Published: March 6, 2014
New WIAA proposal could cause even more headaches
WIAA would turn over conference alignment authority to
member schools
By NICHOLAS DETTMANN
Daily News
If it passes, the WIAA’s latest proposal will induce
absolute chaos.
The WIAA revealed the annual meeting amendments in the
February edition of the WIAA Bulletin and right at the top of the list is a
proposal by the WIAA to turn conference alignment authority and control over to
its membership schools.
“I will be shocked if that’s passed,” Slinger Athletic
Director Dan Karius said. “We need a governing body to run those things.
“I think it’d be absolute chaos.”
The discussion of turning conference alignment over to the
member schools will be the first of seven constitutional amendments the WIAA’s
more than 500 member schools’ administrators will vote on at the WIAA’s annual
meeting April 16 in Stevens Point.
The other proposals include:
■
Sport meeting requirement for all coaches. This change would require assistant
coaches to complete the rule meeting, instead of just the head coach.
■
Summer contact dead period. This change would make the week of July 4th
unavailable to coaches for unrestricted school coaching contact.
■
Requiring football acclimatization during the summertime contact days.
■
Providing the same opportunities for soccer coaches during the summertime. This
change would provide that all sports with unlimited nonschool coaching contact
will be the same.
■
Providing additional contact days for volleyball coaches during the summertime.
This change would grant volleyball coaches five additional days of unrestricted
school coaching contact.
■
Increased unrestricted school contact for basketball during the summertime.
This change would allow basketball coaches unrestricted school contact between
June 15-July 31.
The conference alignment control proposal figures to be an
engaging and potentially heated conversation before it goes to vote.
“I think there’s going to be a lot of interesting comments
made around it regarding what school districts want,” East Athletic Director
Jeff Rondorf said.
In January, the WIAA’s Board of Control approved the Green
Bay Realignment plan, which impacted more than 80 schools and nine conferences
in northeastern Wisconsin and stretched down to Kewaskum and Kettle Moraine
Lutheran.
The plan, which had been in the works for more than two
years, will have Kewaskum and KML, along with Berlin, Campbellsport, Plymouth,
Ripon, Waupun and Winneconne, form a new conference, which hasn’t been named.
KML Athletic Director Len Collyard was against the plan as
it increased the school’s travel for conference games.
During a WIAA area meeting in September at Fox Valley
Lutheran High School, a lot of athletic directors voiced their displeasure over
that proposal. The WIAA’s Deb Hauser, who handles most of the conference
alignment requests, said it is hard to accommodate every school’s request and
need, especially on this grand of a scale.
Some believe the backlash from the member schools at the
WIAA is the reason the WIAA is deciding to turn the authority of conference
alignment over to the member schools, especially as a another major conference
realignment plan involving southeastern Wisconsin schools, which include East
and West Bend West, is imminent.
“I was surprised that came over,” Rondorf said about the
proposal. “I thought it was off the table. I thought the WIAA was able to
continue as it is. It’ll be very interesting.”
Rondorf and Karius each agreed it opens up the WIAA and its
member schools to potential chaos, especially once schools try to get together
and form power conferences.
“If you turned it loose, there’s going to be so many schools
that will be left out,” Karius said. “There’s going to be so many schools that
will be left out. There’s going to be a lot of issues. We need our governing
body.
“To say you’re on your own, can you imagine the chaos it
will cause?”
The positive, Rondorf said, is it would speed up conference
alignment requests. In September, East, West requested to leave the Wisconsin
Little Ten Conference for the North Shore. That was one week after Wisconsin Lutheran
requested to leave the WLT. Milwaukee Lutheran of the North Shore and a handful
of other schools in southeastern Wisconsin have also requested conference
realignment in the last six months.
“It’ll definitely be a close vote,” Rondorf said.
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