Saturday Morning Quarterback Club is a roundtable group of media professionals from around the state of Illinois, talking about issues in Illinois high school football.

I have contacted different media pros from all areas of the state, but most responses from week one has came from those that hail from Southern Illinois. That is fine with me, most of them I already know so it makes sense, but if you would like to be added, please let me know at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . From week to week the questions will change and the responses will most likely come from different people. I had a few people who I expected responses from but they were not able to fill the request in time. I think that the mix this week is good: 3 newspaper guys, 2 radio guys, and a TV guy. I exclude myself, not really a media pro, just a web programmer that likes sports.

Before we start I want to say thoughts and prayers for Jeff Profitt. Jeff is the sports editor for the Du Quoin Evening Call and the on-air radio color man for WDQN football broadcasts.

Jeff had a stroke last week and is at Barnes in St. Louis in the ICU. His condition seems to be improving a bit, but overall everyone is doubling up prayers to help. I started a prayer thread on IHSS that has 54 responses and 1600 views. On facebook family, friends, co-workers, and Indian nation has been keeping up to date. A "Friends of Jeff Profitt" facebook page has even been created.

Through the years as a player, fan, and then producer of 618 Football (going into its fourth year) and now Illinois Pigskin in its first year, and operator of the Nick Hill Football website for a few years I have had plenty of interactions with Jeff. I first started, my first day of doing something for 618 Football by donating Poweraid to the Du Quoin Indians sports drink game. Jeff took a picture of me and wrote a story for the Call.

Throughout each Indian game, for three years, I would txt live Friday night game scores to Jeff and he would read them on air. In that time I might have sent more txt messages to Jeff than I have my own wife, about 30 updates a game, 12 or so games a year, for three years. Jeff is a great guy and lived and breathed Du Quoin Indians sports. We all hope that he can pull through this ... we are all cheering for you!

Free Link of the Week: College of Mass Communication and Media Arts at Southern Illinois University Carbondale - the Department of Radio-TV, School of Journalism, Department of Cinema-Photography, WSIU, and the Daily Egyptian.

Now to the Question ...

Week One Question:

What do you think of the proposal to expand the IHSA playoffs by Marian Catholic?

The field of qualifiers would double from 256 to 512 teams. Under the proposal, the regular season would be trimmed to 8 weeks with the playoffs spanning six weeks.

The Illinois High School Association's Kurt Gibson says 0 and 8 teams would not make the postseason under the plan. He says the IHSA Board of Directors will take up the subject during the 2010/2011 school year with member schools likely voting on the issue. The earliest the expansion would take effect is the 2011/2012 school year.

For more info, here is an interview about the proposal.

http://www.ihssn.net/audio/davemattio.mp3

Steve Soucie - Kankakee Daily Journal

Profile: Steve Soucie is a 19-year veteran of the Kankakee Daily Journal sports staff. His primary focus is covering high school football, boys' basketball and baseball for the 25 high schools that the Kankakee Journal covers on a year-to-year basis. Spends much of the fall in the foolhardy business of trying to project the Illinois High School Association's football \ playoff draw.

This is an interesting question.

Let me start by saying I am a strong advocate for the current system. I spend a lot of time with it and I think I understand its nuance and complexity as much as anyone. There are some things that I don't like about it, and allow me to say as well that I think I would quibble with almost any system put in front of me, that's just the way this guy is. But as far as flaws go, the ones I have with this are limited.

I believe this system is not broken. It should probably not be tinkered with much. The number of schools that this truly affects is very small. The number of schools forced into schedules that would make them a formidable playoff team if allowed into the field is also minuscule.

All of that being said, I'm fairly certain I wouldn't burn my playoff brackets in effigy if this policy was invoked. I believe conferences are dying in many areas of the state and I really believe that teams not fortunate enough to play in an even numbered conference or one that doesn't provide any assistance in scheduling non-conference games are really starting to feel the burn. There are many local rivalry games that have gone away because of the possible playoff killers for the team the happens to lose said game. That's bad. I want regular season games to have spark, and anymore, those truly great regular season games are unfortunately far and few between.

