Illinois Scholastic Bowl Coaches' Poll
In editions of Scholastic Visions, the official quarterly publication of the Illinois High School Scholastic Bowl Coaches Association, there are results of best-team polls conducted throughout the season. While any member is free to vote, voting is generally not taken up by more than a few.
There are separate rankings for Class AA (big schools) and Class A (little schools), though coaches can submit one for each class. Since its inception in 2000, Kevin Palmer, the coach at Fremd High School has been in charge of tabulation.
In a few noted cases, voters broke from the final IHSA results to vote a school higher than their finish in the IHSA State Series, accounting for the geographically-based (rather than performance-based) distribution of Regionals and Sectionals and the similar grouping of pools at the State Finals. Most notably:
- 2000-01: a great Lake Zurich team favored to make a run for the state title was upset by New Trier in the first round of the Sectional (which was then three rounds of single elimination), which in turn lost the Sectional Final to Stevenson. IMSA, winner of the state title, was ranked fourth, likely because they were left off of some ballots in protest.
- 2004-05: Fremd was knocked out in the Sectional by Stevenson, but was ranked #1 in the final poll, despite Stevenson winning the IHSA State Title.
- 2005-06: The Latin School bested Winnebago in pool play at the IHSA State Title, forcing Winnebago to settle for 3rd place. Despite this, the coaches recognized that Winnebago and Latin were by far the best two Class A teams in state that year, and appropriately voted Winnebago second place over IVC.
- 2006-07: Maine South was knocked out of the Sectional by New Trier. Despite not appearing at the IHSA State Championship Tournament, the team was voted third in state. St. Ignatius finished third in the same Sectional as New Trier and Maine South, but strong play throughout the year garnered them enough support to finish ahead of a Libertyville team which took 4th place at the IHSA State Championship Tournament. Oak Park-River Forest did not even win its own regional (losing to St. Ignatius), but had earned enough respect to earn the 8th spot, tied with Libertyville.
In each case, only the final (post season) poll for each year is listed.
2000-01
| CLASS A | Rank | Class AA |
|---|---|---|
| Warrensburg-Latham | 1 | Wheaton North |
| Carlinville | 2 | Stevenson |
| St. Anthony and Latin School | 3 | Lake Zurich |
| 4 | IMSA and New Trier | |
| Sullivan | 5 | |
| University (Normal) | 6 | Fenwick |
| Stillman Valley | 7 | Loyola Academy |
| St. Bede (Peru) | 8 | Salem |
| Robinson | 9 | Lincoln-Way |
| Herrin | 10 | Larkin (Elgin) |
2001-02
| CLASS A | Rank | Class AA |
|---|---|---|
| Latin School | 1 | Wheaton North |
| University (Normal) | 2 | New Trier |
| Stillman Valley | 3 | St. Ignatius |
| Carterville | 4 | Homewood-Flossmoor & Auburn |
| Pleasant Plains | 5 | |
| Central Catholic (Bloomington) & Cuba | 6 | Downers Grove North |
| 7 | Hinsdale Central | |
| Unity (Tolono) & Warrensburg-Latham | 8 | Fremd & Maine East |
| 9 | ||
| Carlinville | 10 | Sterling |
2002-03
| CLASS A | Rank | Class AA |
|---|---|---|
| Stillman Valley | 1 | Wheaton North |
| Carlinville | 2 | New Trier |
| Latin School | 3 | Auburn |
| Dunlap | 4 | Guilford (Rockford) |
| University (Normal) | 5 | Stevenson |
| Mt. Carmel | 6 | Loyola Academy |
| Gibault (Waterloo) & Litchfield | 7 | Downers Grove North |
| 8 | Crystal Lake Central | |
| Fairfield | 9 | Glenbard North |
| PORTA & Pleasant Plains | 10 | Sterling |
2003-04
no final poll announced
2005-06
| CLASS A | Rank | Class AA |
|---|---|---|
| Latin School | 1 | Fremd |
| Winnebago | 2 | Auburn |
| Illlinois Valley Central (IVC) | 3 | Wheaton North |
| Lutheran S.A. (Decatur) | 4 | Bloomington |
| Fairfield | 5 | New Trier |
| Peoria Heights | 6 | Carbondale |
| Macomb | 7 | Fenwick |
| Byron | 8 | Loyola Academy |
| Marquette (Alton) | 9 | Oak Park-River Forest & Maine East |
| Columbia & Lisle | 10 |
2006-07
| CLASS A | Rank | Class AA |
|---|---|---|
| Lutheran S.A. (Decatur) | 1 | New Trier |
| Columbia | 2 | Wheaton North |
| Latin School | 3 | Maine South |
| PORTA | 4 | Bloomington |
| Fairfield & Jamaica (Sidell) | 5 | Auburn |
| 6 | Carbondale | |
| Macomb | 7 | St. Ignatius |
| Morrison | 8 | Oak Park-River Forest & Libertyville |
| Paris | 9 | |
| Winnebago | 10 | Fenwick |