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| 11/10/2009 7:52:00 AM | Email this article • Print this article | |
| | Projected Timeline | November 6 - Revised Football Plan released to Member Schools, Football Coaches Leadership, CESA Leaders, Board of Control, Conference Commissioners, etc.
December 4 - Board of Control review of revised plan based on 2009 third Friday enrollment counts.
December 8 - Football Coaches Advisory Committee Meeting - review the plan and proposed district by-laws - take action on plan.
Mid December - repost the Divisions based on review of UWSP Math Department.
January 11 - Sports Advisory Committee - take action on district football plan.
January 26 - Advisory Council Meeting - take action on district football plan prior to Board of Control Meeting - receive from UWSP Math Department District schedules.
January 27 - Board of Control Meeting - take final action on district football plan.
February 1 - Distribute 2010 District Football Schedules to Member Schools
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WIAA asks schools to weigh costs in district football proposal
New enrollment numbers and districts released for review; final decision will be Jan. 27
The WIAA has released an updated version of the proposal that will eliminate conference football for the entire State and drop all schools into districts based solely upon enrollments.
The plan which came in a modified version Friday is now out on the table for support and scrutiny as the timeline laid out puts the idea on the fast-track toward implementation for the 2010 football season.
Earlier this year, the original plan came handed down from Stevens Point which showed exactly where each district in the State would be drawn.
Along with the first rendering also came the enrollment numbers the WIAA would use in the plan if the WIAA's board of directors voted it through this coming January.
Friday, the WIAA though released a revised plan with newly drawn districts in reference to updated 2010 enrollment figures which floated a number of different schools from where they had originally landed in the first proposal sent forth for review by member schools.
As do most schools, administration and coaching staff at Lakeland Union High School have positives and negatives to the newly proposed districts as well as the plans overall concept.
"I like the concept like many do in this area because it's a guarantee that you're never going to be caught in the situation of playing a team twice or three times your size," Lakeland Union High School athletic director and dean of students Justin Szews said. "With that said, I also like the set-up in the [Great Northern Conference] which has shown to be a very good set up for Lakeland."
Though Szews says the concept means well, he also spoke to what he and many believe to be the driving motive behind the proposal.
"When you look at the comments made by WIAA leadership, the thing they are trying to address is conference realignment," Szews said. "They are trying to get away from the patching a tire and fixing it the next year, patching a tire and fixing it the next year."
Since the dis-banding of the Lumberjack Conference earlier this decade, schools around the State, much like Park Falls and Phillips did, began crying foul in regards to schools inside of conference beating up on one another - specifically in football.
Since then, the WIAA has been forced to deal with numerous re-alignment plans, some of which have failed and some, like the Great Northern Conference, which have proved to be worthy of their time and trouble. This at least according to many within the now four-season old GNC.
"I've said it before and I'll say it again now, we like the set-up in the Great Northern Conference, but we understand what the WIAA is trying to do with this plan," Lakeland head football coach Don Scharbarth said. "What we didn't want was to be at the bottom of District 2 and with the new lines now, we are in what we see to be a much better fit for us and those schools around us."
The new plan is simple. Place schools from largest to smallest in accordance with enrollments and then find those within a close proximity to comprise a district. Then, every two years the WIAA will re-draw the districts with updated enrollments.
According to the WIAA, 54 schools were impacted with this most recent adjustment because of increases or decreases in the 2009 enrollment reports. One of those 54 schools was Lakeland Union High School who saw their district not only grow in size, but move from the Western part of the state to the more east/east central portion of Wisconsin.
The big change in this means longer bus rides for student/athletes and increased cost for the LUHS school district.
"One of the largest costs inside this district comes from transportation," superintendent of the Lakeland School District Todd Kleinhans said. "We pay close to $1.3 million on transportation costs and it's getting no cheaper really each year. Looking at a practical standpoint I can see what the WIAA is trying to do, but I am a little bit un-comfortable from the standpoint of sending kids three plus hours."
The WIAA now wants schools to take this plan and weight their opinion on it for possible consideration at the January 27 meeting of the WIAA board of control. One thing they wanted schools to realize is just how many schools were shipped elsewhere after redrawing district lines from 2009 to 2010.
"As we tried to convey at the area meetings this fall, this is a very fluid plan that will result in changes every two years based on changing enrollments at our member schools," the WIAA said. "This is a perfect example of how many changes can occur in just a one year period."
The changes for Lakeland and their football program are mainly in the amount of time they'll be spending on the road to and from games each Friday night.
