IHSA Football Playoffs To Expand In 2026

Evanston’s path to the Illinois High School Association football state playoffs got easier Tuesday.

The same is true for every other program in the state of Illinois, however, after school principals voted to expand the postseason field for the first time since 1985.

By a vote of 377 to 252 statewide, the amendment to increase the number of playoff qualifiers from 32 to 48 in each of the eight classes passed Tuesday. That means a total of 384 schools --- up from 256 --- will experience playoff football.

Some of those schools will have only four wins and others might have only three. It’s a sea change for the sport, considering that typically at least five regular season wins were the standard necessary to keep playing in the postseason.

The top 16 teams in each playoff class will receive first-round byes in 2026. The amendment also features a revised schedule that moves the start of regular season up one week, eliminating the Week 0 scrimmage that took effect last season.

“Too often throughout the years, football decisions have negatively impacted other sports at IHSA schools,” said IHSA Executive Director Craig Anderson in a statement. “We are hopeful that this football playoff expansion will provide intended relief to our schools by stabilizing conference movement, and eliminating the difficulty of scheduling football games than many of our schools face each year.

“It may create some short-term complications for some schools, conferences and coaches, but we remain optimistic it will create long-term stability in football and beyond.”

Since the first state football playoffs were held in 1974, football has been the only IHSA-sponsored sport where not every school automatically qualified for postseason competition. Tuesday’s vote moved grid teams closer to copying playoff systems like the one in Indiana, where every school plays in the grid playoffs regardless of won-loss record.

When the playoffs were first created, only conference champions and teams with one or two losses automatically qualified. Now schools that finish 3-6 or 4-5 might not be packing up their jerseys after the regular season.

Reaction to the expansion decision has been mixed. Few coaches would tell you that any team they had that posted a 3-6 record “deserved” to be in the playoffs and current ETHS head coach Miles Osei isn’t about to lower the standards or expectations he tried to institute starting with his first season at the helm this fall.

Ironically, Osei’s first Wildkit squad finished 3-6 --- and all six defeats came against teams that were playoff qualifiers. Evanston hasn’t won a state playoff game since the 2003 season and hasn’t qualified for the postseason since 2021.

“I think the playoffs are something special and getting those five wins always meant something,” said Osei, who has coached playoff qualifiers at Elk Grove and Kankakee. “So lowering the bar for (required number of) wins takes that away. More kids will get to experience extensions of their seasons. Overall, I don’t really like the fact that we’re expanding. But things change, and it’s refreshing and it’s new.

“My mentality right now is that if you don’t have five or six wins, then I don’t think you should be in. And I don’t anticipate changing that mentality. We didn’t do enough to get in last year, it’s as simple as that.

“We’ll play who we play, and let the chips fall where they may when it comes to the playoffs. At the end of the day, the best team will win State. But I’ve told our kids all along that our goal isn’t to GET to the playoffs --- it’s to WIN a playoff game.”

Former Evanston head coach Mike Burzawa, still an assistant athletic director at the school, led Driscoll Catholic to three straight state championships before taking over the Wildkit program. He guided ETHS to nine playoff appearances in his 17-year tenure but always lost in the first round.

He’s not sure what to expect from the new setup.

“I’ve always felt that football was special because you had to earn it. I prided myself on the fact that my first goal as a coach was to earn an IHSA playoff berth,” Burzawa said. “Then, it was to win and advance. Now I think it’s a little diminished and it’s lost some of its lustre. I know a lot of teams have never played in a playoff game, and now they’ll get the chance even if they’re 3-6. It will be exciting for those kids.

“A couple of years ago we lost a couple of games in the final minute (against Deerfield and Palatine) and we didn’t make it. If you’re 3-6 and something bad happened to you, like a major injury or the ball not bouncing your way, you still didn’t get the job done and should be ready to turn your gear in at the end of the (regular) season.”

The excitement of keeping your season alive is something Burzawa misses now that he’s stepped aside as a coach.

“In my 29 years of coaching I’ve been at the top, in the middle and on the bottom,” he pointed out. “I remember the playoff parties we had and it’s always exciting to make that first step in the playoffs. Now more teams can experience that excitement.

“There will also be teams that are 3-6 or 4-5 that will go down in class for the playoffs, especially some that are in Class 8A or 7A conferences, and they’ll have an opportunity to do well there.

“My opinion has always been that you should have a winning record to get in, that’s part of the deal. That’s a long-standing tradition that I grew up with as a player and a coach. This is a big change, but that doesn’t mean it’s right and it doesn’t mean it’s wrong.”

Another voice with plenty of playoff experience is the newest addition to the Evanston coaching staff, Brent Pearlman. Pearlman will join the program as an assistant after a Hall of Fame career that includes a stint at Wheeling as a head coach --- with a three-year starter at quarterback named Miles Osei --- and a one-year experience as Osei’s assistant at Elk Grove.

He guided Prospect to Class 7A state titles in 2001, 2002 and 2005 and to seven other postseason appearances for the Knights. He stepped aside as a head coach after his most recent three-year tenure at Grayslake Central and has also coached at Lake Zurich, Fremd, Hersey and Batavia.

“I can’t say if this expansion will be good or not,” Pearlman said. “That’s something that’s 100 percent out of my control as a coach. Whatever the system is, we just have to get our guys ready to play in it.

“Have I ever had a team of mine that was 3-6 and deserved to be in the playoffs? Probably not. All I know is we’re going to do our absolute best in whatever system they put up. I had a feeling that something like this was coming because they’ve been talking about this, or a district (grouping) system for a couple of years now.

“One thing that’s crossed my mind is having a bye (before your first playoff game). As a head coach, I’m not sure I’d have wanted that, because you get into a routine during the season and you want to keep that going. I can’t imagine taking a week off at that point, but I’m sure everyone will eventually get used to it.”

Both Osei and Pearlman are sure of one thing --- they’re glad to have the opportunity to work together again.

“Coach Pearlman is the reason I’m a coach today,” Osei noted. “This is a place where he can thrive and I’m hoping he’ll finish his career here. The impact he’s been able to make when the kids embrace his challenges are astronomical. Our community in Evanston has high expectations and he’s someone who can elevate our program.”

The admiration is mutual, and Pearlman believes Osei will find playoff success sooner rather than later at ETHS.

“Coming back to work with Miles is awesome,” he said. “I have a ton of faith in him and he’s someone who’s 100 percent committed to the program. My guess is that he thinks about football 365 days a year. He’s very good at leading a team. When I was at Elk Grove I watched him take a team that didn’t look like a playoff team into the playoffs for the first time in about 10 years.

“I know Evanston is a prideful community when it comes to the football program and Miles will make it happen here again. He’s a guy who will figure things out.”