Hamilton Coach on High School Seeding: 'I'm Not a Big Fan'
Hamilton softball coach Jim Lawinger weighs in on high school seeding after a big upset at the state tournament, saying the 'good get better, and the worst stay bad.'
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After an upsetting 18-2 loss to Chippewa Falls High School at the state tournament, Hamilton High School softball coach is sounding off on the disadvanatages of seeding in high school sports.
Hamilton's softball team, ranked No. 9 in the sectional, went up against the No. 1 seeded Chippewa Falls team on Thursday after failing to make it to the state tournament for more than 20 years.
“I think the girls felt the nerves set in before the game,” Lawinger said after losing the state tournament. “The experience factor definitely played a role, and the Chippewa Falls team probably couldn’t have played a more perfect game.”
However, could a seeding disadvantage have played a roll in the Chargers' loss? Lawinger has choached the Hamilton softball team for 35 years, and he told JS Online he thinks seeding in high school sports can cause a big disadvantage to teams without a big reputation.
"I'm not a big fan of seeding teams whether it's football or basketball or any sport," he told JS Online, "because in high school what happens is the good get better, the worst stay bad."
"It's hard enough to (get to state) without seeding, but seeding makes it tougher," he continued. "Once you're poor, it's hard to get out of it."
Lawinger said he and the girls still feel like winners for making it to state, but the Chargers may have lost by a closer margin if the seeding rules were altered.
Read the full article about Lawinger's gripe with common seeding practices on JS Online.
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Hamilton High School
W220n6151 Town Line Rd, Sussex, WI (Located east of Sussex near Highway-74 and Town Line Road)
Jann
3:45 pm on Wednesday, June 20, 2012
I don't get his gripe. It would be really unfair to a team like Chippewa Falls to have to play a team with a record as close to theirs in the first round. Sussex was a really long shot to even get there. Your time to get better is on the practice field and during the regular season.
jerry mislang
8:06 am on Thursday, June 21, 2012
They lost to the State Champions, which means everybody else lost to Chi-Hi too. They got to state by knocking off higher seeded teams, something they should be very proud of. I hope their team had a great experience and it was good to see a Greater Metro Conference get to State. I can't think of any sport that doesn't have seeding in the playoffs. I would hate to see playoffs where the potential for two undeafted teams meet in the first game while two winless teams did the same thing. A one run loss, a 16 run loss, still shows up as an L.
Me in the Falls
8:06 am on Thursday, June 21, 2012
Follow the link to the jsonline article and his quotes actually make sense. Basically he is saying that the farther a team makes it in the playoffs, the more practice they can have. A team can get two to four weeks additional practice this way and therefore be better the next year that exams that don't get past the first round.
Me in the Falls
8:07 am on Thursday, June 21, 2012
Exams=teams. ( Darn auto-correct!)
Jann
9:55 am on Thursday, June 21, 2012
I read his comments and I still don't see how he thinks any other method would be fair. If he wants more practice time and less games he should talk to his athletic director about not scheduling so many non conference games. A lot of high school athletes are in more than one sport. Based on his logic, a high school basketball team would suffer because their football team went deep into the playoffs and the boys who play on both teams would miss some of the start of the basketball workouts. I don't buy this theory.
High schools now have off season work outs (I guess the rule is no coaching is allowed) but I'm sure a lot gets accomplished.