New Jersey's state high school wrestling tournament is getting an overhaul this upcoming season.

In an effort to bring equity across the eight regions that feed the state tournament, the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) passed a proposal that changes the current landscape of the state's wrestling postseason.

The first point of the proposal, and the least contested, expanded the team state tournament from six teams to eight teams, and eliminated first-round byes. In addition, the tournament will accept the top four from each region instead of the top three.

But the biggest and most controversial change re-organizes the districts and regions in consideration of competition power points. Classification in a district becomes somewhat transient based on the strength of the teams in your district and focuses slightly less on geography in an attempt to ensure capable athletes advance.

To understand this process, you must first understand the former NJSIAA individual postseason. The top three in 32 districts feed eight regions. The top three in each of those regions feed one state tournament. Simple enough, right? Not anymore.

According to the new proposal, the state would still be sectioned off into eight regions according to proximity with four districts feeding each region. But the districts would be subject to change based on the strength of the teams in each district. This new rule would go hand in hand with the proposal to bring the top four in each weight class to the state tournament, which would effectively make it a full, 32-man bracket without byes.

The wrestling community is torn apart in the state of New Jersey. Many think this is big step toward actualizing the best possible state tournament on a yearly basis, including former NJSIAA Coaches Association president Dan O'Cone.

"This will eliminate a useless match that occurs every year at the state tournament. The way that it is right now, the region seconds wrestle the region thirds," O'Cone said. "The winner of that bout goes on to wrestle a region champion, while the loser of that bout gets a bye into the second round of the wrestle backs. Some brackets have third-place finishers that have seven matches, while others have third-place finishers that have six matches. It makes no sense."

Others think forming districts according to power points is a slippery slope, and assert there aren't safeguards in place to stop coaches who are having a down year from petition for district realignment to position themselves for success the next year. Long-time New Jersey wrestling coach John Denuto believes taking the top four region placers to the state tournament has its drawbacks, as well.

"This change feeds into the 'everyone gets a medal' mentality kids are raised with now," Denuto said. "Region champions get rewarded with a well-earned bye. Winners get rewarded in life. Wrestling is life skills, so young athletes should learn that if you want a bye, you should win the region tournament. Those guys shouldn't have to wrestle a guy that qualified by losing twice. It takes away from one of the toughest high school tournaments to qualify for."

Regardless, it is undeniable that this makes New Jersey's high school state tournament look a lot like the NCAA Division I tournament. Even college coaches weighed in on the decision.

now a true 32 man bracket like the ncaas NO BYEs https://t.co/gXNzv4PK1y

— Coach Scott Goodale (@CoachGoodale) September 14, 2016

O'Cone proposed similar changes in 2013 during his tenure as president of the state's coaches association.

"Look, take out the politics out of it, and it boils down to equality for all wrestlers in the state of New Jersey, and equal numbers in the district and region tournaments," O'Cone said. "Plus, 112 more NJ wrestlers at the state tournament. I will fight for that all day!"

This isn't the first time New Jersey has come close to revamping their postseason procedure. In 2008, a passed proposal took aim at unfair advantages for non-public schools, which were recruiting out-of-district athletes to compete for them. It attempted to rectify the situation by placing all non-public schools into a separate, ninth region. As recent as last year, the NJSIAA passed a proposal that would keep eight regions, but designated one as a non-public region. Both proposals were terminated by the commissioner of education on grounds of discrimination.