Debates over perceived advantages private schools have over public schools in Illinois High School Association [IHSA] athletics continued as the state football championships played out in Normal and DeKalb.
For IHSA sports, playoff classes are determined by the student enrollment of a school. Private schools that meet certain success criteria have their enrollments multiplied by 1.65 and then are placed in a class based on that number. This multiplier puts them into higher classes with bigger and often more difficult schools to face. Each of the seven private schools to earn a championship game appearance in 2025 had the multiplier applied.
Seeking a solution
In 2024, seven of the eight state champions crowned at Hancock Stadium were private schools. All won their games by 20 points or more. Only one had its enrollment multiplied by 1.65 to decide which class it played in. A multiplier waiver allows certain teams to avoid the rule if they have not achieved a certain amount of recent success.
In the offseason, the IHSA changed the rules surrounding waivers.
“We made the guidelines far more stringent, and so a lot less schools are receiving waivers this year,” said Matt Troha, associate executive director of the IHSA. “I think it was something like, in some sports, from 200 to down to 40.”
“I don't think it's ever going to be a problem that can be totally taken care of, unless you reach a point where you decide to separate the public and private schools,” said Steve Soucie, a sports reporter who has covered state football championships for more than three decades.
Each U.S. state and the District of Columbia has its own playoff format. Hawaii has two regular divisions for public schools and an open division where teams can play against private schools if they desire. Georgia has a separate division for private schools.
Soucie said these solutions are not necessarily viable options in a state like Illinois, where only 12% of schools are private.
“One of the problems that you would have if you divided privates and publics would be, what about the smaller private schools? You don't really have enough of them to facilitate having a whole classification for them.”
The IHSA also cannot foresee the idea working.
“We are very much against having split divisions. I think we're a better association and a better state, having all our schools compete together,” said Troha. “But we do want to have competitive equity and continue to work towards that.”
Other proposals have been given consideration. As Troha explained, the IHSA Legislative Commission considered a proposal to raise the 1.65 multiplier to 2.50. After town hall meetings to explore the policy, the commission opted not to place it on a ballot.
“The Commission kind of decided they felt like 2.5 was a pretty massive change,” said Troha.
Coaches sound off
Three of the eight championship matchups in 2025 happened to be of the public-against-private variety. Each game was won by the private school.
“It's not something we bring up, not something we talk about,” said Derek Leonard, head coach of Rochester. “And whoever's in front of us, we play.”
Despite being a public school, Rochester has won nine state titles and only once missed the state playoffs since Leonard took over as head coach in 2005. The Rockets did not add a 10th on Friday, losing the 4A title game to Montini of the Chicago Catholic League, 47-33. All seven private schools in the state finals were produced by that conference.
Mike Bukovsky, Montini head coach, said Leonard has the "greatest" attitude toward the public-private debate, something he added was a tell as to why the Rochester program has had so much success under him.
“Everybody has a beef with it. Everybody has a complaint, one way or the other,” said Bukovsky. “So I just have the mindset — they tell me where to play, where to put my team, what direction to go and we go.”
Another IHSA rule applying to private schools is called the success formula. Any school placing first or second in the same class playoff twice in three years must move to a higher class. Montini must do so if it makes the championship next year or the year after. Despite making it two championships in a row Friday, the first was in Class 3A.
“The multiplier is for moderate to fairly high success, and then extreme success, then you will get hit with the success formula, and then you will have to go up another level,” said Soucie.
The problem, Soucie said, is that there is nothing the IHSA can do to an 8A team. Mount Carmel won three straight titles in Class 7A. The formula moved the Caravan up to 8A this year, and there is no 9A class to move to following continued success.
“A lot of people think that private school coaches just show up and lay out the talent, but I’d love for them to be in my shoes,” said Jordan Lynch, coach of the Mount Carmel football team.
The Caravan won the Class 8A title game, 20-3, over public school Oswego on Wednesday in DeKalb.
“Everyone's going to toss up this public and private thing, but at the end of the day, look at yourself in the mirror,” said Lynch. “And if you didn't win or you're just not good enough, then accept that. Stop looking for excuses, because it's kind of getting exhausting a little bit.”
Leonard, while not saying so in response to Lynch, shared a similar sentiment about his public school team.
“I think we as coaches and as IHSA, I think there are ways to come together and talk and be logical [with finding solutions],” said Leonard, who is also president of the Illinois High School Football Coaches Association. “But we're not gonna make an excuse.”
Fans react
The latter half of the 2025 title games were not played Saturday — an unprecedented move — due to winter weather conditions. The 7A and 8A tilts were played at Huskie Stadium in DeKalb on Wednesday due to a scheduling conflict with ISU basketball.
The public East St. Louis Flyers faced the private Fenwick Friars for the Class 6A championship Tuesday. The Flyers have played in the state championship game each year since 2019, aside from the shortened 2020 season where no playoffs were held due to COVID-19.
“All week at class, we've been talking about how good East St. Louis is, but we're like, oh, you know, we're also like, a really good team,” said Donnie Nielsen, freshman at Fenwick. Nielsen played on the freshman team this season, but was in the student section for the game.
Fenwick won the game, 38-28. It was the program’s first since winning in Class 5A in 2021.
Danny Jisa is a junior at Fenwick. He claimed some public schools occasionally do some recruiting of their own.
“They’re having players like, fly out to come live with the coaches. Like, I don't think it's fair, in my opinion,” said Jisa.
Jisa’s point has some merit. Last winter a Chicago Public Schools watchdog released a report that at least 17 players on the Kenwood Academy basketball team were enrolled using false addresses. In 2010 East St. Louis was forced to forfeit five wins, knocking the Flyers out of the playoffs, for having a star player that resided outside of the school district.
Some Flyer fans said it was not a worry to them that their team was facing a private school.
“Nowadays, with everybody moving everywhere, it kind of really doesn’t make a difference now, if you are public or private,” said Jesse Woolfork, who has been a fan of East St. Louis since 1974. “Everybody moving around, man, trying to get to a good spot.”
"When you go to high school, it all pans out,” said Morris Whitley, Flyer fan. “It's an awesome program at Eastside, so playing against a private school just shows that it ain't no advantage.”
