Colorado Class 5A Football Coaches Weigh In on Realignment

To some it's awesome. To others it's mediocre. But whichever the viewpoint, there's no disputing that the Class 5A football league realignment has generated its share of discussion.

As the overhaul enters its seventh week, some are frustrated while others see the merits to the change. Eaglecrest (Centennial) coach Mike Schmitt estimates the split "is about 50/50" when taking into account feedback he's heard from fellow coaches.

"My personal thought is that I enjoy playing teams around the state and traveling with the team," said Schmitt, whose Raptors enter the week as 5A's lone unbeaten squad at 6-0. "I believe these first two years will be a little off, because we are dealing with numbers in the form of a mathematical equation, and the way our leagues were set up before, there was not a lot of parity. But as a state, if we can go through two or three cycles, everything will work itself out and create that competition everyone is looking for."

Without context, the new alignment appears to make as much logistical sense as an NFL division featuring Seattle, Buffalo, Dallas and Miami. The new layout clearly isn't based on geographical proximity. But when taking into account the reasons behind it, the picture becomes clearer.

Essentially, the idea was to break up the dominant leagues, such as the Centennial and Jeffco in recent years, by adopting a waterfall format to determine the new leagues. In this format, the seven teams with the highest RPI over the previous two seasons were placed in separate leagues. From there, teams were snaked into leagues in an attempt to create the most parity possible.

"We love the realignment," said Highlands Ranch coach Mark Robinson, whose Falcons (4-2) reside in the Mt. Lincoln League that stretches as far south as Fountain-Fort Carson and as far north as Poudre (Fort Collins). "We feel like we are playing better competition. As for the travel, it is not a problem for us. We traveled to Florida this year, therefore trips to Fort Collins or Colorado Springs are not a big deal."
 
That being said, Robinson isn't so certain the realignment will accomplish all of its objectives over time. He is interested to see if new contenders emerge from the new leagues, but does not believe the stalwarts will be affected.

"I do believe that the same teams will dominate their new leagues," he said. "As long as we remain a ‘school of choice' state, parents of athletes will continue to place their athletes into the same programs that have found traditional success. I do not believe this experiment will work." 

The realignment coincides with 5A's shift to a 16-team playoff bracket and 10-game regular season. Since 2006, the classification had featured a nine-game schedule and a gargantuan 32-team bracket that produced few large-scale upsets and numerous first-round blowouts. Now, similar to other classifications, the seven league champs will earn an automatic postseason berth, with the other nine playoff teams determined by RPI.

Arapahoe (Centennial) coach Mike Campbell and his former athletic director, Steve Sisler, had proposed starting the season with league play under the new format and using the final weeks for compelling nonleague action.

"I think people had to be naïve to think that conference play would be exciting," Campbell said. "The system we are under guarantees at least three blowout wins for the upper-echelon teams. We thought the (league play first) idea would add huge excitement to the end of the season. You would already know seven playoff teams and you would have 36 teams fighting every week for the remaining nine playoff spot."

Campbell, whose Warriors (3-3) play in the Mt. Massive League, said the notion was mostly dismissed due to the idea that the seven league champs wouldn't see the value of the second half of the season.

"You mean to tell me Grandview (Aurora) wouldn't compete hard with Eaglecrest because they already both would have locked up playoff berths?" Campbell said.

While the rationale for the new alignment makes enough sense, it still can be considered something of an outside-the-box solution. It's odd seeing teams from Colorado Springs and Fort Collins in the same league, for example. The league names will take some getting used to, as well, as recent alumni won't readily identify with a Mt. Massive or Mt. Lincoln league championship.

And traditional rivalries that many players' parents have grown up sharing with their kids, such as Columbine (Littleton) and Pomona (Arvada), can only occur in nonleague action or in the postseason. According to the Colorado High School Activities Association, the waterfall alignment was deemed feasible because all 5A teams are now located along the Interstate 25 corridor, meaning the longest distance between any given two is roughly two hours.

Doherty (Colorado Springs) coach Jeff Krumlauf is fairly neutral. He said his Spartans (5-1) enjoy the concept of playing different schools and haven't really dissected the pros and cons of the new alignment.

"I have overheard a few coaches express their dislike for the waterfall and how the leagues were aligned," said Krumlauf, whose team competes in the Mt. Massive League. "But at the end of the day, it comes down to taking care of business on game day and letting the chips fall where they may. Bottom line, let's put the ball down and play some football."

The discussion certainly will press on. Neighborhood rivalries are a thing of the past with regard to league play, unless neighboring schools were randomly placed in the same league. But if the new system equates to a better form of parity over the long haul, perhaps those two-hour bus rides to league games will be worth it, according to some.

"With the makeup of the leagues for the last few years, most of the state's top teams were clumped together and you found teams beating each other up in the regular season," said Schmitt, who Raptors are stationed in the Mt. Wilson League. "The playoffs were often not as good as the regular season, and I don't think that will be the case this year. But hard to say. Like so many things, people want a perfect system and there is no such thing.

"But I firmly believe even more rivalries will be created across the state and create more excitement."