If I Was King of Sports: 2023 California 8-Man Playoffs

As I do annualy, I think there should be some sort of state championship in California for 8-man football and I will post something annualy until at least a regional championship happens. Admittedly, unless a BCS-type format is used, getting a state championship is difficult, because the southern part of the state has far more teams than the north and they are more talented, though the talent gap is narrowing. I have an idea for a 32-team bracket and one for a 16-team bracket. My 32-team bracket idea. This idea has all league winners entered into a tournament with 14 at-large teams. To qualify for an at-large bid, a team would need to play at least five games in a season and finish with at least a .400 winning percentage. The top 14 highest calpreps.com ratings from qualifying teams would get the bid. The bracket would be created from a combination of calpreps.com ratings and geography. However, if this tournament actually happened, a committee to seed the teams would be better. What this year's 32-team bracket would look like under my idea. (Only the top 16 teams would be seeded. The seeded teams would have home games. Also, match-ups between league teams in the first round should be avoided.) 1) Valley Christian Academy (Santa Maria) 6-2 55.1 (Coast Valley-SS) New Designs Universal Park (Los Angeles) 7-0 -13.2 (City-LA) 16) California School for the Deaf (Riverside) 5-3 25.1 (TCP-SS) Branson (Ross) 5-4 24.8 (North Central II-NCS) 8) Riverdale Christian 6-1 38 (Central Sierra-CS) California Lutheran (Wildomar) 6-3 10.2 (MAJ-SS) 9) Sage Hill (Newport Beach) 5-3, 36.8 (Prep-SS) Santa Clara (Oxnard) 5-4 18.5 (Tri-Valley-SS) 5) Flintridge Prep (La Canada) 7-1, 49.3 (Prep-SS) San Pasqual Academy (Escondido) 7-3 3.8 (MAN-SD) 12) Hayfork 9-0 27.1 (California D2-NS) Tulelake 8-2 18.9 (California D1-NS) 4) Chadwick (Palos Verdes Peninsula) 8-0 52.1 (Prep-SS) Fulton (LA-Van Nuys) 7-1 -0.7 (Valley-LA) 13) Woodside Priory (Portola Valley) 7-2 26.8 (PCL-CCS) Laguna Blanca (Santa Barbara) 7-1 21.6 (Tri-Valley-SS) 6) Stuart Hall (San Francisco) 7-1 40.6 (North Central II-NCS) California School for the Deaf (Fremont) 9-1 15.4 (Independent-NCS) 11) St. Joseph’s Academy (San Marcos) 7-2, 27.8 (Ocean-SD) Faith Baptist (LA-Canoga Park) 6-3 19.6 (Heritage-SS) 3) Avalon 6-1 52.7 (Independent-SS) Coast Union (Cambria) 5-4 -7.3 (Coast Valley-SS) 14) Hesperia Christian 8-1 26 (Agape-SS) Santa Clarita Christian 7-2 24.6 (HER-SS) 7) Cate (Carpinteria) 3-3 39 (TVL-SS) Orcutt Academy 4-5 15.8 (Central Sierra-CS) 10) Mammoth (Mammoth Lakes) 6-3 29.4 (Hi-Lo- CS) Thatcher (Ojai) 3-4 19.3 (Tri-Valley-SS) 15) South Fork (Miranda) 5-5 25.5 (North Central II-NCS) Foothills Chr. (El Cajon) 7-2 22.2 (Ocean-SD) 2) Fresno Christian 10-0 53 (CSL-CS) Roseland University Prep (Santa Rosa) 9-1 3.3 (North-Central III-NCS) My 16-team idea My 16-team idea splits the state into specific regions. The Southern Section would have its own region. The second region would be a combination of Los Angeles and San Diego Sections. The third region would consist of the Central, Central Coast, and Sac-Joaquin Sections. The fourth region would consist of Northern, North Coast, San Francisco, and Oakland (the latter two don't have 8-man teams yet). Each region would have 4-team brackets. League winners would not be guaranteed a spot. However, in regions with multiple sections, at least two of the sections must be represented. Also, no more than two teams in the same league would be allowed in. The regional winners would meet at neutral sites until a winner is crowned. Region 1 Southern Section (4) Flintridge Prep (La Canada) 7-1, 49.3 (Prep-SS) @ (1) Valley Christian Academy (Santa Maria) 6-2 55.1 (Coast Valley-SS) (3) Chadwick (Palos Verdes Peninsula) 8-0 52.1 (Prep-SS) @ (2) Avalon 6-1 52.7 (Independent-SS) Region 2 Los Angeles/San Diego Sections (4) Fulton (LA-Van Nuys) 7-1 -0.7 (Valley-LA) @ (1) St. Joseph’s Academy (San Marcos) 7-2, 27.8 (Ocean-SD) (3) Calvin Christian (Escondido) 6-3 15 (Ocean-SD) @ (2) Foothills Chr. (El Cajon) 7-2 22.2 (Ocean-SD) Region 3 Central/Central Coast/Sac-Joaquin Section (4) Woodside Priory (Portola Valley) 7-2 26.8 (PCL-CCS) @ (1) Fresno Christian 10-0 53 (CSL-CS) (3) Mammoth (Mammoth Lakes) 6-3 29.4 (Hi-Lo- CS) @ (2) Riverdale Christian 6-1 38 (Central Sierra-CS) Region 4 Northern/North Coast/San Francisco/Oakland (4) Tulelake 8-2 18.9 (California D1-NS) @ (1) Stuart Hall (San Francisco) 7-1 40.6 (North Central II-NCS) (3) South Fork (Miranda) 5-5 25.5 (North Central II-NCS) @ (2) Hayfork 9-0 27.1 (California D2-NS)

