![]() MHSFCA regional directors conducted meetings around the state in April 1973 to explain the proposal. That additional revenue, he noted, could be used to support other things that were coming along, like girls athletics. Joseph High School and Region 5 director of the MHSFCA, in conversation with DeLand. “Ohio played its semifinals in a doubleheader at the Ohio State stadium last fall and drew 20-some thousand people,” noted Ike Muhlenkamp, coach at St. “No matter how honestly polls are conducted,” stated Jim DeLand of the Benton Harbor Herald-Palladium in April 1973, “they inevitably favor unbeaten teams with an easier schedule over teams with a tougher schedule, and say, one loss.” Financing the IdeaĪccording to the coaches’ group, most football playoffs in other states had been self-supporting and profitable. “Indiana had a dry run on their (proposed) playoffs last year and four of the top five teams in the football polls did not make the playoffs on a point system.” One thing almost certain to occur, if a system could be developed, would be a recasting of those newspaper rankings. The goal was to create a test – ideally during the 1973 season – designed to prove the concept, with the hope for an actual playoff in the fall of 1974. While the administrative wheels turned, the MHSFCA worked on developing a point system designed to reward teams based on strength of schedule. “Iowa had to present the playoff five years before it was approved,” noted Driscoll. The MHSFCA recognized it could take a while. We just want to sell the idea,” Driscoll said. It will take time to work out the details. “We’re not going to press for any certain system at this time. So the MHSFCA went to work, scheduling meetings around the state – talking with, and listening to, membership. We hope to have playoffs in two or three years.” “If we can come up with a feasible plan, I think they’re willing to listen. Bush, MHSAA executive director, and Vern Norris, associate director, about the goal. Only eight months old, the MHSFCA planned to present its research, and a possible approach, to the Michigan High School Athletic Association. … Our association would have to investigate these and come up with the best one for our situation,” Driscoll said. So, determining the teams that would participate in the tournament was a major concern. The MHSFCA, broken into 18 regions across the Upper and Lower Peninsulas, recognized that was far too many to work within a two-week playoff system. If you win a region, you have a semifinal game the next week, then a final a week after that in each class.” ![]() “They just extend the season by two weeks,” said Driscoll, the MHSFCA spokesperson at the time. Yet Colorado and Massachusetts, both with weather that could replicate Michigan’s in late autumn, hosted football postseasons. That limited the number of teams that could be involved. Unpredictable late fall weather meant the season could be expanded by only a couple of weeks. Logistically and geographically, the concept of a football postseason presented numerous challenges. With basketball, every high school squad qualified for the annual MHSAA Tournament. But, as a cold weather state, few could see a way to devise an equitable system to accomplish the task. Because there was no postseason system in place for teams to square off, those are referred to as “mythical” titles.Ī state gridiron playoff had been discussed for many years. Newspaper ranking systems, in use since the early 1940s in Michigan, were the method by which football teams were awarded “state titles.” Prior to that, schools with undefeated marks against in-state opponents could make a rightful claim to a championship. Michigan was one of only 20 states that did not conduct a football playoff, and the sport was the only one sponsored by the MHSAA that did not have a tournament to determine champions. But it has turned out to be a very progressive, positive influence in the state.” A Postseason “The first year or two was a challenge because that’s when you’re instituting something. “It took us a couple of years to get it done,” recalled Driscoll, now age 86 and still in the Jackson area. Now with an organization to speak and help us, I think we will see some real movement …”ĭriscoll, president of the MHSFCA, was pitching the idea of a football postseason in Michigan – a goal of the young organization. “Football has been around a long time in Michigan, and we just haven’t moved forward as other sports have. ![]() ![]() In November of 1972, Dave Driscoll, football coach at Jackson Parkside, was talking by phone with Larry Paladino of The Associated Press about the goals of the recently-formed Michigan High School Football Coaches Association (MHSFCA).
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