gave a report to the IHSA Board of Directors regarding the expansion of
boys and girls basketball from a two-class system to a four-class system. The board
commented that the Basketball Advisory Committee felt the current system was still
appropriate.
Even though the IHSA turned a deaf ear to Central's proposal, the idea of expanding the
basketball series was out. However, the issue was set aside as schools focused on the
Public-Private debate. The outcome of the Public-Private debates was the 1.65x multiplier
added to the enrollments of private schools. A task force was formed in March of 2004 to
come up with ideas and iron out any arguments regarding the situation. A classification
committee was formed to look at to “study the impact and ramifications of potential
changes in classification in all sports.” The committee consisted of IHSA Board Liason Jim
Quaid of Oak Park Fenwick, Joe Schmidt of Chicago St. Patrick, Glenn Schwartzwalder of
the Illinois Math and Science Academy, Tim Feigh of Hinsdale South, Don Billington of
Genoa-Kingston, Mike Clark of Normal, Christine LaCroix of Aledo and Vicky King of
Carbondale.
The classification committee of the Public/Private Task Force reviewed “the impact of
adding classes, concerns by high Class A enrollment schools and low Class AA
enrollment schools, the status of cooperative teams in the classification process and who
is winning state championships.” The committee also addressed which sports would be
interested in classification. The data collected by the committee ranged from: champions
from each sport, enrollments of champions from each sport, private school champions per
sport plus year, public school champions per sport plus year and quarterfinal round
winners from each sport.
At the third meeting of the Task Force in October, a discussion was planned for the
Principal's Rule Meetings the following month regarding class expansion in addition to the
Multiplier. Soon after the Rules Meetings were conducted, a survey of the issues raised
was handed out to member schools. The results of the survey were made public in
December with 75 percent of schools responding.
Member schools supported the idea of class expansion by way of three questions: “Do
you favor four classes in girls and boys basketball?” (318-245), “Do you favor four
classes in girls volleyball?” (309-251) and “Do you favor four classes in boys baseball and
girls softball?” (299-263). For the question “In general, do you feel adding classes in
sports/activities will enhance the relationship between our public and private schools,” a
majority responded no (320-239).
The Task Force made a recommendation to the board in February 2005 to allow a review
on IHSA Policy 19 (the criteria for increasing the number of classes) by the IHSA staff and
the advisory committees of each sport.
In March, the IHSA announced criteria for class expansion. Bracketed sports have the
option of increasing to four classes if more than 600 schools participate in the state
series. Individual sports have the option of increasing to three classes if more than 450
schools participate in the state series. With a platform for expansion established, and a
favorable result tallied by member schools, expansion was closer to a reality.
The IHSA itself took on the initiative to establish an expanded class system in October
2005. In the midst of the multiplier debate, Fr. Don Sebestyen of New Lenox Providence
proposed a by-law that would expand the number of classes. That proposal was ultimately
defeated by the IHSA Legislative Commission a month later. The IHSA's class expansion
proposal was sent to principals the following month at the annual Rules Meetings. An
advisory referendum was scheduled for December for all member schools.
Fewer schools participated in the advisory referendum than the Public/Private Task Force
survey (75%-57%). Out of the 426 responding schools, the four-class setup for bracketed
sports was favored 273-153 with potential Class 4A schools voting 44-59 against. The
three-class setup for individual sports was favored 253-173 with 4A schools voting 51-60
against.
One of the biggest disputes regarding the survey was that “only” 57% of the member
schools responded to it, and what would have happened if every school completed the
survey. According to IHSA Executive Director Marty Hickman in an interview with a central
Illinois newspaper, the schools who didn't participate must not have cared one way or
another.
Still, with the input of only less than three-fifths of member schools, the IHSA Board of
Directors voted in March to adopt expansion in time for the 2007-08 school year.
During the 2007-08 school year, there were many schools that achieved athletic
successes not previously seen before. Rockford Keith Country Day was one of the first
schools in northern Illinois to reap the benefits of class expansion. Its volleyball program
took second place at the Class 1A State Tournament. That winter, Newark's girls
basketball team placed second in the Class 1A State Tournament, becoming the first
team in Little 10 Conference history to place in the top four in a bracketed sport.
