Is there a better way to conduct the playoffs for SCHSL soccer? In short, what proposals would you make to improve the current system?

i.e. --

(1) One central location for semifinals (Lower State/Upper State Championships) as they do in basketball?

(2) Eliminate a round and spread the days out? Play First Round - Monday/Tuesday; Quarterfinals - Friday/Saturday; and Semifinals - Monday/Tuesday; Championships - Friday/Saturday. This would allow for a press conference on Wednesday/Thursday to assist in promotion of the finals.

(3) Utilize multiple sites on the same date -- no central championship venue.

Other ideas???

1. Yes. Have a location in Upper, middle and lower. have semis and finals at locations. have locations bid to host.

2. ABSOLUTELY NOT. Add a round and let everyone in after seeding. Add a week to go to 2 games a week for a "contact" sport since basketball a "non-contact" sport can only play 2 in a week. All added benefits with press would then be available. Shouldn't be an issue since baseball/softball tournament lasts more than 2 weeks.

3. One Championship site is best for promotion of sport, but get rid of crazy opposite sides of the field so that USC, Clemson, Winthrop, etc could be used.

4. See my number 1. Everyone gets in, everyone gets seeded, top seeds will get a bye, SCHSL makes more money on extra games. Helps avoid back to back games because of weather.

I'm all for seeding teams 1-16 (or how ever many get in). I was a part of the seeding meeting when we were AA and loved it.

Just throwing this out there, but what if the semi finals were central and the 1 (highest remaining) seed from the lower state played the 2 (worst remaining) seed of the upper state.
I'm a little biased since I thought us and Bishop England were the best two teams in AAA girls last year. It would have been fun to play that as the state championship game.

I like having it at one site so you can take in multiple games but hate that it's on turf. I get why a school with natural grass wouldn't want that many games on it. I don't know the solution. Maybe girls are at one site and boys at another. You could make it so small schools play Friday at one location and large of the opposite sex at the other. So if two schools from the same school make it, they could still support each other.

Please go back to seeding. I do not like the predetermined brackets.

Yes lets go with an upper state semifinal and a lower state semifinal with the finals in Columbia.

I also agree that the rule regarding a home and away on separate sides is ridiculous. Lets play in a college stadium and make it more special.

The extra week for playoffs is a great idea. Right now is 3 rounds in a week and 2 the next. I have no problem adding a round and extending it with 2 games each week.

I’ve never done the seeding thing, but it’s gotta be better than the current predetermined setup we have. How many times have higher ranked teams had to travel in playoffs because of brackets?

I personally don’t want the lower/upper state finals to go to neutral fields as I think if you’re the 1 overall seed you should absolutley have home field advantage throughout.

So that’s why we can’t play state championships at one of these college programs venues......didn’t know that. We already have both teams setup on the same side of the field @ MR & absolutely don’t see an issue with that setup.

And we should extend playoffs

My only concern with higher seed hosting upper/lower state is the possibility of poor field conditions. Having it at a neutral site (say Clemson, Winthrop, etc in the north; and Charleston, Coastal, etc in the south) makes the game bigger.

I am also in favor of whoever is on the top line hosting like they do at the NCAA level. If you beat the overall #1, you deserve to host the next game.

But as long as we are seeding, I would be much happier!!!

If football can host it's lower/upper state games with the higher seed, then why can't we? Now what I wish every classification would do, would be to go to seeding for playoffs. While the meetings may seem annoying, in the end, most teams get placed appropriately (within a spot or 2 of where they need to be). Get past this whole "bracket determines who hosts" junk and seed everyone accordingly.

I do wish we could extend the whole process by a week. Provide time for the kids to rest up. Many times we have experienced a postponed game due to weather and teams have to play back-to-back. (Worst case scenario, what would happen if you had two days of back-to-back bad weather? Would that mean 3 straight days of games at some point playing a rested team who had maybe had a bye?)

Central location for Upper & Lower state title game - I can see a scenario where 2 teams from the same area have to travel an hour to an hour an a half game when the opponents are 15-20 min from each other. (i.e. North Augusta vs South Aiken) If it (LS/US locations) could actually increase the allure and bring in more people then that would be great, but I can see this backfiring and less people coming out.

I love to take in all of the state championship games! Every chance I've had, since '08 I have gone to Day 1 & 2 of the games. I would hate for it to be split.

There is a better way to run the playoffs for soccer... Seeding Committee for ALL classifications!!

I was a member of the Seeding Committee for most of the years that we were 1A and 2A. It is by far the most fair way to determine playoff match-ups.

HOWEVER... here would be my modification for 3A, 4A and 5A. In those classifications, you use region results to determine the 16 teams who qualify for playoff consideration. From those 16 teams, the Committee seeds the teams accordingly.

From there, run the playoff schedule as it is currently set up.

I like your idea for 5A, which keeps the importance of region games and allows for a better field of games. I really would like to see playoffs start a week early to allow for rest between games. Follow the same schedule as BB does for playoffs, 3 games in a week, not fair. I think all games till finals should be played at the higher seed home field. The higher seed earned that right.

I would keep at same number of teams. Just add one week to the schedule to spread the games out a little more than the Tuesday / Thursday / Saturday....that Saturday match is super tough. Seeding 1-16 for Upper and Lower would be good to see so the best teams have chance of meeting in Upper and Lower State Finals.

The committee would be the key - and teams would need to play across conferences to get range of quality comparisons - so those 5A vs 4A regular season matchups would take a hit.

Finals should be at USC - Columbia stadium if possible. Great venue and players would get great treatment there I would expect. All games through Upper and Lower State finals should be at higher seed.

SCHSL Playoff Proposal
(1) Seeding committee needed
- Two coaches from each region
- Tournament director for each major HS tournament (Viking Cup, Capital City Cup, Nike Palmetto Cup, etc)
(2) Top two finishers from each region automatically qualify for playoffs > Seeding committee determines 1-8 for both Upper/Lower State
(3) All other teams must APPLY to participate in playoffs > Seeding committee determines 9-16 Upper/Lower State
(4) Two games per week
- Would allow for a full 48hr recovery time
- Would be less (consecutive) school time missed by those that have to travel greater distances
(5) Finals BACK to USC - plenty of seating, great natural surface, central location, no "home field" advantage

My opinion is that most sports at all classifications need a seeding committee. At the end of the day people want the best teams in the playoffs. I don't advocate for taking every team because I think that diminishes the regular season. I was on a 1A seeding committee early on in my coaching career and things like region champions are still taken into account, but so are tournament winners, depth of region, and strength of schedule.

I would be similar in thought to Coach Dunbaker except taking the top 3 from each region and then having applications for 4 wild card spots from each of the upper and lower states. Theoretically 2 or more of those wild cards could go to teams in the same region. This helps with regions that may be deeper than others. Region champs would be guaranteed a seed in the top 8 of their respective upper or lower state and therefore guaranteed at least 1 home game. Committee needs to have both coaches and ADs.

I agree with common locations for upper and lower state. Those could rotate so upper state could utilize Furman, Clemson, Winthrop, ... for example. Common location for state championship as well.