ESPN

The Public Schools Athletic League is considering making slight adjustments to its football scheduling in order to make a more equitable schedule, according to New York City Football Coaches Association President and New Utrecht football coach Alan Balkan.

"What was brought up was they are going to try to make the schedules a lot more objective than subjective. Going by the numbers (instead of) going by whom you haven't played in a while, they're trying their best to keep borough integrity," Balkan said. "That's where the PSAL is leaning and the coaches feel that is fair because now you're playing better competition and the games are better and it's more quality football."

The PSAL scheduling has been a hot topic in the league as teams with the best records can end up with easier slates. With no computerized element to the schedule, defending city champions could end up with a relatively easy slate compared to their talent level. That happened this year with eventually city champion Lincoln, whose schedule to start the season ranked among the easiest in the league.

To try and make a fairer schedule, the PSAL is looking into a way to get more games pitting the most successful teams in the past four years against other teams of similar success in that time frame. Balkan said he and PSAL assistant commissioner Jerry Epstein discussed these potential changes in a phone conversation about two weeks ago.

"They're trying to work out a way where the higher teams on like the 1-10 level play a little harder games than the teams in the bottom levels," Balkan said. "I don't think there's going to be any drastic changes but I think they're going to try to make it a little more equitable based on your power points after the season."

The PSAL schedule currently has three components: a team's power points average over the past years, borough integrity and games that have not happened often. The power points average is an average of the points a team accumulates for beating teams during the season, while borough integrity means playing teams within your borough to keep long-standing rivalries going.

Balkan said the system's change would likely eliminate the games between teams that have not played in recent years and add more games between teams that are similar in power points over the past four years. By eliminating those games, it would add about two more games between similar foes and create better competitive balance.

Balkan, whose team struggled to a 1-8 record this past season, approved of the possible new system to help create more equity in the league. He added that Epstein told him to tell the organization that the schedule will be more by the numbers this upcoming season.

"I think they're going to do away with that factor," Balkan said of not playing teams in recent years. "It's going to be based on your power points over a four-year period and then trying to keep borough integrity. Not much is going to change."

PSAL Executive Director Donald Douglas said that the league would consider this new scheduling procedure in January if the coaches wished to pursue it. Top football officials from the league would meet and weight the pros and cons of the new system before seeing if they would like to make a change.

"Like anything, we review things when the season is over so we're always looking to improve our scheduling, our league," Douglas said. "If there is a proposal on the table that would improve our schedule, than we would consider it."

If New Utrecht coach Alan Balkan gets his way, football coaches in the Public Schools Athletic League will have one less thing to complain about next season.

As the New York City Football Coaches Association President and someone who personally doesn't understand how the PSAL schedule is created, the Utes coach plans to discuss with league officials about making some significant changes to the league's controversial scheduling procedures.

"In the offseason I'm going to talk to (Assistant Commissioner Jerry) Espstein about making the schedule a lot fairer," Balkan said. "We are going to try some certain things that make teams more competitive with teams."

THE PLAN

Though Balkan’s New Utrecht team is currently 0-6 and was 3-6 last year, it has faced an unusually strong schedule this season with his opponents a staggering 27-9 through the first six weeks. Nor has he been alone in questioning the methodology the PSAL uses in determining schedules.

Several other coaches contacted by ESPNNewYork.com questioned how there could be such an imbalance in strength of schedule among teams in the league while also noticing how city finalist Lincoln, who is off to a 6-0 start, received a favorable slate so far this season.

As Balkan and other coaches struggle to correct stark contrasts in schedule strength, Balkan's plan calls for a model that has similar traits to the one their counterparts in the Catholic High School Football League use, where teams are given schedules based on how they are projected to be that season.

With 24 teams in the Championship Level of the PSAL, which is the top division and the one eliciting the criticism, Balkan proposed possibly breaking the level down into three groups: a top, middle and lower group with teach teams in each division.

His plan would call for each team to face approximately five teams from within its level and then two teams from the other two levels. The power points system, which the PSAL currently uses to determine playoff teams, could still be employed, but on a weighted scale where more points are awarded for defeating an opponent from a higher level.

The current power points system awards points for beating a team and when that team it defeated wins games, therefore rewarding teams for playing a harder schedule. The league's website says that it feels the power points system gives an "impartial and fair estimation of a team's overall strength. "

"We're in the process of talking about all that. Me and the commissioner are probably going to meet after the season and we're going to try to discuss something like that," Balkan said of his plan, adding he doesn't think it has ever been brought up before. "I know that I talked to Mr. Epstein about that after one of the games when I didn't think things were going right and was trying to table that until after the season is over."

THE PROBLEM

Through the first six weeks of the PSAL season, the schedule has been a hot topic as there has been a clear discrepancy in strength of schedules.

There are the teams like New Utrecht and then there are teams like defending city runner-up Lincoln, whose opponents are 8-28 so far. Of the five teams who are 6-0 or 5-1 in the league, they all rank among the seven easiest schedules in the league.

This has also led to plenty of blowouts during the season. Lincoln, for example, has outscored its first six opponents by a score of 272-24, winning games by an average of more than 40 points.