I like that the football season has a standard for teams to try to strive for. I like that it is different. And I don't like rewarding teams that have mediocre seasons with an open ticket to the playoffs. It would truly cheapen the regular season.
That being said, I can see both the pros and cons.
But if you're asking.......leave it alone.

Steve Soucie
Kankakee Daily Journal

Les Winkeler - The Southern Illinoisan

Profile: Les Winkeler is the sports editor of the Southern Illinoisan. He has been at the Southern Illinoisan for the past 22 years. Prior to coming to the Southern Illinoisan, he covered sports for The Breese Journal, The Union Banner and The Marion Daily Republican. Winkeler is a native of Beckemeyer. He graduated from Breese Mater Dei and received his journalism degree from Southern Illinois University.

The last thing the IHSA needs to do is expand the football playoffs.

If anything, contraction would be healthier. Since most 5-4 teams are paired against undefeated or 8-1 teams, they have little chance of advancing. There seems to be little reason to embarrass inferior teams, or subject outmatched teams to the possibility of injury.

Making the playoffs should be the reward for a good season – not mediocrity.

Second, fans have been complaining ad nauseum about the success of non-boundaried (read private) schools. The current eight-class system effectively waters down the multiplier.
There is no good reason to expand the playoffs.

Les Winkeler - The Southern Illinoisan

Darren Kinnard
Sports Director, WSIL-TV
Carterville, IL

Profile: I have been covering high school sports at WSIL for the past 17 years. I started as a reporter/videographer in 1993, eventually climbing the ladder to Sports Director in late 2004. Our coverage area includes the following conferences in football: Black Diamond, South 7, River to River--Mississippi, and River to River--Ohio.

As for the proposal, I think there are a many different layers here...the scheduling factor, economic considerations, and the actual changes to the playoff system. I believe playoff modifications would make for an interesting separate topic.

I'm not a fan of this proposal. Coach Mattio states that this proposal would get football in line with all the other sports as far as postseason participation. Football is unlike any other sport, the disparity between the haves and have nots is too great. These first round matchups mostly would be physical mismatches that nobody wants to see. I've had a well respected coach in the area tell me in the past, when he's had a 3-6 team, they're ready to turn in the pads and be done...they don't want to lace 'em back up to get overwhelmed by some dominant team. The last thing a 1-7 team will want to see is an 8-0 power sitting there waiting for them in week 9. Sure there are mismatches in week 9 across the state currently...but this would guarantee it would happen, and in much greater numbers.

While I understand the scheduling dilemma with teams struggling to fill open dates, this proposal seems to be pretty selfish. Coach Mattio and the rest of his conference have one week to fill, so the answer is to shorten the season for all teams across the state and pretty much add a guaranteed win for the better teams? What about the eight conferences that already have 10 teams in their league...how does their schedule shake out with one less regular season game? In our area, I look at Mt. Vernon. It is the biggest school in the deep south, and they have a terrible time filling the schedule. The Rams play a team from St. Louis, a pair of Chicago area schools, and a Metro East school in the non-conference. Sure this proposal might cut the need for one of these games, but at what cost? Being in 5A or 6A...a first round playoff game could mean a long road trip any way. A home playoff game would likely mean less revenue than a regular home date due to the IHSA's cut.

I'm not a believer that you should do something because that's the way you've always done it...or that you shouldn't because you've never done it that way. I just don't think this is the right change, at least not from the arguments presented.

Darren Kinnard - Sports Director at WSIL-TV

Beau Spencer Thompson - IHSSN.net

Profile: Sports Director at WAIK (Galesburg) and WMOI & WRAM (Monmouth). Consultant for radio stations in Canton, IL and Clinton, IA. Formerly a Sports Director at WGEN (Geneseo), WHHK (Galva), WKXQ (Rushville), WKAI/WLRB (Macomb), WLMD (Bushnell). Founder of the Illinois High School Sports Network. Freelance sports writer, contributing to the (former) Macomb Eagle, Macomb Journal, and Monmouth Review-Atlas.

