Jarrod Amolsch is the coach of a Hinsdale South program that was on the wrong side of the playoff bubble for four consecutive years from 2021-2024, finishing with 4-5 records.

That all changes next season.

And yet Amolsch, a longtime assistant coming off his first year as head coach, has mixed views of playoff expansion.

As an old school football guy, he remembers when teams were not even promised a playoff spot with six wins. Prestige came with earning that spot – “that is the old man in me.”

From a Hinsdale South perspective, though, he’s coach of the smallest school in the West Suburban Conference.

“The sheer numbers alone is a lot to overcome. In that sense I’m excited about the opportunities our kids might get. It is a net positive for us,” Amolsch said. “But I hear the old school guys’ argument. It’s valid to me.

“Waiting to see how this shakes out. Cautiously optimistic that this will be a good thing for high school football.”

Change is coming to Illinois high school football, starting next season.

It was announced Tuesday that a proposal to expand the IHSA football playoffs by 128 teams was passed by a schoolwide membership vote, 377-252, with 96 abstentions.

Under the proposal submitted by Monticello High School, the playoff field will expand by 128 teams, increasing the field of qualifiers from 256 teams to 384.

Wheaton Warrenville South coach Sean Norris, whose program was on the right side of the playoff dividing line in 2021, 2023 and 2024 at 5-4, wasn’t surprised at the vote’s outcome.

Using data from previous seasons, all teams with three or more wins will make the playoffs.

In the case of 2025 data, 32 teams that ended 2-7 would have made the field.

“People have different opinions, but I generally think it’s a positive thing for the sport,” Norris said. “At the end of the day it provides more schools (an) opportunity to get to the playoffs. Football is a developmental game. Talk to most coaches, you hope to be playing your best football at the end of the season. Teams that might struggle early on find their stride later in the year. A lot of possibilities with that playoff experience.”

The eight classifications will remain, but instead of 32 teams in each field, they will become 48-team fields. The highest 16 seeds in each bracket – 1 through 16 in Class 7A and Class 8A and the top eight seeds in the north and south brackets in Class 1A through Class 6A – will receive byes into the second round.

Hinsdale Central coach Brian Griffin was kind of indifferent to how the vote went, but is excited to see how expansion plays out.

Griffin is essentially considering those opening-round games “play-in games” similar to the NCAA Tournament in basketball.

“Most coaches, talking to teams, it’s not going to be the playoffs. That first game is not the game we’re trying to reach,” Griffin said. “We’re still trying to make the Round of 32. My messaging to my team is we’re trying to reach that. In my mind we’re not counting that first round as playoff wins in terms of goals. Again, we’ll see how it plays out.”

IHSA Executive Director Craig Anderson said in a news release that he hoped the expansion “will provide intended relief to our schools by stabilizing conference movement and eliminating the difficulty of scheduling football games that many of our schools face each year.”

There is mixed reaction whether playoff expansion will remedy the scheduling issues.

“It will definitely have (an) effect if you can get into the playoffs with three wins, or even two wins and a strong schedule,” Amolsch said. “If I am a power school I don’t have to schedule a cupcake Week 1 to get my five wins. How will that play out? I’m optimistic.”

“I think it might [help with the scheduling], but time will tell,” Montini coach Mike Bukovsky said. “If you get in with a 4-5 mark you have a little leeway, so i think that could help. But I’ll be honest, the schools that shied away from scheduling [tougher opponents], I think they’re still going to do the same thing.”

The regular season still will include nine games, but the beginning of the season will start one week earlier to accommodate the extra week of playoffs games that need to be scheduled.

This adjustment will eliminate the scrimmage week and will allow for only 10 dates to get in nine practices in the preseason to meet the previously established state acclimatization practices.

With that in mind, Bukovsky wished that this plan had either been approved back in August, or the implementation pushed back to the 2027 season.

“I think it will cause a very hectic period between now and next year, a lot of things in the air. I know for a fact there will be all kinds of problems because of the schedule – people already have family reunions and vacations and things like that, because that is what you did during the dead week," Bukovsky said.

“Now as I read this thing, no more dead period between summer and start of football. It’s going to be a mess scheduling wise.”

“Challenge this year is going to be the scheduling piece of it,” Norris said. “Being prepared Week 1, adjusting from 16 practices to now 10 is going to be a challenge.”

Norris hears the cries of the traditionalists that expansion waters down the playoffs.

He still believes it to be a net positive in the long run.

“I get that. I appreciate the tradition at our school. There was some sort of badge of honor and rightfully so for earning your five or six wins to get in the playoffs. That is an accomplishment that any team had pride in,” Norris said. “There is an adjustment, but at the end of the day the best teams will have success and it will work itself out.”