This fall is the first in 17 years John Hallead isn’t coaching high school football in Washington.
But that doesn’t mean the hours putting into travel, analyzing games and information-gathering of statewide football teams isn’t as equally time-consuming and valuable.
Just check his massive spreadsheet.
“I’m a nerd at this stuff,” said Hallead, whose coached at Goldendale, Naches Valley, Onalaska, and recently, Columbia-White Salmon, through last season.
Hallead is one of 32 members on the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association’s newly created state playoff seeding committees, charting a new path in a new era of how the state’s governing body for high-school sports seeds state football teams.
Gone is the long-standing format of predetermined opening-round games by district in favor of a revamped system that includes the human element and online rankings.
Teams still qualify for state through their districts, but committee members determine teams’ seed and placement on the 16-team bracket based on their season performance.
The three committees — 4A/3A, 2A/1A and 2B/1B — made up of retired and active coaches and administrators, plus select media members statewide, are responsible for seeding the state playoff-bound teams across all classifications. They meet at 9 a.m. Sunday at the WIAA’s Renton headquarters.
Hallead, also a teacher and baseball coach at Class 1A Columbia-White Salmon, isn’t the only Southwest Washington representative on the committees. Mark Morris coach Shawn Perkins joins Hallead on the 2A and 1A committee, and Heritage coach Matt Gracey and Mountain View coach and athletic director Adam Mathieson are two members on the 4A and 3A committee. Mathieson joins Oak Harbor’s Jay Turner, Peninsula’s Ross Filkins, and O’Dea’s Monte Kohler as 4A or 3A coaches with teams playing in Week 10 state preliminary games this weekend.
While some details on the committee and their directives aren’t made public, Hallead shared some insight to his fall season as an inaugural state playoff seeding member.
Compiling as much information about state-caliber teams starts by attending games. Hallead, for example, travels weekly to watch games as far north Whatcom County and as far east at the Yakima Valley. Locally, he’s seen defending 2A state champion and undefeated Hockinson twice.
For games he doesn’t attend, Hallead reads up on as many teams as possible through media outlets statewide He takes all information into account for a spreadsheet he keeps on file, and for the final three weeks leading up to Sunday’s state seeding committee meeting, members are asked to send their top 10 rankings to the WIAA weekly, he said.
While past playoff history doesn’t weigh into committees’ decisions, other factors do include current season records and strength of schedule.
As a longtime coach now in charge of determining state playoff teams’ fates, Hallead added one way he analyzes games is looking at a game’s overall competitiveness and what went into a win or loss.
“The final score doesn’t always tell that story,” he said. “I’m constantly trying to get stories of the game and trying to construct the story in my mind.”
The committee also will rely from three statewide online rankings: Evans Rankings, ScoreCzar and Cascadia Preps. Representatives from the rankings will participate on the three committees.
ScoreCzar’s formula, a computer-generated system founded by former Vancouver resident Scott Ordiorne in 2011, is compiled by analyzing teams’ points scored and points allowed — both for individual teams and a strength of schedule component based on points scored and allowed by a team’s opponents. Rankings are updated weekly.
Mountain View, for example, is ScoreCzar’s top-ranked 3A team at 8-1. The Thunder have outscored opponents by an average 54-6 in eight wins, and were within three points of undefeated Union in a season-opening defeat. The 9-0 Titans, meanwhile, are third in 4A by ScoreCzar.
However, Union is No. 1 in 4A according to Evans Rankings. Mountain View is No. 4 at 3A.
Evans Rankings, developed by Kennewick resident Matthew Evans, is compiled through a combination of a team’s win-loss record, the win-loss records of its opponents, and its points scored and allowed.
While uncertainty until Sunday may loom in the state seeding process, what the WIAA deemed in June as a one-year commitment, Hallead knows it’s a positive step for Washington’s prep football playoffs.
And a reason he’s given valuable time to this fall.
“I’m one of these guys that’s all in or all out,” he said. “I want to ensure I’m giving the purest matchups possible.”
