Traditions Out, Travel In Under New WIAA Format The days of M & O Football as we know it could be over.
Same goes for the Bay Conference.
If all goes the way the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association (WIAA) has planned, the days of conferences in football will end, effective: now.
Peshtigo could be the last M & O Conference champion, as 80 years of conference affiliations will move out of the way for district realignment, when teams will play similar sized schools in eight-team districts.
Under the proposal, which is almost a sure thing according to all sources contacted, the top six divisions in Wisconsin football will be divided into eight eight-team districts. The smallest division (seven) will have smaller numbers in each district, an example being Wausaukee in a seven-team district.
The Rangers, the smallest football program enrollment-wise in the reading area, will be affected the most by this proposal, as their average travel per away game will increase from roughly 47 miles per game to almost 140 miles per game.
The Rangers will have to make a trip to Port Edwards (180-plus miles one way) and Wisconsin Rapids Assumption (over 175 miles), with the shortest trek being a run to Green Bay to take on the brand-new NEW Lutheran program, if the current proposal goes through.
“Personally, I don’t like it,” said Wausaukee athletic director Bill Wickman. “The travel expenses and to have the kids on the bus three hours one way, it’s just gonna hurt us.”
“I agree with Bill, 100 percent,” said Marinette coach and athletic director Joel Hanner. “It may be hard to get some coaches to coach. There’s a lot of things that go hand-in-hand here. A lot of inconsistencies. It’s going to be very difficult. I hope it works out.”
The reasoning behind the proposed change is to give smaller schools a better opportunity to advance to the post-season, as some conferences have a rather sizeable discrepancy and most of the bigger schools are securing the post-season berths.
In the latest enrollment figures taken by the WIAA, Wausaukee (164) is half the size of the largest school in the conference, Peshtigo (327).
“The issue of being a small school in a larger conference, we don’t care about that,” Wickman said. “I think everybody has competed in the M & O.”
Each team in the M & O Conference has made the post-season at least once in the last four seasons.
“We’ve had no problem playing in the M & O,” Wickman continued. “We are happy in the M & O.”
Under the proposal, teams would play a seven-game district schedule with one non-district game to take place in the first week of action.
The top four teams will advance to the post-season (to be held week nine), while the bottom four teams will square off with a team in another district that finished in a similar position.
All schools in the big six divisions will only have to schedule one non-league game, which will take place in week one.
“We’ve had such a revolving door for week one,” admitted Jeff Bronson, Coleman’s athletic director. “It will relieve us of a headache.”
“The distance and mileage is going to be a pain, obviously a drawback,” Bronson continued. “(But) you have two choices. You either do what the WIAA tells you or you leave. You’d like to have more say or input.”
The opportunities to argue for or against the new proposal have come and gone, and mixed reviews were found all over the place.
For teams like Gillett, travel time won’t change much. The Tigers are proposed to be in a group with Bonduel (15 miles away) and Menominee Indian (18), while maintaining their match-up with Peshtigo.
Oconto won’t be drastically affected either, as the Blue Devils will have familiar foes Kewaunee, Wrightstown, Southern Door and Sturgeon Bay in their district.
M & O teams Suring, Peshtigo, Lena/STAA and Coleman will all average about an hour on a bus to each away game, which is a slight difference from the 35-45 minute average from before.
It is the northern teams (Crivitz, Wausaukee, Northern Elite), and bigger schools in the area (Marinette and Oconto Falls) that will see the brunt of the travel change.
Marinette and Oconto Falls were originally supposed to be placed in a district quite similar to the current Bay Conference, but as of last week, the district has changed and travel distances have skyrocketed.
“Obviously the first recommendation, we were more favorable to that,” said Hanner. “The big reason is our travel costs and geographically. A longer trip for our kids and our fans.”
Now, Marinette has the second farthest average trip of the area teams behind Wausaukee.
“We’re kind of stuck in the lumber up here,” Hanner admitted. “We’re going to get stuck paying more for mileage like a lot of other teams who are up north. You’re isolated and you’re gonna be on the road more.”
As it is proposed now, Marinette and Oconto Falls will be in a district with Lakeland (in Minocqua), Mosinee, Tomahawk, Northland Pines, Waupaca, and Clintonville, all trips that would take over an hour and in some cases up to three hours.
