A big change is on its way for local high school teams with their eyes set on the playoffs for the 2024-25 school year and beyond.
The CIF Southern Section approved a proposal on Tuesday to change the playoff format for all team sports to the football playoff format. The vote was 79-8 to approve.
Teams will no longer be slotted into playoff divisions based on the results of previous years. Instead, current results and computer rankings will be used to place teams into a division at the end of the season.
In the playoff bracket, teams will be seeded from one to 32.
Football teams have been using this format for three years now, and it has resulted in highly competitive playoff games thanks to the focus on competitive equity.
Dillan Bennett, the Bishop Diego volleyball coach and a CIF-SS volleyball committee member, is pleased with the change and sees it as a better opportunity to find success in the playoffs.
“I think schools who spend time understanding what kind of teams they have will have an advantage when it comes time to the playoffs happening at the end of each respective season,” Bennett told Noozhawk.
“While the idea to base a playoff division on the prior two years of competition was an improvement to the previous system, we found that teams who were successful in playoffs one year were almost immediately raised to a level in which they could not complete the following year for a variety of reasons.”
Bennett’s Cardinals squad won a Division 7 title in 2021, and as a result, the team has continued to move up divisions. However, the team saw plenty of turnaround, including the graduation of some key seniors.
This resulted in them not being as competitive in postseason play, as they were matched up against powerhouse programs that have elite talent every year.
“I am most looking forward to the opportunity to coach our volleyball teams in a playoff environment that applies to the team we have in the current season,” Bennett said. “When you have schools that have class periods dedicated to the success of their respective teams, small schools that share athletes may have years where their talent allows them to be competitive with those schools, but not over the long run.
“The new system allows for schools to address the current-season needs of their programs and schedule accordingly.”
Meanwhile, Carpinteria athletic director Pat Cooney sees the pros and cons of this new format.
While acknowledging that the format is sure to address the issue of talent inequity in playoff matchups, he believes that the new system could take away the importance of league games.
“We have seen how the football model has been frustrating for some as the focus on leagues and league standings has blurred,” Cooney told Noozhawk. “Since playoff entries are not bound to the leagues, the guarantee of earning a playoff berth based on league standings has eroded.”
Also, with the format relying on computer rankings, teams and athletic departments will need to report their game scores accurately and timely, as schools could be left out of the playoffs if they do not report their scores.
“CIF-SS has the digital tools in place but our experience has been that score reporting is inconsistent even in football, which only has 10 games,” Cooney said.
“It’s certainly worth a try. If athletic departments are able to get the work done, the new system could address some long-standing concerns.”