Coaches are seeing red over a decision to change the seeding format for the Central District boys basketball tournament, which begins Feb. 21 at various sites.

Beginning in 1999, coaches in each division were given the option of seeding every team in the district, virtually eliminating luck of the draw from the process.

Subsequently, higher-seeded teams would play lower-seeded teams in the opening rounds, rewarding the most successful teams in the regular season but often producing lopsided scores.

Concerned that this competitive imbalance hurts attendance in Division I games in the Ohio Expo Center Coliseum, the Central District Athletic Board voted last summer to return to the old format.

At the district's tournament draw Feb. 5, seeds will be awarded to 12 teams in Division I and eight in the other three divisions. The remaining teams will randomly draw pills to determine their opponents.

"At our meeting Sunday, about nine in 10 coaches indicated that they preferred the way we've done things the last several years," said Worthington Kilbourne coach Tom Souder, president of the District 10 coaches.

"We really feel that this change was thrust upon us. No one conferred with us about it at all. The biggest problem I have is that they're telling the top seeds where they have to go on the bracket. Everyone is placed according to where No. 1 goes. It's not the way tournaments should be organized."

Central District Athletic Board member Dave Siess, the athletics director at Westerville South and an Ohio High School Athletic Association board of control member, said the coaches weren't consulted about the change because "we already knew how they felt about it."

He cited three overriding reasons for the procedural change.

"We had a request from the OHSAA office for the district boards to do things in a more uniform manner, and we're complying with the way the two largest districts along with ours, the Northeast and Southwest, run their tournaments," he said.

"Second, in our meetings with the principals and ADs who make up the membership, there was a big concern about the blowouts these first-round games produced and whether that was really the best thing for kids.

"The third factor is money. Last year was the first time we couldn't return bonus money to the schools. We came up $2,000 in the red for that sectional round in Division I at the (Expo Center). Those games just aren't drawing. Let's face it, nobody wants to watch No. 1 beat up on No. 39."

Ready coach Pat Murphy objected to the district board's reasoning.

"Why should 10 percent of the schools whose principals complained dictate policy change to the other 90 percent?" he said. "In recent years, the coaches have changed the lottery system of the past into a meritocracy where the regular season matters for unseeded teams."

Siess said the lottery system levels the playing field for the have-nots.

"Our feeling is that you're still rewarding the best teams for good regular seasons, but you're giving the others a reason to look forward to the second season," he said. "Maybe with the luck of drawing a pill, a team can make their whole season by winning a tournament game."