The Division I-A head coaches voted Tuesday to continue awarding its national championship trophy to the winner of the BCS title game for at least one more season. The coaches voted "unanimously" at a Tuesday morning meeting during the American Football Coaches Association national convention here at the Opryland Hotel.

However, by one estimate, only 60 to 70 of the 120 I-A coaches were in the room. Three of the four coaches of teams generally regarded to have a national title claim in 2008 apparently were in attendance -- Florida's Urban Meyer, Texas' Mack Brown and Utah's Kyle Whittingham. USC coach Pete Carroll did not attend.

The meeting was not open to the media but one person in attendance said there were sources inside the room "who wanted the system tweaked."

The coaches poll has been the backbone of BCS legitimacy since the AFCA partnered with the BCS in 1998 to recognize the winner of the BCS title game as its national champion.

The tweaking could come in the form of coaches once again hiding their ballots, according to AFCA executive director Grant Teaff. In recent years, the 61 voting coaches have been making their final ballots public after the regular season. Teaff said he has been receiving input that a closed vote would be more "accurate."

Teaff also said the coaches are considering reducing the number of voters in the name of "fairness". That would be done, he said, to balance the input from each I-A conference.

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