The next season, Newark's Little 10 rival, Hinckley-Big Rock, won the Class 1A Girls
Basketball State Championship – the first state title in the history of the 90-year-old
league. That accomplishment, or that of Newark's or Keith's, probably would not have
happened in a two-class system.
Many schools and programs in Class 1A and Class 3A have reached unprecedented
heights with class expansion. The Eastland volleyball program won back-to-back Class 1A
state championships in 2008 and 2009. The Freeport girls basketball program placed
second at the Class 3A state tournament in the same two calendar years.
The schools who truly reap the benefit from class expansion are those between an
enrollment of 700 and 1350, such as Freeport. This is Class 3A in a four-class system,
and Class 2A in a three-class system. The schools in this particular region are saved from
having to compete with the larger half of schools. Class 1A in a three-class system
remains unchanged from pre-expansion, so a school of 200 still competes with a school of
650 in the postseason.
Benefits were plenty for the Class 1A and 3A schools, but there were not as many in the
area's Class 4A contingent. The Rockford-area schools became paired with the northwest
suburban schools, which caused a competition concern. Two Quad City area schools
(Moline and United Township) find themselves going on long road trips to compete in the
postseason.
Another effect class expansion has had on northern Illinois is the base of schools in a
super-sectional complex. In the 2007 basketball postseason, the St. Anne boys, Peoria
Manual boys and West Hancock girls played in super-sectional games with northern
Illinois teams.
Along with the topic of class expansion, we cannot forget the important changes made to
the advancement of the Chicago Public League in the state playoffs. For years the CPL
had their own qualification system where the Leagues representative would be the eighth
team participating at state. In 2002, the League started postseason play at the Regional
level, sometimes participating in a regional field with non-CPL schools. A couple of years
later, CPL schools were added into the enrollment totals, making smaller schools eligible
for participation in Class A.
One of the changes that stemmed from class expansion is the alignment of various
athletic conferences. Because two new barriers were established, conferences are
currently looking toward being exclusive to one class. Some schools are being looked at
as either “too large” or “too small”for a conference, or “too tough” or “too weak.” The
shuffle is something that will continue into the next decade.
The main detriment to class expansion has been whether or not a post-expansion State
Championship feat is comparable to one achieved prior to class expansion. As the era of
multiple classes approaches the halfway point of it's third season, the question has still
yet to be answered. Whether it works out or not, a reversal to the past seems unlikely.
Opportunities for smaller and large mid-sized schools opened up with 2006's class
expansion
On January 11, 2006 the Illinois High School Association Board of Directors voted to
adopt class expansion in most of its sports.
Boys golf, boys track and field, and girls track and field expanded from two to three
classes, while girls volleyball, boys and girls basketball, boys baseball, and girls softball
expanded from two to four classes. Girls golf, boys and girls soccer and wrestling
expanded at later dates.
The move marked the first time in state history that a push for total expansion has been
adopted. Sports had been expanding into a classification system starting with the 1971
push to start a system for boys basketball. As the number of participating schools grew for
a particular sport, the IHSA visited the idea to set up a classification system. The most
recent case prior to 2006's mass expansion was with girls soccer in 2002.
Basketball was not the first IHSA sport to undergo a change to a classification system.
Boys track and field had two classes from 1914 to 1925, and had a brief try with three
classes in 1916. The larger schools competed in the “A” class, and the smaller schools in
the “B” class. The definition of the larger class in 1971 was “AA.”
Former Toluca coach Chuck Rolinski, now the Executive Director of the Illinois High
School Basketball Coaches Association, is called the father of the two-class system for
helping in the cause for splitting the state into two, which was a much-needed idea at the
time. After World War II, many families from Chicago moved out of the city and into nearby
rural communities that have since become the Chicago suburbs. The opportunity to start
anew in the suburbs, coupled with the baby boom, resulted in advantages for their high
school athletes over that of the rest of Illinois.
