CIF-Southern Section coaches ask for mercy

Now, however, some Southern Section teams are pushing back against the Calpreps.com rankings, with coaches asking to be downgraded for a variety of reasons. This is a 180-degree turn for many high school teams, who used to beg to be ranked higher.

But as the gap between the public and private, and now also including charter schools, continues to widen, many programs are looking to avoid first-round playoff exits.

The situation has gotten so bad among Southern Section programs that Ned Freeman, one of the people who runs the site, had to post a memo on the front page of the website, which read, in part: “Please understand that we do not change ratings upon request so please save yourself the time/effort of asking for that,” Freeman wrote on the front page of the site. 

The memo continued: “Rest assured, you will not receive a response to this insulting request. … We find it amusing that for two decades, we received emails of, ‘Our team should be rated SO (emphasis his) much higher’ type that now it’s suddenly flipped and we get ‘Our team should be rated SO much lower’ emails as coaches hope to work their way into a lower playoff division.”

It wasn’t too long ago that many coaches pooh-poohed winning a lower-level section title, believing it was worth less than winning a section crown in a higher division.

But now for many programs, it has become a race to the middle because for many, a phenomenal regular season will usually result in a short playoff stay. Half Moon Bay in 2019 and Terra Nova in 2013 both went a perfect 10-0 in the regular season, only to face Serra and Valley Christian, respectively, in the first round of the CCS playoffs, getting routed and bounced in the first round of the playoffs.

It’s just the latest reason there really needs to be two separate section and state tournaments — one private, one public. It’s simply not fair for a team to put together a fantastic regular season only to be placed in a playoff bracket against a team which they have little chance of beating.

But until CIF and its member sections find a better way of seeding playoff brackets, the Calpreps.com ranking system, along with one from MaxPreps.com, will continue to help decide which schools play where in the playoffs.

Freeman then dropped the mic to end his memo:

“Our ratings are our ratings, take it or leave it as you see fit. The system is based on your results; nothing else. You don’t need to let us know that you’re undersized, outmanned, inexperienced, have low enrollment, have low effort at practice, have players with low football IQ, have few players on your roster, can’t afford nice uniforms, etc.,, etc. Those things are not factors in any legitimate power rating systems, and alerting us to these facts will not change your rating.”

As I joked with Half Moon Bay head coach Keith Holden ahead of the 2021 fall season, teams need to lose “the right game” to downgrade their power ranking “naturally.”

What used to be a goal to play the strongest schedule as possible, has devolved into playing the “right” kind of schedule. One that allows a team to be successful, but not too successful.

Which is a shame. The playoffs are meant for good teams to have a chance at winning championships. Not as a punishment for having a great regular season.

Nathan Mollat can be reached by email: nathan@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: 344-5200 ext. 117. To report scores or have tips, email sports@smdailyjournal.com.