Discussion: After dissecting this proposal and speaking with coach Mattio in-depth, I just don't like the proposal.

I have heard all of the arguments for and against, and really nothing makes me lean either way. My sole reason for disliking the idea is the tradition that is the IHSA Playoffs. There is nothing better than traveling 3-4 hours on a late-October, early-November Saturday for a playoff game to a town you have never traveled to. I would be in favor of this proposal if the ninth week were used for a play-in game. Essentially, that's what it would be. Then, to make it a "true" playoff, you would re-seed the remaining 32 teams in each class (1-32), no quadrants, etc. A clean 1-32 seeding. If that were to happen, I feel it would be a better scenario than the current setup.

I do not like the fact that one class can be broken up into quadrants on one end, and a 1-16 on the other. Many of the arguments are; "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." Well, the current system isn't exactly broke....but it could certainly be improved upon. If the proper steps were taken, expanding the field could in fact work.

Beau Spencer Thompson - IHSSN.net - Publisher of IHSSN and the IL Football Coaches Poll

Tim Petrowich
Daily Republican, Marion

Profile: Publisher of the Daily Republican newspaper in Marion, IL, as well as the Marion High School football beat writer. I started my high school sports reporting career as a broadcaster for WHCO AM 1230 Radio in Sparta, IL in 1983. I started writing for the Du Quoin Evening Call in the fall of 1988, and became the sports editor in February of 1989. Have broadcast high school sporting events for WHCO Sparta, WIBV Belleville, WXAN Ava, WDQN Du Quoin and WGGH Marion over the last 27 years. I currently reside in Marion, IL with my wife. We have five children, only two of which still live at home.

As far as the new proposal, I took some time to listen to the interview with Coach Mattio and he makes some valid points about regular season scheduling, conferences and the like. However, I just can't bring myself to get on board with the idea.

Just like any other proposal for Illinois high school sports, there are many pros and cons. The deciding factor for me is just my own personal opinion. I really like the urgency that comes in regular season games that actually mean something. The playoffs actually start in week six or seven for many teams who lose their first three games or who are maybe 2-4 after six weeks or 3-4 after seven. The atmosphere at these games is different than the atmosphere for a game between a pair of 5-2 teams or a pair of 2-5 teams. There is also something to be said about having to "earn" your way into the playoffs. I would agree with most people who say there need to be corrections to the current playoff system, but this is not the right change. All this would ultimately do is create twice as many complaints about why teams were paired and what's wrong with the system, because there will be twice as many teams with administrators, coaches, players, parents, fans and media outlets covering them.

Tim Petrowich - Publisher of the Daily Republican newspaper

Mike Murphy - Sports Director River Radio

Profile: Mike Murphy is the play-by-play voice of the Herrin Tigers and hosts the Saturday morning Sports Call-In Talk Show "SportsVoice" every Saturday morning from 8 AM to 10 AM on WJPF (1340 AM & 1020 AM) and 103.5 ESPN. Mike has done play-by-play of Saluki football, basketball, and baseball as well as hosting the popular SportsVoice On Location show before every home SIU Football and Basketball game. Mike started his broadcasting career in 1976 and has also worked at KVEC in San Luis Obispo, California. Mike has also written his column "Murfs Turf" for the past few years which has been featured in area newspapers and the monthly sports publication "Southern Illinois Sports Connection" as well as the 103.5 ESPN website.

I really would hate for the regular season to be shortened. I guess I fall into the old school category and think the IHSA Football Playoffs are unique and different and should stay that way. There are two many things changed today for the wrong reasons. I don't think we should keep recognizing mediocrity.

I can see an argument for a team that stumbled out of the gate due to injuries or just taking time to jell then be a dangerous team at the end of the regular season but miss the playoffs. Maybe there is a middle ground where more teams can be included.

Mike Murphy - Sports Director River Radio