Eight of the 12 state champions in boys basketball from 1960 to 1971 came from Chicago
and its suburbs. The other four were Decatur, Collinsville and Pekin (twice), all with
enrollments over 1,500.
The two-class setup worked well because the large schools had their champions and the
small schools had theirs. However, the gap between the vastly-developed Chicago
suburbs and the rest of Illinois began to grow with wealth and opportunity rising in the
suburbs. By the time the 2000s rolled along, there was a visible gap in the Class AA
scene between upstate and downstate schools. Chicagoland began to grow out west, and
by 2000 the western border of the greater Chicago area included school districts such as
Burlington Central, Huntley, Kaneland and McHenry. Enrollments at these schools soared
and Central, Huntley and Kaneland were Class AA schools. McHenry was planning a
second high school, while Johnsburg, which was carved from the McHenry district in 1978,
was quickly becoming a Class AA school itself.
The stretch was enough to warrant a change in football classification. Football had a six-
class system (set up in a way to have teams play just one game a week) since 1980, but
20 years later scheduling problems became a problem. Most teams had difficulty finding
reasonable opponents. In June of 2000, the IHSA Board of Directors expanded the
number of classes from six to eight. The stretch of classes allowed for a smaller group of
schools in each class, making it less time-consuming to schedule opponents.
America was operating on a budget surplus during the final years of the Clinton
administration. However, the quick economic downturn after the events of September 11,
2001 brought prosperity to a halt.
Burlington Central found itself in an odd position in 2002: they were about to surpass the
enrollment cutoff, but be the smallest school in an area filled with school districts with over
2,000 kids. It would be a detriment come the postseason. In June of 2003, representatives
from Central gave a report to the IHSA Board of Directors regarding the expansion of
boys and girls basketball from a two-class system to a four-class system. The board
commented that the Basketball Advisory Committee felt the current system was still
appropriate.
Even though the IHSA turned a deaf ear to Central's proposal, the idea of expanding the
basketball series was out. However, the issue was set aside as schools focused on the
Public-Private debate. The outcome of the Public-Private debates was the 1.65x multiplier
added to the enrollments of private schools. A task force was formed in March of 2004 to
come up with ideas and iron out any arguments regarding the situation. A classification
committee was formed to look at to “study the impact and ramifications of potential
changes in classification in all sports.” The committee consisted of IHSA Board Liason Jim
Quaid of Oak Park Fenwick, Joe Schmidt of Chicago St. Patrick, Glenn Schwartzwalder of
the Illinois Math and Science Academy, Tim Feigh of Hinsdale South, Don Billington of
Genoa-Kingston, Mike Clark of Normal, Christine LaCroix of Aledo and Vicky King of
Carbondale.
The classification committee of the Public/Private Task Force reviewed “the impact of
adding classes, concerns by high Class A enrollment schools and low Class AA
enrollment schools, the status of cooperative teams in the classification process and who
is winning state championships.” The committee also addressed which sports would be
interested in classification. The data collected by the committee ranged from: champions
from each sport, enrollments of champions from each sport, private school champions per
sport plus year, public school champions per sport plus year and quarterfinal round
winners from each sport.
At the third meeting of the Task Force in October, a discussion was planned for the
Principal's Rule Meetings the following month regarding class expansion in addition to the
Multiplier. Soon after the Rules Meetings were conducted, a survey of the issues raised
was handed out to member schools. The results of the survey were made public in
December with 75 percent of schools responding.
Member schools supported the idea of class expansion by way of three questions: “Do
you favor four classes in girls and boys basketball?” (318-245), “Do you favor four
classes in girls volleyball?” (309-251) and “Do you favor four classes in boys baseball and
girls softball?” (299-263). For the question “In general, do you feel adding classes in
sports/activities will enhance the relationship between our public and private schools,” a
majority responded no (320-239).
The Task Force made a recommendation to the board in February 2005 to allow a review
on IHSA Policy 19 (the criteria for increasing the number of classes) by the IHSA staff and
the advisory committees of each sport.
In March, the IHSA announced criteria for class expansion. Bracketed sports have the
option of increasing to four classes if more than 600 schools participate in the state
series. Individual sports have the option of increasing to three classes if more than 450
schools participate in the state series. With a platform for expansion established, and a
favorable result tallied by member schools, expansion was closer to a reality.
