Doug said, "I think I've known since the late '80's that the answer is "Because it's run (on a local and regional level) by people who don't know a lot about quiz bowl."... "Not that I blame these folks for not knowing a lot about quiz bowl; running the campus tournament (CBI) at their school, or the regional tournament, is a very small part of the job of a student activities person. They don't think about it every day, or even once a week, as the players do. Unfortunately, that lack of knowledge has produced some of the more egregious bad regional tournament formats, etc., but fortunately, and to their credit, CBI have changed somewhat in response to competitors' feedback." ACU-I has changed also, and that change, I think, has the most potential to change things for the better. For one thing, the Regional Leadership Teams have opened up so that one does not need to be a student union professional to be the College Bowl Regional Coordinator; in fact, one does not even have to be a professional - a student could hold the position! I think I'm the first non-student union professional to serve as a Regional Coordinator under the new rules; I'll be very surprised if I'm the last. The door has been opened for people with College Bowl playing or coaching experience to run the tournaments. The second major change is that tournament formats have been standardized. Depending on the size of the field, the tournament must follow certain minimal round-robin formats. And the criteria and tie-breakers for advancing to the playoffs are now standardized: won-loss record, head-to-head, total net points per toss-up heard, total net toss-up points per toss-up heard. In other words who won most often, who won the match between them, who played better over all, who played better faster over all. The effects of moderator speed have been minimized to where they're no longer a factor, and there is no longer a reason for running up the score on a weaker opponent by playing faster to get more toss-ups in. There are still a lot of improvements to be addressed. Not all Regions were able to adapt smoothly to the changes, and I've made increasing moderator and officiating quality my personal focus for the rest of my term. But Rome was neither built nor burned in a day. The really encouraging thing is that ACU-I has made the institutional changes to make some very positive changes in the Regional Tournaments possible. Most of the Regional Coordinators will meet in Albuquerque in a little over three weeks to discuss the state of College Bowl. If players and coaches have suggestions for improvement, now is the time to let your Regional College Bowl Coordinator know. Be constructive and not hostile, and explain your concerns clearly: remember that only one (I think) of the RC's now is NOT a student union professional without playing experience. Tom Michael ACU-I Region 6 College Bowl Coordinator 11-year College Bowl Coach 2-Year College Bowl Player 19-Year College Bowl Moderator P.S. Doug also wasn't exaggerating too much about how primitive it was in his day. There was an invitational match between the Virginia I coached and the Penn State Doug played on that had to be played in a bar because no classrooms were available. P.P.S. WAY TO GO SARAH HUGHES! And way to go Michelle Kwan! - grace hiding a tremendous dissapointment - a class act all the way.
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