MONROE - Expansion could be on the horizon for the Badger Conference if one Milwaukee area conference dissolves.
WIAA Associate Director Deb Hauser, the coordinator for conference realignment, said both Beaver Dam and Watertown have informed the WIAA they would like to join the Badger Conference if the Wisconsin Little Ten Conference dissolves.
"If the Little Ten Conference dissolves, their preference is to go west," Hauser said. "That is why we are working with the Badger Conference. A lot of people from there work in this area (Badger Conference)."
With many winter sports tournaments underway, Hauser pointed out that she likely will not complete an official proposal until later this spring.
"There is not even a proposal out there yet," Hauser said. "It's very early in the development phase. It's still so very preliminary."
The possible expansion of the Badger Conference from its current 14 to 16 schools is part of a bigger conference realignment plan in the Milwaukee metro area that effects five conferences. Adding Beaver Dam and Watertown to the Badger Conference would have to be approved by the WIAA Board of Control, which meets every month. The next meeting for the board is scheduled for Friday.
Many athletic directors and football coaches in the Badger Conference support an expansion. However, how the conference is split could be a stumbling block. The conference currently is split with seven teams in the North and seven in the South. That could change if Beaver Dam and Watertown are added to the conference.
Athletic directors in the Badger Conference and football coaches have had meetings in the last month to discuss options for splitting the conference. The conference could be divided up by east-west boundary lines or leaders could adopt a small school-large school model based on enrollments. Under that scenario, the eight largest schools would make up the Badger large school conference and the eight smallest schools would comprise the small school Badger Conference.
Monroe Athletic Director Dave Hirsbrunner said he supports an enrollment-based conference split over a geographical divide.
"We already drive a long way to all of our events so I would not be worried about adding Reedsburg, Portage and Baraboo to our conference," Hirsbrunner said. "If that is what it takes to even out the enrollment issues in the Badger, then I am all for it.
"At the present time Monroe is being outsized by the Badger Conference schools and there is nowhere for us to go in terms of other conferences."
In the large-small split, Monroe would likely be included in a conference with Portage, Baraboo, Reedsburg, Madison Edgewood, Mount Horeb and Fort Atkinson. Mount Horeb is now a member of the Badger North.
"I always thought it was funny that the closest school to Monroe is not even in our conference," Monroe football coach Curt Miller said of Mount Horeb.
The smallest school in the Badger South Conference is Madison Edgewood, but Hirsbrunner said Edgewood is a private school and can regulate its enrollment numbers. Monroe is the second smallest school in the conference with a high school enrollment of 713. Next fall, there will be five schools in the Badger South and Badger North Conferences with enrollments of more than 1,000 students, including Waunakee (1,163), Oregon (1,094), Stoughton (1,055), DeForest (1,043) and Milton (1,016).
"That competitively creates a disadvantage in multiple areas," Hirsbrunner said. "One disheartening thing about this is Monroe has some kids who really want to work hard and excel in athletics in addition to the classroom. Competing against yourself with academics is a different story than competing head-to-head with kids that are picked from a pool that is larger than the Monroe pool."
However, with Portage, Baraboo and Reedsburg more than one hour away, the road trips for different sports could lead to a need for a larger budget for transportation costs and the concern of students getting out of school early. The Badger Conference already has golf teams in the conference playing nine-hole matches instead of 18-hole matches like the Big Eight Conference because of concerns of students getting out of school too early.
"Whenever there is more travel it does affect more people," Hirsbrunner said. "The thing to our disadvantage is geographically we are so far out of the conference. The good thing is that everyone in our conference gets along and respects each other."
Hirsbrunner said the tip off for basketball games could be earlier.
"I don't know how the other schools would vote," he said. "It will be interesting."
WIAA Associate Director Deb Hauser, the coordinator for conference realignment, said both Beaver Dam and Watertown have informed the WIAA they would like to join the Badger Conference if the Wisconsin Little Ten Conference dissolves.
"If the Little Ten Conference dissolves, their preference is to go west," Hauser said. "That is why we are working with the Badger Conference. A lot of people from there work in this area (Badger Conference)."
With many winter sports tournaments underway, Hauser pointed out that she likely will not complete an official proposal until later this spring.
"There is not even a proposal out there yet," Hauser said. "It's very early in the development phase. It's still so very preliminary."
The possible expansion of the Badger Conference from its current 14 to 16 schools is part of a bigger conference realignment plan in the Milwaukee metro area that effects five conferences. Adding Beaver Dam and Watertown to the Badger Conference would have to be approved by the WIAA Board of Control, which meets every month. The next meeting for the board is scheduled for Friday.
Many athletic directors and football coaches in the Badger Conference support an expansion. However, how the conference is split could be a stumbling block. The conference currently is split with seven teams in the North and seven in the South. That could change if Beaver Dam and Watertown are added to the conference.
Athletic directors in the Badger Conference and football coaches have had meetings in the last month to discuss options for splitting the conference. The conference could be divided up by east-west boundary lines or leaders could adopt a small school-large school model based on enrollments. Under that scenario, the eight largest schools would make up the Badger large school conference and the eight smallest schools would comprise the small school Badger Conference.
Monroe Athletic Director Dave Hirsbrunner said he supports an enrollment-based conference split over a geographical divide.
"We already drive a long way to all of our events so I would not be worried about adding Reedsburg, Portage and Baraboo to our conference," Hirsbrunner said. "If that is what it takes to even out the enrollment issues in the Badger, then I am all for it.
"At the present time Monroe is being outsized by the Badger Conference schools and there is nowhere for us to go in terms of other conferences."
In the large-small split, Monroe would likely be included in a conference with Portage, Baraboo, Reedsburg, Madison Edgewood, Mount Horeb and Fort Atkinson. Mount Horeb is now a member of the Badger North.
"I always thought it was funny that the closest school to Monroe is not even in our conference," Monroe football coach Curt Miller said of Mount Horeb.
The smallest school in the Badger South Conference is Madison Edgewood, but Hirsbrunner said Edgewood is a private school and can regulate its enrollment numbers. Monroe is the second smallest school in the conference with a high school enrollment of 713. Next fall, there will be five schools in the Badger South and Badger North Conferences with enrollments of more than 1,000 students, including Waunakee (1,163), Oregon (1,094), Stoughton (1,055), DeForest (1,043) and Milton (1,016).
"That competitively creates a disadvantage in multiple areas," Hirsbrunner said. "One disheartening thing about this is Monroe has some kids who really want to work hard and excel in athletics in addition to the classroom. Competing against yourself with academics is a different story than competing head-to-head with kids that are picked from a pool that is larger than the Monroe pool."
However, with Portage, Baraboo and Reedsburg more than one hour away, the road trips for different sports could lead to a need for a larger budget for transportation costs and the concern of students getting out of school early. The Badger Conference already has golf teams in the conference playing nine-hole matches instead of 18-hole matches like the Big Eight Conference because of concerns of students getting out of school too early.
"Whenever there is more travel it does affect more people," Hirsbrunner said. "The thing to our disadvantage is geographically we are so far out of the conference. The good thing is that everyone in our conference gets along and respects each other."
Hirsbrunner said the tip off for basketball games could be earlier.
"I don't know how the other schools would vote," he said. "It will be interesting."
