COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio High School Athletic Association football administrator Beau Rugg acknowledged Thursday morning that this upcoming season could see a reduction in the number of playoff qualifiers per region.
The OHSAA sent a football survey to member school principals, athletic directors and football head coaches April 21 that asked for opinions about the sport including a 10-week regular season, a six-week tournament and the preference for the number of postseason qualifiers per region. The survey concluded April 28.
Since 2021, 16 playoff qualifiers in each region have qualified for the football playoffs in each of the seven tournament divisions.
Rugg told the Ohio Prep Sports Media Association (OPSMA) that 12 playoff qualifiers in each region is a possible scenario for this upcoming season. Rugg said he wants to do a deeper dive on the survey results in which more than 1,000 participants completed the online form.
“We’ve got a lot of data,” Rugg told WCPO 9 Sports. “We’re going to through it and we’re going to make some decisions.”
He said he doesn’t have a gut feeling on whether there will be 16 or 12 qualifiers per region this upcoming season.
“I think there is certainly a push on the 12,” Rugg said. “Some of the things we’ll always look at is — especially (OHSAA Executive Director) Doug (Ute) and I both — are concerned about those teams that really want to have an opportunity. Now does that mean they get a different type of opportunity and we give them another game? I don’t know. I think there is a lot on the table that we got to discuss.”
Rugg said it’s important to meet the goals of the OHSAA’s stakeholders and the state’s governing high school athletics body. The OHSAA said Thursday that 706 schools plan to participate in 11-man football this upcoming season.
He said there wasn’t a timeline on when the OHSAA Board of Directors could potentially make any formal change to the football playoff format. The board annually approves the football regulations prior to the season.
This month’s board of directors meeting is scheduled for a virtual session May 21. This school year’s final board meeting is scheduled June 13 in Akron during the state baseball tournament.
“My guess is since we really won’t sit down with the board until June with baseball — we’ll do a deep dive then,” Rugg said. “I’m happy to talk whenever they want to talk.”
The OHSAA has never had 12 teams per region qualify for the postseason in its football history.
In May 2020, the OHSAA announced 12 teams per region would qualify for the 2021 season but it was never implemented during games. That was an increase from eight teams per region which had been the standard since 1999.
Then, the OHSAA announced in April 2021 the number of qualifiers would expand to 16 per region. That occurred after every team was allowed to qualify for the 2020 postseason due to the shortened COVID-19 year.
OHSAA Executive Director Doug Ute said in April 2021 the organization received “overwhelmingly positive feedback” from allowing every team to enter the 2020 playoffs.
“We know there are some who want to keep the football postseason to a smaller number of schools, but the postseason tournament gives such a positive experience for our student-athletes, the schools and their communities that we felt strongly about giving that opportunity to more schools to make the playoffs,” Ute said in an April 2021 news release. “And football remains the OHSAA sport in which not every team automatically qualifies for the postseason.”
The expansion increased the number of football playoff qualifiers from 224 to 448 starting in the 2021 season.
The OHSAA football playoffs began in 1972 when only 12 schools qualified for the playoffs (four schools in each of three classes).
Expansion arrived in 1980 when the OHSAA changed to five divisions with eight teams each (40 total qualifiers). A sixth division was added in 1994 (96 total qualifiers) and the number of qualifiers was increased to eight schools per region in 1999 (192 total qualifiers). A seventh division was added in 2013 to bring the number of qualifiers to 224.
Also Thursday, the OHSAA announced the 2025 football divisional breakdowns and regional assignments. Multiple Greater Cincinnati teams were impacted:
- The Badin football team is moving down to Division III this season due to due to enrollment or what is commonly termed the Education Management Information System (EMIS) number. The Rams were Division II in 2024.
- Purcell Marian moves up to Division V from Division VI due to the competitive balance number.
- Cincinnati Country Day football team moves to Division VII due to the EMIS number after being Division VI in 2024.
In football, competitive balance data from the previous season is used each season to create a new adjusted enrollment count.
Beginning May 12, schools are permitted to have 13 days of practice without pads or hitting. An additional five days are permitted beginning July 15 for schools to complete the mandatory five-day acclimatization period if they so choose.
The OHSAA does not set a limit on physical fitness training and conditioning workouts in the summer. Practice officially begins Aug. 1. The regular season starts the week of Aug. 18 with the first Friday night being Aug. 22.