With the new district proposal, Lakeland keeps traditional opponents in Tomahawk, Mosinee and Northland Pines which are all inside of 90 minutes, Eagle River and Tomahawk easily.
However, the addition of Waupaca (255 miles round trip), Clintonville (245 miles round trip), Marinette (290 miles round trip) and Oconto Falls (312 miles round trip) mean in some cases a 3-hour plus bus ride for athletes and parents.
"That was one of our main concerns, that we now have four opponents that are three or more hours away," Scharbarth said. "It mean our travel time and budget are severely affected."
Though the WIAA has said they are trying to avoid circumstances like Lakeland, they also have the very real un-avoidable problem of trying to satisfy hundreds of districts across the state.
"We understand the concerns of increased travel that this football district plan creates in a few areas of our state," the WIAA said. "Unless a plan for wide-spread relief is implemented, realignment could occur whereby all your sports would be affected by increased travel. Please keep that in mind as you weigh the pros and cons of this district football plan. The same can be said of the concerns being expressed about losing traditional rivals. Conference realignment can create a similar scenario."
From a competition standpoint, which the re-alignment plan was specifically drawn up to aid, Lakeland's district becomes much more diverse.
From defending WIAA Division 3 State champions in Waupaca, who entered into Saturday's state quarterfinal with a 10-1 record overall, to 0-9 Marinette, the districts overall win/loss record would be 30-44 overall. Lakeland, Clintonville and Waupaca would be the only teams who come off of winning seasons heading into the new district.
"Competition wise, we're 100 percent in favor of the new district," Scharbarth said. "We look at teams from the Great Northern like Merrill and Antigo that we lose, of course we were losing Merrill anyways, but we gain a very good team in Waupaca and another good team in Clintonville."
Other concerns however come in the post-season arrangements.
Currently the WIAA allows only teams who achieve a .500 or better conference record into their pool of playoff eligible teams. All schools are allotted to play a nine game schedule with the current line of rules, some of which in rural areas are 100 percent conference schedules.
With the new proposal, things all change.
With eight team districts, each school is allowed to schedule one non-district game. The WIAA will set the schedule for schools the first year of play, leaving week 1 open for schools to schedule their own non-district game. The other seven games are within the district with week nine set aside as the first round of the WIAA State playoffs.
The seeding will work like this.
The top four teams within a district will be ranked one thru four after the eighth week of competition is over. Those top four teams are then matched up with a neighboring district at week 9 of the season as the first round of the WIAA playoffs.
The fourth seeded team from one district would play the top team from the opposing district, and the two seed would play the three and so on.
Those four teams in the district who are not seeded will still play week 9, however their season ends there, as does the loser of all the seeded games.
This is one aspect of the plan that doesn't rest well with Scharbarth.
"I don't like the fact that our kids are not given the opportunity to play a full nine game regular season," Scharbarth said. "For instance, three years ago our season was 13 games and the past two years they have been 12 games. If this proposal goes through as is, more than half the teams in Wisconsin would be done with their season after week nine."
Another question comes with the freshman and junior varsity schedule of which is typically playing on Monday nights for JV and Thursday evenings for Frosh.
Both Scharbarth and Szews were in agreement that Lakeland would still need to rely on scheduling those game locally as driving three plus hours on a school night for freshmen and sophomores would not be an option.
"We have to hope that the neighboring schools are in the same boat we are in to get Frosh and JV games from Rhinelander, Merrill and Medford or we're going to be in trouble," Scharbarth said.
With all things said, Szews remains under the impression that Lakeland will add their vote in support of the re-alignment though it says it will note the dis-advantages from the district standpoint.
"In April we supported it at the area meetings - voting on a concept and not the logistics," Szews said. "I don't see [our opinion as a district] changing now. We were all in agreement that it was something positive and we would support it. Given our area in the state, it is certainly a good insurance policy over future conference alignment plans."
Though the revised plan has been released, new lines could be drawn prior to implementation as the WIAA is in the process of having the UW-Stevens Point math department analyze the district circles to determine if mileage can be reduced for any member schools by redrawing the circles.
"We hope to have that analysis completed by mid December," the WIAA said. "Between now and then we are seeking feedback from member schools on this revised plan. This feedback along with the UWSP analysis will guide us as we attempt to finalize this plan."
The plan and districts proposed can be viewed in their entirety by visiting the WIAA website at www.wiaawi.org.
There is also a link to the proposal on the Lakeland Times website at www.lakelandtimes.com.
Doug Etten can be reached via email at detten@lakelandtimes.com
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