My Thoughts on the Current State of the PAC-12

The PAC-12 is on a downward spiral. Anyone who pays attention to college sports can see that. On July 27, 2023, Colorado announced that it would leave the PAC-12 to return to the Big 12 in 2024. With UCLA and USC already announcing that they will join the Big 10 in 2024, the PAC-12 realistically became the “PAC-9”. One week later, Arizona announced that it will be joining Colorado in the Big 12 to make it the “PAC-8”. The next day Oregon and Washington announced they will go to the Big 10 and hours later Arizona State and Utah announced they will go to the Big 12. Now the PAC-12 will be down to the “PAC-4” in 2024. Forget remaining a “Power 5” conference. This once great conference is struggling just to survive. How did the PAC-12 get into its current position? There are many legitimate factors, rumors, and reasons that are not public. As the old saying goes, the more I learn, the more I realize I didn’t know about the situation. A lot of what I do not know a lot about what the previous commissioner, Larry Scott did, I learned that he left the PAC-12 in a horrendous position. According to ESPN, the PAC-12 lost so much money with its current television deal that it cannot pay exit fees for many Mountain West schools. While it may or may not be able to pay for one or two schools, the conference has at least four spots to fill to have any sense of adequacy and eight spots to fill if it wants to live up to its name of the PAC-12. The current commissioner, George Kliavkoff, had a chance to add schools like San Diego State, Boise State, SMU, Tulane, and possibly poach a Big 12 school and he failed to act for various reasons. Now, in my opinion, the PAC-12 is in such an abysmal state that if I am any one of those schools, I do not leave where I am at even though they are currently in “inferior conferences”. Finally, some schools lost money from COVID-19. During the height of the pandemic, college sports were canceled and when they were allowed to return, fans originally were not allowed to attend the games. In some cases, teams had to travel to play their “home games”. For example, some of Stanford basketball’s home games were in Arizona and New Mexico. For UCLA and USC, joining the Big 10 will allow them to recover lost funds quicker since the Big 10’s television revenue deal is better than the PAC-12’s. While UCLA and USC are not hurting for money, the schools have a right to do what is best for them. As previously mentioned, current commissioner, George Kliavkoff, had a chance to replace UCLA and USC when they bolted for the Big 10. The current wave of realignment began with Oklahoma and Texas leaving the Big 12 for the SEC. That move led the Big 12 to take schools from the American Athletic Conference (AAC), and the AAC took schools from Conference USA, and there have been and will be other moves outside that specific chain. The motive behind the majority of the moves was to find new markets to extend the brand of the conference. The SEC is short for Southeastern Conference. I wouldn’t call Texas and Oklahoma the “Southeastern” section of the United States. Los Angeles is definitely not in the Midwest. With Rutgers, in the New York market, already in the Big 10, the conference will have the two largest markets in the United States. The search for larger markets is not exclusive to the “Power 5” conferences. One school the AAC