July 27 , 2006

The Highland Park Rule

UIL Responds Swiftly to Hints of Legislative Intervention
with Plans to Reform Football Playoffs Process in Texas

By Mike Hailey
Capitol Inside Editor

The wheels of a bureaucracy seldom turn as fast as they have on a University Interscholastic League decision to bring some sanity to a high school football playoff site selection process that's been taking place in the Sunday morning shadows of a sport that became legendary under the Friday night lights. But the tentative reforms probably would not have materialized if the Highland Park Scots and their fans hadn't been the victims of an antiquated and easily-abused system that the UIL has decided to scrap. And the changes probably would never have been on a fast track if some influential forces that include Highland Park's state representative had not hinted that they might try to force changes if the UIL didn't take the initiative to fix the system itself.

The UIL took the handwriting on the wall at face value instead of waiting for a legislative decree or a court order - and it's response has been swift and impressive. The non-profit organization that oversees extracurricular activities in the state's public school system announced Wednesday that the two state championship games in the largest division will both be played on the same day in the same location in 2006 and 2007 if the state's top public school official doesn't veto the plan. With a green light from Texas Education Commissioner Shirley Neely, the Class 5A state finals for Divisions I and II will be held this year on December 23 at the Alamodome in San Antonio. It's difficult to imagine why Neely would balk at such a proposal - especially with the eyes of Highland Park and other high school football hotbeds upon her.

UIL Athletic Coordinator Mark Cousins informed the Texas Legislature that the 5A state title games plan was in the works when he appeared before a House Public Education Committee subcommittee earlier this month. Cousins told the Subcommittee on Budget and Resource Allocation that the change was being made in one of two emergency rules that had been adopted by the UIL's legislative council. The second emergency rule would prevent high school football teams that lose coin tosses from being forced to play playoff games at stadiums that aren't large enough to accommodate the number of fans that schools expect to attend. Coaches, in effect, would have to first approve the sites where a playoff game would be set if the opposing team wins the coin flip.

The subcommittee's chairman, State Rep. Dan Branch, was especially glad to hear about the coin flip provision, which has already become known unofficially as "the Highland Park Rule." A Dallas Republican in his second House term, Branch represents Highland Park - a job that comes with great pleasure and pain and immense pressure from constituents who aren't used to being on the short end of sticks and refuse to roll over when they feel that they've been wronged on issues that elicit their passion like public education and high school sports. Branch was in the middle of the school finance fight as a result - and he's been at the center of the move to prod the UIL into reforming the way high school football playoff locations are chosen since Highland Park got a raw deal on the road to the state finals last year.

Branch and other Highland Park football fans were infuriated back in December when the Scots lost the coin flip that allowed the Marshall coach to pick a stadium in Tyler for the Class 4A state championship Division I game. The Marshall mentor may not have had a devious thought in his head when he decided that the state championship would be held at a location that would require the opponents from Dallas to leave thousands of fans behind because there weren't enough seats to hold all them. Highland Park hadn't won a state championship in 48 years - and a lot of fans would be turned away at the gates if they showed up hoping to witness the first without a ticket already in hand. A similar situation had occurred the previous weekend when nearby suburban powerhouse Southlake Carroll lost a coin toss and was forced to play a Class 5A semi-finals game at a venue that couldn't accommodate its huge fan base.

In a state where high school football inspires Hollywood films with stars like Billy Bob Thornton and Tim McGraw, denying fans access to a playoff game when their team is competing is tantamount to heresy. The Marshall coach's only motive may have been to play the final game of the year at a place where fans of modest means could afford to travel. But while Marshall is only 30 minutes closer to Tyler than Dallas, the stadium that was chosen would take away a sort of home field advantage that Highland Park might have enjoyed at a neutral site in a game on the road with more fans in the stands cheering for it. Had that been the motive, the UIL rules made it easy to achieve.

It might have been hard to feel too sorry for fans in an affluent enclave like Highland Park when their team crushed Marshall 59-0 with the largest margin of victory in an 11-man football game in UIL history. But Branch wasn't blinded by the intoxication of victory that Highland Park loyalists could not help but feeling in the wake of the historic blowout. With the Legislature still struggling to find a way out of a school finance crisis, Branch let it be known that his subcommittee would be taking a look at high school football and athletics in general when searching for ways to get maximum gain from limited state resources.

While some measure of natural resistance might have been expected, it shouldn't have required an act of God or the Legislature to adopt the Highland Park Rule or to take the decision on where the Class 5A state football finals are played out of the hands of the two coaches whose teams qualify. And it didn't. Once Branch and other influential forces got the word to UIL officials that they felt changes were needed, the organization's leaders decided that they would rather take the lead on reform before state lawmakers forced it on them. But the speed by which the changes unfurled took Branch and anyone else familiar with the red-tape of bureaucracy by total surprise. Seven months after the protests erupted, the UIL had proposals in place to alleviate the problems that triggered them. It usually takes a lot longer than that to get anything meaningful done at the state level.

With the education commissioner's formal approval, there will be no coin flips to determine which 5A coaches have a chance to figure out ways to make the playing fields uneven for the opposing teams and their fans. Even if it's pouring in San Antonio, there will be no threat of rain at the game with a roof over the stadium. With 65,000 seats, 30,000 hotel rooms and tickets going on sale in early September, Texas high school football fans will have the luxury of planning ahead for a weekend stay in one of the world's most unique cities for a sporting event that can make the college game seem lackluster and the pros look comatose. There will be pep rallies on the River Walk, hospitality suites, mariachis wailing and Christmas decorations everywhere for the Fox Sports Network to capture in between the Division 1 and Division II games that it will broadcast from the Alamo City. The best part about it might be the fact that the schools whose teams make it that far could see a substantial increase in the revenues they take home from the game even if they don't have the trophy.

Thanks to the UIL and the lawmakers and others who prodded it, Class 5A football will finally be treated like the big-time sport that it is. The playoff location process for all UIL divisions won't be as ripe for abuse by coaches who have to be self-serving or run the risk of being run out of town. The 5A plan is good for only two years, but it looks like a winner from here.

Mike Hailey's column appears regularly in Capitol Inside