Committee irons out tourney details
Margin of victory in power ratings heavily discussed
Hoping to clarify the many questions surrounding the new MIAA state wide postseason, the Tournament Management Committee met for 90 minutes Wednesday to try and iron things out.
Not surprisingly, the item which brought out the most passion, both within and outside the committee, is the new power rating system, which weighs wins and losses, margin of victory (MOV) and strength of schedule (SOS).
The TMC argues that MOV importance lies in that most leagues are broken down into large and small schools and this system provides a fair comparison of the very different leagues across the state. By capping the point differential sport by sport, it removes the motivation of coaches to run up the score and still provide a quality rating formula.
Committee member Michael Devoll, who coaches the Old Rochester boys soccer team, pointed out that the three-goal cap in soccer could force teams to change their strategy, perhaps pushing for an extra goal in a 4-2 game. Wahconah athletic director Jared Shannon questioned the prudence of lacrosse and basketball both having a similar 10-point cap, but TMC chairman
Jim O’Leary pointed out the various committees had no issue with the established caps.
Many are waiting to see what the end product is, namely an MIAA website in which the power rankings for each sport can be found. MIAA associate director Sherry Bryant and O’Leary both say it will happen shortly with O’Leary shooting for a lateSeptember date providing schools input the information accurately.
St. Mary’s athletic director Jeff Newhall wanted to know how far into decimal places the ratings would
go before they are considered even. O’Leary suggested four at which point Newhall made a successful motion to ensure that language could be found on the website.
Down the hall from the TMC meeting, the MIAA Football Committee met. They quickly went about the business of finding a successor to Jim Pignataro, who retired as the chairman of the football committee.
Stoneham athletic director David Pignone nominated Shrewsbury athletic director Jay Costa as the new chairman and he was voted in 14-0-1. Costa put out the name of Northeast Regional football coach/athletic director Don Heres as the vice
chairman and he was elected 15-0-0. Pignone was elected unanimously as secretary of the committee.
MIAA football committee liaison Richard Pearson confirmed that the TMC approved the football format in that teams had to play a minimum of seven games to qualify for the tournament. If a school lost a game due to COVID circumstances, an appeal could be requested.
There was some discussion regarding the possibility of reducing the times of quarters from the current standard of 12 minutes. Many of the smaller schools have expressed concern that the extra time could present a potential safety concern.
It also has ramifications with trying to squeeze eight games into Gillette Stadium on state championship week. As presently constructed, games were reduced to 10-minute quarters in order to get all the games into Foxboro. Many coaches feel it is unfair to spend all season playing 12-minute quarters, then go to 10 for the biggest game of the season.
Game times also present a conflict with the National Federation of High Schools which mandates that all football games must be 12-minute quarters. Pearson has tried to reach out to the NFHS in the past to explain the situation with Gillette Stadium in hope they would bend to no avail.