In a scene no doubt repeated in conference rooms all across the state, football coaches began gathering at KRAC around 8:00 AM. They greeted old friends, caught up on gossip and traded war stories over coffee and doughnuts while waiting for the UIL to release the new alignments. Many were joined by members of their staff; others, freshly hired at new schools, mildly jarred in their new colors. District ADs were there while some schools still looking for a new head coach were represented by interim representatives and assistants.
The buzz grew louder as officials entered carrying sealed packing boxes full of the freshly printed realignment packets, guarded tighter than gold bars entering Fort Knox. At precisely 9:00 AM, the officials began distributing the packets while the UIL’s website simultaneously revealed everyone’s future for the next two years.
In a testament to secrecy that’s as admirable as it is aggravating, nobody knows what district they’re going to be playing in, who their district opponents will be or even how many teams will be in their district. So, after immediately checking their region and district opponents, the horse trading began.
The Texas High School football regular season consists of 10 games spread out over 11 weeks. If a team plays in an 8-team district, that means they play seven district games and need to line up three non-district contests. If they wind up in a 9-team district, they need only two non-district games to fill the schedule but if it’s 7-team league, they’re looking for four non-district opponents.
In scenes reminiscent of a trading floor on Wall Street, coaches immediately begin seeking each other out across the packed room to secure those non-district games, usually in person but sometimes by phone or text. There’s nothing hi-tech about it. It’s nearly all personal relationships and handshake deals: Coach A needs a game on Week 3; he knows Coach B does as well. They shake on it and it’s set.
To be sure, there was a QR code to scan to get access to an interactive database where coaches could post if they’re looking for games. I’m sure it was utilized as well but old-school wheeling and dealing seemed to be the method of choice.
With the build-up and speculation beginning months in advance, sometimes Realignment Day confirms predictions and coaches can just confirm the preliminary deals they’d previously arranged.
More often than not, however, the new alignments bear little to no resemblance to what they expected and all bets are off. Schedules have unanticipated holes to fill; other schedules have one less non-district game than anticipated so someone gets bumped – and now needs to find a game.
With the UIL tasked to somehow organize some 1,200 football teams across this vast state into six conferences and 12 divisions every two years with the help of sophisticated software and simulations, it’s oddly comforting to see the human element play such a huge role. Instead of what could easily be a cold and soulless process, this vast, complicated, highly unscientific mess somehow always sorts itself out into two more years of riveting and intriguing high school football.
And August is just six months away.
Some random reactions:
Cody Moore - Round Rock
District 26-6A w/RRISD schools plus Lake Travis and Westlake
Its shocking. But it’s cool. I have a lot of respect for those two teams, Westlake and Lake Travis. It ought to be fun. Super competitive for sure, in all sports, not just football.
David Seaborn – Liberty Hill
District 13-5A-2 w/Legacy Ranch plus New Braunfels and SA schools
I think it’s good. It didn’t really matter what district we were going to be in, we’re going to have the same goals in mind. So, I’m excited about it and ready to go.
William Compton – Hutto AD
District 24-6A w/Leander schools and East View
You know, it’s gonna be a tough district. Getting put in there with the Leander schools and also East View who had a great season last year. All the way around, I think it’s going to be an extremely competitive district in all sports and so, that’s going to be a challenge for us.
Tim Knicky – Legacy Ranch (First year in varsity)
District 13-5A-2 w/Liberty Hill plus New Braunfels and SA schools
Yeah, we’re fired up, man. We get to be in a district and compete for a state championship and our guys are working hard this offseason and they’re ready for the challenge… We don’t have to be on this ‘outlaw’ schedule, things like that. It’s good to kind of be a normal high school in a normal district and ready to rock and roll.
Bryan Vardeman – Cedar Ridge
District 26-6A w/RRISD schools plus Lake Travis and Westlake
Excited. And I guess a little surprised.
Michael Quintero – Cedar Park
District 24-6A w/Leander schools, Hutto and East View
We’re surprised. We didn’t think we’d be in the district we’re in, but I don’t put a whole lot of stock into worrying about it because we don’t have control over it. I think I stress more about the pre-season because you have games that you think are set and all of a sudden everything gets jumbled and you’re trying to find games that are quality and that are gonna get your kids ready, so you stress about that. But I mean, there’s such good football around here that I don’t think it matters what district you get put in, its gonna be tough every year anyway. So, it’s a new challenge but it’s gonna be fun.
Jonathan Lamb – Pflugerville ISD
Four schools in 5A Division 1 and Division 2
It’s always exciting to see where we’re going to end up the next two years. As far as like the Pflugerville ISDs, that 5A D1 district’s gonna be tough…that’s gonna be a very competitive district so it’s going to be fun to watch every Friday night. Maybe not fun to coach in but fun to watch. And then the 5A D2 with Pflugerville getting in there with the Austin ISD schools, Elgin and Bastrop, I think that’s somewhere where they can be competitive and compete for that playoff spot. So, it should be a fun two years.
Drew Sanders – Vandegrift
District 24-6A w/Leander schools, Hutto and East View
We’ve been Region 3 (before) so it’s not as crazy as if maybe everyone is saying…. But the biggest thing is we now have four games (instead of two) to sharpen the axe and get ready to prepare for the games that really matter.
