High Schools

UIL revamping state tournament format in 2024 with changes to postseason

By Michael Adams
madams@austinsportsjournal.com

SAN ANTONIO – Earlier this summer, the University Interscholastic League announced changes to the postseason format for volleyball, basketball, soccer, softball and baseball.

Those sports will move to a Division I and Division II format, much like that of Class 6A football. Four teams from each district will qualify for the postseason. The two playoff qualifiers from each district with the highest enrollment will be placed in the Division I bracket, and the two smallest enrollments will be placed in the Division II bracket.

When the announcement was made in June, the fate of the traditional state tournament for those sports was still unknown. On Sunday, at the Texas High School Coaches Association’s annual coaching school, UIL officials said the semifinals will no longer be played on the same site as championship games.

Stony Point’s Josiah Moseley (2) steps over DJ Hall (0) of Plano East to go after a loose ball during the Class 6A state championship game of the UIL boys basketball tournament on Saturday, March 9, 2024 at the Alamodome in San Antonio. (Michael Adams/Austin Sports Journal)

Instead, the site for state semifinal games will be decided between the two schools, just like earlier rounds of the playoffs.

“At least for this year, those locations that were typically used for semifinals and finals will be championship games only for this year,” said UIL athletic director Ray Zepeda. “We’re going to continue to evaluate that. You can imagine this monumental of a change and adding that many contests within the structures of what we had contractually, or even the time frames allowed, did not allow us to expand beyond that.

“But we are going to look at how this year goes, gather feedback and then chart a course for the future.

Zepeda and UIL deputy director Jamey Harrison said the change has been popular among baseball and softball coaches. Mainly because state semifinals can now be a best-of three series in both sports.

When asked if there’s discussion about moving state championship games for baseball and softball to a best-of-three series, Harrison said that is a discussion they’re open to have, but it would be hard to expand championship games to a series format.

“If you take those three games, that’s scheduling 33 baseball games and 33 softball games in one location,” Harrison said. “It’s outside, where you don’t control the weather, and you don’t control the end of the game. If a game goes beyond seven innings, that becomes a big challenge.”