Task force conducts conference realignment review of modified football plans

The WIAA’s Conference Realignment Task Force convened Thursday to receive feedback from schools impacted by the modified football-only realignment plans and met Friday to finalize recommendations to advance to the Board of Control.

As a result of the information gathered from the hearings, the Conference Realignment Task Force amended a number of the modified plans. The Board of Control will vote on the recommendations at its meeting on Tuesday, March 7.

The board has the options to approve, reject or remand realignment recommendations back to the task force. If approved, the modifications will be implemented for the 2024 football season.

The opportunity for schools which are affected by modified realignment solutions to provide feedback enhances engagement, communication and transparency in the conference realignment process. Every school that requested a hearing Thursday was afforded time to present new information to the task force. Feedback from schools in the same conference assigned designated individuals to represent the views of all schools in the league.

One of the amendments involves a proposed conference for a local team. Flambeau has replaced Mellen in the proposed Northwoods-East Conference for eight-player football that, if approved, would include the separated Rib Lake and Prentice squads as well as Phillips, Hurley, the Chequamegon Co-op and Athens.

Under the current proposal, Gilman remains in a proposed North Central-East Conference for eight-player football that includes Alma Center Lincoln, Cornell, Lake Holcombe, McDonell Catholic, Owen-Withee and Thorp. Medford remains in the Great Northern Conference, where plans are for Wausau East and Tomahawk to replace Hayward and Ashland in 2024.

Complete listing of the configurations of football conferences statewide –– including the modified, football-only conference realignment recommendations for 11-player and 8-player football –– is available on the Conference Realignment page of the WIAA website (wiaawi. org). Original proposals submitted are also available on the WIAA “Conference Realignment” webpage under “Requests and Proposals.” The full conference realignment process and timeline can be found on the WIAA webpage by accessing the “Conference Realignment” option in the “Schools” megamenu.