added was Rice University. It is true that Rice is an excellent academic institution, but outside of baseball, the school has not been successful in sports. Originally, the AAC adding Rice was a questionable move, but Rice is located in Houston, Texas. To bring this discussion back to the PAC-12, it had a chance to regain the Southern California market (San Diego State), to add the Las Vegas market (UNLV), add the Dallas market (SMU), and maybe even add the New Orleans market (Tulane). Instead the conference took a gamble and tried to stay with ten teams. It lost. The concept of the “Power 5” will soon be the “Power 4”. There is no rule that says there has to be a “Power 5” and even if there was, either the Mountain West or the AAC would soon take over the PAC-12’s spot. When there was talk of a “Power 4” or “four superconferences”, it was originally thought the Big 12 would be dissolved. No one could imagine a few years later that it would be the PAC-12 that would be all but dead. On a side note, the PAC-12 once had a chance to expand its brand to Texas and Oklahoma and get Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma State. At the time I was happy the deal did not happen. Knowing now what I didn’t know then, I wish it would have happened. The PAC-12 is now fighting for survival. I have an idea of how it can survive. I will be the first to admit that it is not a pleasant one, nor would anyone who makes the decisions actually go for it if they heard it. However, I do not think that the conference will survive in its current state. I am going to share my idea, anyway. I almost wonder if the PAC-12 should rebrand itself as a FCS (Football Championship Subdivision) conference. Being a FCS conference actually gives the conference a better shot of being on ESPN, albeit on ESPN+. According to ESPN, the PAC-12 is about to have a television deal with Apple TV. I’m sorry, but not many people will subscribe to Apple TV to see Stanford vs. Oregon State. Even if the PAC-12 took everyone who showed even remote interest in leaving its current conference to join the PAC-12, UNLV and South Florida (yes, South Florida) are not going to get people to subscribe to Apple TV. Part of me thinks dropping down to the FCS level and getting on ESPN will give the conference a better chance to survive. Let the remaining schools (California, Oregon State, Stanford, Washington State) go where they will and grab eight to twelve new schools. The brand and the history will likely attract many schools. I will have a list of possible schools at the end of the blog, but I would start with the Big Sky football associate members, Cal Poly and UC-Davis. My idea is not unprecedented. The Southern Conference once had Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Georgia Tech, and LSU among others. When they left in 1932, the Southern Conference added who it could when it could. The conference that once had Alabama is now a FCS conference. I am not suggesting that the PAC-12 necessarily go with this idea, but whatever it does, it needs to think outside the box, which is what I believe my idea does. My idea of the FCS PAC-12 (current conference in parenthesis). Cal Poly (Big Sky for football/Big West for others) Eastern Washington (Big Sky) Montana (Big Sky) Montana State (Big Sky) North Dakota State (Missouri Valley for football/Summit for others) Portland State (Big Sky) Sacramento State (Big Sky) San Diego (Pioneer for football/WCC for others) South Dakota State (Missouri Valley for football/Summit for others) Southern Utah (WAC) Chicago State if it gets football (I am only half-joking with that one) If these schools would be willing to move up from Division II, I would also add Central Washington, Western Oregon, and Simon Fraser if it got football back. If the conference is open to non-football schools it could add Denver (Summit) Grand Canyon (WAC) Long Beach State (Big West) St. Mary’s (WCC) Seattle (WAC)

My Reaction to the First 2024-2028 Sac-Joaquin Section Realignment Proposal.

