2008-09 District Football Assignments

KANSAS CITY — Welcome to the state’s biggest game of Diplomacy — the release of high school football’s district assignments for the next two years.

The latest release, which occurred at 7 a.m. Friday, set off another frenzy of talks and negotiations between coaches and athletic directors gathered at different parts of the state.

Coaches started battling to complete their schedules moments after the assignments were posted on the Missouri State High School Activities Association Web site, at times exchanging cell phones like stocks on Wall Street.

Smith-Cotton’s coach Mark Johnson and athletic director Rob Davis were at Embassy Suites near the Kansas City International Airport, along with around 40 representatives from other schools in the West Central, Missouri River Valley and Midland Empire conferences.

The two arrived at the hotel at 6:50 a.m. and made their way into the “Salon A” room, which seemed a little small for what was about to unfold. The room had six tables set up with six chairs around each table.

Coaches talked in small groups while they waited for the district assignments to be posted on the Web site. At 7:02, the listings were posted and it was game on.

Setting up a football schedule for two years on one day is similar to a game of Diplomacy for the school representatives. In order to get the schedule set up the way a school wants, it takes a lot of jockeying. Coaches have to make it seem like they are making concessions while at the same time holding their ground, which at times can get a little dicey.

“I’m not playing three district road games guys, that’s what you’re giving me,” said an annoyed Johnson to representatives from Harrisonville, Grain Valley and Warrensburg. Those three schools are in Smith-Cotton’s district and the four schools gathered at 7:03 to discuss which weeks they would play and who would be the home teams. Nobody wanted to be on the road.

At 7:05, Davis takes his first phone call.

“You’re defending state champs, you ought to be on the road for 10 games,” Johnson says to Harrisonville.

Shortly after, the Tigers had their schedule set up for the district — they have two home games and will travel to Warrensburg in Week 10.

“It’s interesting,” said Warrensburg coach Wiley Mead about setting up his first schedule. “It’s much more civilized than I thought it would be. ... They crammed us in a pretty small room.”

Now the Tigers have to turn their focus to filling out the first seven weeks, four of which will be West Central Conference games.

“I’m a barbie girl ...” Johnson answers his phone, cutting short the Aqua song released in the late 1990s.

“The Board” is a common gathering place for coaches during the 7 o’clock hour. The Board is a dry erase board set up in the corner, where schools’ names are posted along with the week they are looking to fill. It’s a good place to find a common non-conference opponent, or at least it’s a place to start.

Smith-Cotton locks in a game with Marshall in Week 3, but the site is still open for debate later.

Davis is sitting with other WCC members as they try to iron out that part of the schedule and there’s a problem — O’Hara has accidentally double-booked itself in Week 3, meaning several schools may have to reshuffle their schedules.

“I’m a barbie girl ...”

Johnson shouts in the middle of the room, “Anybody interested in Kirksville Week 5 ... (it’s the only time all morning the room falls completely silent) ... long drive, huh?”

Smith-Cotton entered the day with what it thought was a good game plan. Johnson correctly thought the Tigers would be in a district with Warrensburg and Harrisonville and Grain Valley — two newcomers to Class 4 that had monster years in Class 3 last season.

The Tigers’ tentative schedule at 7:10 featured St. Pius X, Clinton and Marshall in the first three weeks — all on the road. Week 4 was still open while S-C would host Ruskin and O’Hara in Weeks 5 and 6. A trip to KC Center, the newest addition to the WCC, would round out the non-district schedule.

O’Hara’s scheduling problem ended up impacting the Tigers. Davis and Johnson agreed to switch the O’Hara game to Week 4 and move up KC Center to Week 6 if the Tigers could fill the Week 7 slot.

“People get a little tense when they screw something up or they think they’ve got something set up for Week 7 and all the sudden someone drops them Week 7 and they’re scrambling around and they want you to change your schedule to accommodate them,” Davis said. “So when that stuff happens, things get a little bit heated.”

The Board showed Hickman Mills had an opening, so Davis made a phone call. No answer.

A few moments later Davis is on the phone with someone else when another coach says he’s got Hickman Mills on the line. Davis takes the phone while at the same time another sound rings out.

“I’m a barbie girl ...”

Johnson has a Marshall representative on the phone and he needs S-C to host the Week 3 matchup this year so the Owls will have a balanced schedule. Davis and Johnson play switcharoo with three phones and pretty soon the schedule is locked in.

About 90 anytime phone minutes later, Davis hangs up with an official. It’s a little after 8:30 a.m. and the Tigers have a full schedule set up and officials are set for every home game but one, which Davis says he’ll fill over the summer with the Columbia Officials Association.

Things went much more smoothly for the Tigers this time around and the coach and AD left the hotel feeling happy about the schedule for the next two seasons.

“This is probably the easiest this process has been for me,” Davis said. “Usually this thing takes until about noon, at least.”