IHSA changes much-maligned waiver multiplier process

When the first four champions at the 2024 IHSA state football finals were all granted a multiplier waiver prior to the postseason, it was clear that something had to change with that policy.

The waiver process, by design, was to prevent private and non-boundaried teams that were struggling to compete for playoff spots from facing the 1.65 multiplier more successful programs were hit with.

But due to a number of factors, the multiplier waiver had begun to become too easy to get and was utilized by multiple programs that didn’t really need it to be competitive.

Flaws in the formula had always been apparent, but they became glaringly obvious on the opening day of the state finals in 2024. Belleville Althoff (Class 1A), Chicago Christian (Class 2A), Montini (Class 3A) and DePaul Prep (Class 4A) all won state championships, by an average margin of victory of 41 points.

The former multiplier waiver process involved accounting the results of the 2021 and 2022 seasons to control how teams would be assigned for the 2023 and 2024 campaigns. If teams had not won a combined three playoff games over the 2021 and 2022 seasons, they were granted a multiplier waiver.

Since those four teams had not won the requisite playoff games during those periods, their counting enrollment number would be their natural number and not one that would be calculated by multiplying the enrollment number by 1.65.

If multiplied off of 2024 enrollments, Althoff would have jumped from 1A to 3A, Chicago Christian from 2A to 3A, Montini from 3A to 5A and DePaul Prep from 4A to the 7A/8A bubble. Had the new policy been in place for the 2024 postseason, only DePaul Prep among state champions would have been eligible for a multiplier waiver.

Under the new multiplier process approved by the IHSA’s board of directors over the weekend, private and non-boundaried teams that win one playoff game in the previous three seasons are ineligible to apply for a waiver.

“The multiplier waiver was initially implemented in hopes of trying to provide greater competitive equity to teams who were being embarrassed in their multiplied class in certain sports,” said IHSA Executive Director Craig Anderson.

“Our member schools have been nearly unanimous in expressing their concerns that the current waiver system was not working as intended. The formula used to determine the automatic waivers wasn’t encompassing enough data, which created too many holes in the process. The result was often teams who were already highly competitive in higher classifications being granted waivers to play in lower classifications. This new two-tier process to determine waivers will encompass more data that we believe will improve competitive equity overall.”

Teams that do not win a playoff game are allowed to apply for a waiver but are not guaranteed to receive it. The IHSA will consider each team’s individual status on a case-by-case basis considering factors such as enrollment, strength of schedule and how well teams are competing inside their current schedules.

For the last enrollment cycle, just 14 programs faced the multiplier waiver: Brother Rice, Marist, Mount Carmel, St. Ignatius, St. Rita, St. Teresa, IC Catholic, Joliet Catholic, Nazareth, Providence, Fenwick, Sacred Heart Griffin, St. Francis and Loyola.

Had the current policy been continued, Brother Rice, St. Ignatius, Providence and St. Teresa would have had the option of taking a multiplier waiver. Under the new policy, all 14 of the teams previous multiplied will keep the multiplier attachment.

Althoff, Aurora Christian, Bloomington Central Catholic, Breese Mater Dei, St. Laurence, DePaul Prep, Jacksonville Routt, Benet, Montini, Ottawa Marquette, Chicago Christian, Carmel, Marmion, Niles Notre Dame, Peoria Notre Dame, Quincy Notre Dame, Rockford Boylan, Rockford Lutheran, St. Viator, Newman Central Catholic and Wheaton Academy would all be ineligible to qualify for the waiver based on the new parameters of the waiver as established by the IHSA, as each won at least one playoff game during the designated period.

The success formula also undertook an overhaul.

The previous success formula required that if a team trophied (champion or runner-up) in each of the two years in a set enrollment period, it would be moved up one classification from the class it achieved the success in for the next two seasons.

But the fact that the success had to be achieved inside of the two-year enrollment window instead of just two consecutive years led to some confusion in its application. For example, if a team won trophies in 2022 and 2023, it would not be subjected to a success formula; but a team that won trophies in 2023 and 2024 (the two years of the enrollment period) would.

Now teams that have achieved trophies twice in the last three seasons will be subjected to the success formula regardless of the sequence of when the trophies were won. When the success formula is applied, it will be for a two-year period after its implementation.

It was a loophole that allowed both Nazareth and Mount Carmel to win three consecutive state championships without facing the success formula for any of those marches. (Loyola also won three consecutive titles, but can’t face the success formula because no class is larger than 8A).

The new rolling success formula eliminates that as a possibility.

Under the new protocols, three teams will face the success factor in 2025 – Mount Carmel (moves from 7A to 8A), Nazareth (moves from 5A to 6A) and Joliet Catholic (moves from 5A to 6A). Loyola is already in the largest class, so they cannot be moved up.

The new protocols do not need membership approval since they do not involve the IHSA’s by-laws. The new protocols will go into effect for the 2025 football season.

The true impact of all of these changes will not register until the IHSA releases its enrollment numbers for the 2025-2026 competition year. The IHSA expects to release that information by May 1.