I wrote this blog for the southern part of the Sac-Joaquin Section only. Proposed changes New Teams in CAPS. TCAL (D1): EDISON, Lincoln-Stockton, Lodi, MANTECA, Modesto Christian (basketball only), St. Mary’s, Tracy CCAL (D2): Downey, Enochs, Gregori, Modesto, Pitman, Turlock (It is the only league in the entire Sac-Joaquin Section that has no proposed changes). CCC (D3): Atwater, Buhach Colony, El Capitan, Golden Valley, LOS BANOS, Merced SJAA (D3): Bear Creek, Chavez, Franklin-Stockton, McNair, Stagg, TOKAY, WEST Weston Ranch VOL (D3): Central Catholic, East Union, Kimball, MOUNTAIN HOUSE, Oakdale, PATTERSON, Sierra WAC (D4): Beyer, Ceres, CENTRAL VALLEY, Davis-Modesto, Johansen, Lathrop, LIVINGSTON, Pacheco TVL (D5): Escalon, Hilmar, Hughson, ORESTIMBA, Ripon, Ripon Christian, SONORA CCAA (D6): Big Valley, HOLT ACADEMY, HUGHES ACADEMY, Millennium, MODESTO CHRISTIAN (no basketball), RIVER ISLANDS, Turlock Christian, Venture Academy MLL (D6): Amador, Bret Harte, Calaveras, LINDEN, RIVERBANK, Summerville, WATERFORD SL (D6): Delhi, Denair, Gustine, Le Grand, Mariposa, STONE RIDGE CHRISTIAN MVL (D7): ABLE Charter, Delta Charter, Don Pedro, ELLIOT CHRISTIAN, Lodi Academy, Stockton Christian, Tioga, VANGUARD 209 Teams outside of 209 leagues: ARGONAUT, Galt, and Liberty Ranch all in the SVC. Dos Palos is not in the Sac-Joaquin Section. Source: Twitter post via the Sac-Joaquin Section One thing to keep in mind is that this is the first proposal. I would estimate that only 60-70 percent of what is in the proposal ends up happening when the leagues become binding. However, the first proposal gives schools and coaches an opportunity to discuss the pros and cons of their respective positions and, yes, to politick any changes to the proposal they may want. There will be at least two more meetings where both rational discussions and complaints can be made before the new leagues are finalized. I do not expect the new leagues to be like they were proposed today. For example, I do not believe Sonora and Orestimba will end up in the same league. The two schools are almost two hours from each other when there are no traffic issues. While there were a lot of surprises, there were some moves that made sense. There was a call by some to have a “SFL-type” league in the 209 area. The SFL (Sierra Foothill League) is the top league in the Sac-Joaquin Section in many sports. It is a league that personifies the phrase “iron sharpens iron”. The Sac-Joaquin Section did not accommodate the request of a “Southern SFL league”, but the TCAL comes close. The TCAL has the best football schools in San Joaquin County, but if Central Catholic, Oakdale, and Turlock were added and Lodi moved elsewhere, then there would be the “Southern SFL League”. Looking at the small schools, Modesto Christian going to the CCAA with the exception of basketball made perfect sense. Modesto Christian has been declining in enrollment. I believe the school was at 120 last year and it is at 78 students this year. With the exception of basketball, the quality of the athletic teams has been on the decline. For example, the football program once won a state bowl game (the closest thing there is to a state championship in California). In the past two or three years, the Crusaders have either been eliminated in the first round of the playoffs or out of the playoffs altogether. Other programs struggle to even field a team. It is time for Modesto Christian to be in a league with schools of similar size. As previously mentioned, there were a lot of surprises. I will not go over all of them in detail, but I will expand on two of them and simply list the rest at the bottom of this blog. I will start with the one that might affect me as a coach. I am surprised that the section made the Southern League (SL) a six-team league. Currently, the league is the five teams mentioned above, Orestimba, Ripon Christian, and Waterford. It was already assumed Ripon Christian and Orestimba were going to leave. Orestimba is getting too big for the Southern League and Ripon Christian made it clear that it wants out of the league. Waterford leaving the league, too, was the second biggest surprise to me. Throughout the conversations I have had with Southern League coaches and other people of authority, it seemed to me that there were six candidates to be the three replacement teams: Big Valley, Bret Harte, Modesto Christian, Riverbank, Stone Ridge Christian, and Summerville. It was surprising that only one of those teams was chosen. The biggest surprise to me was the section placing Argonaut and Amador in separate conferences. The two schools are similar in enrollment, they are the only two high schools in Amador County, and they will merge into one school in a few years. It only makes sense that they are in the same league. I thought both schools would be sent to the SVC (Sierra Valley Conference). Since they are in different area codes, it seems that Amador County and Sacramento are far away from each other; but the truth is that several schools in Sacramento County are closer to the two Amador County schools than other schools in the Mother Lode League, the league they are currently in. As mentioned above, Argonaut will be in the SVC and Amador will be in the MLL until the two schools merge. The joint school will play in the SVC. Other Surprises Waterford to the MLL Not making drastic changes to the WAC Making the CCAA a D6 league Splitting Los Banos schools Delta Charter staying in the MVL River Islands to the CCAA VOL staying D3.