"Before the season I was at a coaches' meeting with my team and one of my coaches said to me 'Have you looked at the other teams' schedules?'" said Thomas Jefferson coach Stephen Edwards, whose 2-4 team has faced the second-hardest schedule. "I said 'No.' I put my head down since I only knew our schedule. I didn't know we’d end up with such a schedule. Then they told me everyone else had a light schedule."

CREATING THE SCHEDULE

The PSAL schedule is created using three components, according to Sports Coordinator Tyrone Parker. An average of a team’s power points from the last three years is calculated and teams are selected to face certain opponents based on comparable power points.

The league also tries to find matchups that have not happened recently and the last factor is borough integrity, where the league tries to maintain long-time rivalries. This affects the Bronx, Queens and Staten Island the most as all of their teams all play Round Robin against each other. In Brooklyn, which has 12 teams, all teams cannot play each other.

The league hand-selects the games and Parker said that the PSAL believes that each team on the championship level is created equal. There are three levels of play in the PSAL: Championship, Bowl and Cup; and the championship level features the top 24 teams as determined by a system.

Parker said he’s heard the talk of certain teams getting a tough schedule compared to others having a cupcake slate but he believes that the system is a fair way to put together a schedule. He said there are advisory meetings where coaches can make comments and suggestions to the league.

“We use the three-year composite and it is what it is” Parker said of why the schedule is fair. “Teams can have great years and bad years and it is based on a period and over a length of time which hopefully plays fair.”

THE OTHER MODEL

The CHSFL system slots the 12 teams in the AAA-AA division before the season based on the collective coaches' rankings. A team has a set schedule based on where they are ranked before the season, with, for example, the No.1 team getting a schedule that includes the the No. 2 team on their slate.

The CHSFL also gives more weight to beating the better teams so a team could theoretically run the table out of one of the lower slots but they still might not pass the top teams. Fordham Prep went undefeated out of a lower slot last year but still was just the No. 4 seed in the playoffs, behind teams that had lost.

"I've been in the league for over 20 years and this is the system we've been using probably since 1995. It is definitely the fairest and most equitable schedule we can come up with," CHSFL Commissioner Chris Hardat said. "There's little quirks here and there but it's the best way to solve a problem."

MOVING FORWARD

Balkan plans to talk about his plan to the rest of the coaches at the seeding meeting in December. He knows that some might not be pleased with its effect on borough integrity, but his way to overcome that is to make borough games the non-level games.

"People are in the same boat as me, they just don’t understand how the PSAL makes the schedule and what's the rhyme and reason," Balkan said. "I've talked to them about it and talked to Mr. Epstein about hopefully being able to do a little bit more and maybe make a fairer way to make a schedule so we don't have 54-0 blowouts each week."

While most of New York City’s best high school football players signed their letters of intent Feb. 2, Jordan Paul missed out on the fun. The New Utrecht senior quarterback simply wasn’t ready to sign.

“There were a lot of schools I was considering,” Paul said. “I wasn’t sure what school was best for me.”

At 5:05 p.m. Monday, Paul finally found the school that was the best for him: Gardner-Webb.

After flying to North Carolina Monday morning, Paul signed his letter of intent with the Runnin’ Bulldogs, a Division I-AA school. Paul led the Public Schools Athletic League in passing yards and completions and was second in touchdown passes this season.

“The environment is nice and you could learn a lot of things out here and study and get a good education coming out of this school,” Paul said. “You also have the time to work and practice by yourself and do individual things to get you better. I also like the coaching staff a lot.”

New Utrecht assistant coach Wendell Fevrine, who is Paul’s guardian, said they had set up a visit earlier in the recruiting process with Gardner-Webb, but the school had not yet hired a head coach after firing Steve Patton. The Big South school finally hired Ole Miss assistant Ron Dickerson Jr. on Jan. 26.

The pair flew out of JFK at 6:30 a.m. and arrived around 8:30 a.m. Paul had breakfast with the coaches and players before meeting with all of the coaches individually. He went out to eat with the staff and right after lunch signed with the program.

Paul said Gardner-Webb had always been on the top of his list, but he also had offers from Hampton, Charleston, Marist and Albany. Connecticut and Central Michigan had also showed interest during the recruiting process but didn’t offer.

“The players make me feel like I’m home. They had me talk to the quarterbacks and they’re nice guys and they told me they would be available if I need anything,” Paul said. “The coaches are perfect and the whole school is nice. The whole school gets involved in its games.”

Paul's coaches describe him as a dual-threat quarterback. Paul also led New Utrecht in rushing this season with 668 yards and nine touchdowns, averaging 7.5 yards per carry.

“You could say I’m like [Auburn quarterback] Cam Newton," Paul said. “I throw the ball real well and I could use my feet if I’m in trouble."

New Utrecht head coach Alan Balkan said Paul’s mechanics improved vastly from his junior to senior year and that coaches who saw Paul’s junior highlight tape and his senior highlight tape agreed.

Balkan said Paul went to three or four camps to work on his fundamentals, even spending time with former Giants quarterback Phil Simms to retool his mechanics.

Yet, even with Paul’s good numbers, New Utrecht struggled to a 3-6 record this season. But Balkan didn’t put the blame on his quarterback.

“We did not have a great group of seniors and defensively we were not that good,” Balkan said. “He kept us in every game.”