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Does the state have any rules about how conferences organize games, how many they have to play against each other and how standings are kept? Or is it up to the coaches/ADs to decide per sport?

HShockeywatcher wrote:Does the state have any rules about how conferences organize games, how many they have to play against each other and how standings are kept? Or is it up to the coaches/ADs to decide per sport?

Its up to the member schools of the conference to decide. The state has no input at all.

Anyone have insight on certain conferences as to why they play the other teams the number of times they do and why conference play is set up the way it is?

Some conferences have all the teams play twice, some have all the teams play once, some it seems to be up to the teams themselves how many they schedule against who and in other cases the top teams play each other twice while the lesser team(s) get one game against conference opponent.
I have my own opinion on certain situation and how they are done but I am curious as to why some are done the way they are. Thanks for any insight.

I know that in the Lake all teams are required to play everyone in the conference twice (home and away). The only problem with that is by having 10 teams to play that takes up 20 of your maximum 25 games leaving you with only 5 non conference games. I believe the Classis Lake is the same way where they have to play everyone twice but Im not positive. This isnt a big deal for those teams though because it is only 8 conference games leaving them with 17 non conference games they can schedule. This is why Edina always seems to be playing someone good because they have some many free games to schedule they can schedule the best teams in the state and since scheduling is done every 2 years they play at home one year and away the next

If a conference has 10 teams and are required to play each opponent twice, that would be 18 games, not twenty (nine opponents to play). The Central Lakes has a home-away series with games equaling one point each. They have a provision that allows only one game worth two points to be played if both schools agree to playing only once. Sometimes this makes sense when its a top level team and a bottom level team. It suits both teams to play once. Both teams get to schedule a more competitive non conference opponent or a section opponent to help in the seeding process for the section.

RLStars, there are 11 teams in the Lake Conference, which is why eagle4life9 said "10 teams to play" not 10 teams total. Interesting thing about the Lake, though, is that Kennedy is playing each team only once this year, giving them 15 free games, which they have scheduled against class A teams and everyone else 6 free games.
-I look at the Missota and wonder why teams don't let Holy Angels only play away conference games, one against each team. Gives Holy Angels better opportunity and gives the other teams another opportunity against maybe a section opponent.
-Wonder why Roseau plays Warroad twice and Moorhead only plays both of Warroad and Roseau once. Obviously it's the travel, but as far as conference play goes, it just comes to mind.
-There are a few teams in the North Suburban it doesn't seem to make sense for Totino and Benilde to play twice.

Just a few examples off the top of my head.

HSHW - I don't know how many teams are in the Lake conference, so E4L is correct. Missota must not allow them to play once, but it would make sense to allow it if both teams agree.

Yes I forgot about that this year that Kennedy has requested to play only 1 conference game against each team this year. I definitely understand why though just look at their records over the last couple years in the Lake I would be willing to bet they didnt win more than 2 conference games in the last 4 years. Its kind of like when Andover and Lakeville South both first opened they were given special circumstances because they didnt have any seniors. Andover didnt play a conference schedule they just played whoever they wanted and Lakeville South played a Lake schedule but played down a class in all of the sections.

But back the the question at hand..I dont really know why some conferences do it different than others. There must not really be a set of rules for any of it. Its probably up to the coaches and a few conference directors at a meeting. Because I know for non conference games all you have to do is contact the coach of the team you want to play and set up a day and time.

RLStars wrote:HSHW - I don't know how many teams are in the Lake conference, so E4L is correct. Missota must not allow them to play once, but it would make sense to allow it if both teams agree.

One theory I heard several years ago is that Holy Angels requested this at one time, but the other seven teams denied the request, hoping that Holy Angels would leave the conference. Don't know if there is any truth to this.

That has been thrown around on here a bit before. I do not understand why they would do that, I could understand the AA team(s), but if the A teams were okay with it they could schedule another section opponent.

I don't remember the specifics, but sometime in the last few years in the Lake Superior Conference the two teams at the top both had one loss, although one had played one more conference game than the other and got the title. I was really confused by this, that there wouldn't be some regulation on how the games were scheduled.