The IHSA itself took on the initiative to establish an expanded class system in October
2005. In the midst of the multiplier debate, Fr. Don Sebestyen of New Lenox Providence
proposed a by-law that would expand the number of classes. That proposal was ultimately
defeated by the IHSA Legislative Commission a month later. The IHSA's class expansion
proposal was sent to principals the following month at the annual Rules Meetings. An
advisory referendum was scheduled for December for all member schools.
Fewer schools participated in the advisory referendum than the Public/Private Task Force
survey (75%-57%). Out of the 426 responding schools, the four-class setup for bracketed
sports was favored 273-153 with potential Class 4A schools voting 44-59 against. The
three-class setup for individual sports was favored 253-173 with 4A schools voting 51-60
against.
One of the biggest disputes regarding the survey was that “only” 57% of the member
schools responded to it, and what would have happened if every school completed the
survey. According to IHSA Executive Director Marty Hickman in an interview with a central
Illinois newspaper, the schools who didn't participate must not have cared one way or
another.
Still, with the input of only less than three-fifths of member schools, the IHSA Board of
Directors voted in March to adopt expansion in time for the 2007-08 school year.
During the 2007-08 school year, there were many schools that achieved athletic
successes not previously seen before. Rockford Keith Country Day was one of the first
schools in northern Illinois to reap the benefits of class expansion. Its volleyball program
took second place at the Class 1A State Tournament. That winter, Newark's girls
basketball team placed second in the Class 1A State Tournament, becoming the first
team in Little 10 Conference history to place in the top four in a bracketed sport.
The next season, Newark's Little 10 rival, Hinckley-Big Rock, won the Class 1A Girls
Basketball State Championship – the first state title in the history of the 90-year-old
league. That accomplishment, or that of Newark's or Keith's, probably would not have
happened in a two-class system.
Many schools and programs in Class 1A and Class 3A have reached unprecedented
heights with class expansion. The Eastland volleyball program won back-to-back Class 1A
state championships in 2008 and 2009. The Freeport girls basketball program placed
second at the Class 3A state tournament in the same two calendar years.
The schools who truly reap the benefit from class expansion are those between an
enrollment of 700 and 1350, such as Freeport. This is Class 3A in a four-class system,
and Class 2A in a three-class system. The schools in this particular region are saved from
having to compete with the larger half of schools. Class 1A in a three-class system
remains unchanged from pre-expansion, so a school of 200 still competes with a school of
650 in the postseason.
Benefits were plenty for the Class 1A and 3A schools, but there were not as many in the
area's Class 4A contingent. The Rockford-area schools became paired with the northwest
suburban schools, which caused a competition concern. Two Quad City area schools
(Moline and United Township) find themselves going on long road trips to compete in the
postseason.
Another effect class expansion has had on northern Illinois is the base of schools in a
super-sectional complex. In the 2007 basketball postseason, the St. Anne boys, Peoria
Manual boys and West Hancock girls played in super-sectional games with northern
Illinois teams.
Along with the topic of class expansion, we cannot forget the important changes made to
the advancement of the Chicago Public League in the state playoffs. For years the CPL
had their own qualification system where the Leagues representative would be the eighth
team participating at state. In 2002, the League started postseason play at the Regional
level, sometimes participating in a regional field with non-CPL schools. A couple of years
later, CPL schools were added into the enrollment totals, making smaller schools eligible
for participation in Class A.
One of the changes that stemmed from class expansion is the alignment of various
athletic conferences. Because two new barriers were established, conferences are
currently looking toward being exclusive to one class. Some schools are being looked at
as either “too large” or “too small”for a conference, or “too tough” or “too weak.” The
shuffle is something that will continue into the next decade.
The main detriment to class expansion has been whether or not a post-expansion State
Championship feat is comparable to one achieved prior to class expansion. As the era of
multiple classes approaches the halfway point of it's third season, the question has still
yet to be answered. Whether it works out or not, a reversal to the past seems unlikely.
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