Change is hard, as the Georgia High School Association is discovering.
As the playoffs begin this weekend in the Peach State’s marquee prep sport, the ruling body’s first full regular season for football using its computer model to determine and rank playoff teams in eight championship brackets has reached its conclusion.
And with that has come, understandably, both criticism and praise for the GHSA Post Season Rankings system. As far as first times go with any major change, GHSA leaders are getting mostly high marks from local coaches in Northwest Georgia — at least for the effort.
The intent of the PSR is noble. The GHSA wants the best 32 teams (27 in the bracket for private schools, where there are some first-round byes) for each of its eight football state championship events. Like March Madness brackets and the College Football Playoff field, it’s an impossible goal to reach.
“I think the GHSA is working to find the best method to present a fair playoff bracket,” said Christian Heritage’s Frank Barden, the area’s most experienced head coach. “We will never have the perfect setup or make everyone happy. There will always be tweaks to a system, and there will always be situations that pop up each year, good and bad.”