“That definitely is a night-and-day distance from what our mileage cost was,” Hanner added.
The big concern for some schools is losing the conference affiliations and the accompanying rivalries.
“(The WIAA is) not concerned about rivalries,” Wickman opined. “We’re not gonna have any rivalries. It’s just gonna hurt us.”
That concern isn’t as widespread in this area like the travel is. Every team in the area would increase travel average except for Gillett, which will remain almost exactly the same.
Although travel will change, not every team is against the modernized proposal.
“We would much rather play in the district alignment or the M & O, so our kids have to step it up,” said Northern Elite coach and Niagara superintendent Dan nett. “It would benefit our kids to play tougher competition. We would still play Florence (in the non-district game week one) and Laona/Wabeno, two big games in our conference.”
“We do like it and hope the district alignment happens,” Nett added. “Most of the people I spoke to are in agreement with the set-up. We voted to support the district alignment.”
With the potential alignment, the districts would be looked at every two years to make sure the enrollments are still similar. If not, adjustments will be made.
“I actually don’t mind the change every two years,” Bronson noted. “If they’re gonna do this, that’s one thing they will have to do a good job of keeping up to keep it competitive.”
One area team that might be impacted the most by the switch isn’t even in Wisconsin.
The Menominee Maroons, who regularly schedule four Wisconsin opponents, will only have an opportunity for one now in the first week, and that will likely be reserved for Marinette.
“It’s devastating to us,” said Maroon coach Ken Hofer. “Let’s face it, we play Marinette and (three) other Wisconsin schools every year. Unless the state of Michigan decides to stick their nose in and make some changes, we’re gonna really struggle.”
“I agree with Coach Hofer,” Hanner chimed. “They’re really stuck behind the eight ball. It’s unfair for a lot of out of state teams whether it’s the U.P. or Minnesota. They’re not very happy.”
“It’s really sad this comes about for us,” Hofer added. “I don’t believe what they’re doing is necessary.”
Another problem local administrators see is the proposed plan to continue to have freshmen and JV games against current conference opponents.
Under the current plan, teams will not square off with their new district opponents until the varsity level.
Many programs, especially those at the small school levels, split up coaches between internal programs and that will take away game-planning.
“We’re not gonna have an idea of what they play on offense, what they do on defense,” said Wickman.
“You have two different things going on at once,” added Hanner. “You’d like to help your JV and freshmen in their preparation. They’re working on one area and we’re in a whole other area. It’s gonna be a lot more difficult with your continuity. It’s gonna make it a lot more difficult for everybody.”
The WIAA has been hearing complaints from small schools in bigger conferences for years and is finally planning on changing.
The hopes of the new system is to decrease the late-season hoopla that surrounds the opening-round of the playoffs, where teams play on Thursday, Tuesday and Saturday, or three games in nine days.
Aside from travel difficulties, the majority of the area coaches and administrators contacted believe the competition level will be better for their respective programs.
“I’ve talked to our coaching staff and the only thing they feel strongly about is we should be very competitive,” revealed Wickman. “Maybe we can advance in the playoffs, but at a cost.”
“There’s been years where we’ve had respectable teams and (future district opponent) Hilbert has come up here and throttled us,” recalled Bronson. “Even on our best day we would have struggled to compete with them. You’re still going to have the possibility (of competitive differences).”
“We finished 0-9, I don’t care where we’re at we have a ways to go,” Hanner insighted.
But the Marinette coach doesn’t feel a change is necessary, and likes the current format despite not winning a game this season and Marinette’s eight-year absence from the playoffs.
“We’re very happy where we’re at,” revealed Hanner. “We’ve been going to this area for many, many years. It’s been very good to us. We’ve always maintained an attitude that we’re just happy to be here. We’re just happy they accept us as part of the Bay.”
The latest revision of the plan was sent out to schools, coaches, conference commissioners and others on Friday, Nov. 6, and the Board of Control will review the revisions on Dec. 4.
Action should be taken later in the month and the plan could be finalized in January.
The likeliness of the proposal going through is evident in a timeline on the WIAA website which marks Feb. 1 as the date to distribute 2010 district schedules to member schools.
“As of right now, I think this is a done deal for 2010,” Wickman disclosed. “They wanted to see an equal playing level. Once they look at the travel, they might not like it.”
The district plan will only affect football and will not change conference affiliations for any other sports.
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