Written by Dave Schmidt - THE SENIOR REPORTS - www.theseniorreports.com

May 13, 2010- Over five years ago I moved from a small rural community in Northwest Ohio to the urban community of Rockford, Illinois which is located near the Wisconsin border of Northern Illinois. I was very fortunate to have been able to cover local high school sports in Ohio for over 30 years. High school sports is a key part of everyone’s life where I came from - during the fall Friday night was football night and in the winter it was high school basketball. Here in Rockford it is a little different and I am sure as well as many urban areas high school sports is not always the highlight of the local sports fans. However; high school sports in both states is always fun to be a part of in any form.

The past two years I have been fortunate enough to cover the local High School Conference (NIC-10 - Northern Illinois Conference) on local radio. Over those two years I have had the chance to talk with local coaches and fans about some of the issues that concern them. One of those issues is my favorite subject, athletic conferences and how they operate. It is very interesting to see the differences that are in place in both states.

1- Commissioner - Ohio athletic conferences have a commissioner in place to operate the workings of the conference. The Commissioner does many different tasks, such as compiling all-conference teams, assign officials, overseeing the public relations, etc. Most are part-time and the pay is typical for a High School position. The NIC-10 and most of the conferences I see in Illinois do not have such a person in place. Most rotate leadership on a two to three year basis between conference members with either the AD or Principal overseeing the conference. Conference members also divide up the conference championships and the operation of them, including the process to select all conference teams.

Having a commissioner in charge helps solidify the goals of the conference and someone in place who has an understanding of the operation of it from year to year. A commissioner in most cases does not have a tie with any conference member school, this allows him or her to make choices not based on loyalty but on what is best for the conference. A Commissioner can add stability to a conference operation.

2- Divisions - The next issue we talk about can be used by many conferences all across the country. I will use the NIC-10 as a sample because I am familiar with the conference and some of the issues they are facing.

A. - In football the state of Illinois schools play 9 regular season games. The NIC-10 members play a round-robin between league members, which does not allow for non-conference games during the season. Over the past few years the NIC-10 teams that have qualified for the play-offs have had trouble getting out of the early rounds. With a divisional set-up it would be possible to work in non-conference regular season games and also add some excitement to the final game of the season.

NIC-10 would have to decide how to split into two five team divisions (which could be interesting and would also cause some issues). There is not a natural break of member schools, so there could be some issues that would have to be considered that might effect some rivalries now in place. The key is to find a workable combination of schools to comprise each division.

Scheduling - Play each member of your division for a total of 4 games. Let’s say the NIC-10 decides it would like to schedule two non-conference games, so that would leave three cross-over divisional games per member. The two non-conference games would be scheduled during the first two weeks of the season, easier to find an opponent for those weeks. Playing non-conference games also now allows the NIC-10 schools to prepare for conference play, instead of playing a conference game to start the season.

For the next six weeks conference scheduling would be in place. This scheduling would be easier with 12 members. With just ten members there would need to be at least one non-divisional game a week.

The last week of the season and the ninth week of the schedule could be a “CHAMPIONSHIP WEEK”. This would be a chance to use the divisions to create an excitement that college or pro sports already use. The ninth week would match-up the division winners for the final game of the season to decide the conference champ. To do this would give the NIC-10 the opportunity to “show-off” the conference and down the road could also include opportunities for corporate sponsorship and funding. Actually deciding a regular season champion on the field of play would be a great boost for everyone. The other schools would match-up on the final week according to standings - #2’s would pair up, #3’s and down the line. The possibilities are endless on how this can benefit the conference.

Divisional play would also be used in other sports such as girls and boys basketball, girls volleyball, softball, baseball and girls and boys soccer.

Another benefit of having divisions it would allow more student-athletes to receive honors on both an all-division team as well as an all-conference team. Two schools will win a division championship and one of those will be the conference champion. This enhances every conference game schools will play and allow more members to be in the “championship” hunt.

3- NIC-10 Basketball Scheduling - The following is just for the NIC-10, but should be interesting to those of you who live in other states as well.

While living in Ohio scheduling of basketball games were done in a way to provide the fan with an opportunity to see easily both boys and girls games. In Ohio where I lived girls games were usually played on Tuesday and Thursday nights (some Saturday afternoon games), while boys games were usually on Friday and Saturday night. This allowed for fans to have the option to see both teams play. This type of scheduling helps with the gate. The NIC-10 plays boys and girls games on the same night numerous weekends during the season, which makes the fan on some nights decide which game to attend.

NIC-10 boys basketball conference play is a “killer”. Conference members will play a conference game on Friday and Saturday night of the same weekend. That is tough going back-to-back nights in conference games, both physically and mentally for coaches and players. To win a NIC-10 basketball championship you have to be well prepared to handle that type of stress. Presently conference members play 16 conference games , home and home series with seven conference members and only a single game with the other two conference members. 16 total conference games for each NIC-10 team. By the end of the season you see some pretty tired teams.

NIC-10 coaches are the ones who decided what nights they would prefer to play on, but it could be beneficial on everyone to consider an option that would break up “double-header” conference weekends. That might include playing a conference game on a Tuesday night to spread out the conference match-ups. Divisional play might also help and also cut-down on the number of conference games played per season. This might include - two five school divisions, play each school division member twice and the other division members only once, plus a “Championship Week” match-up to decide the conference champion. That would cut two conference games, but add a lot of excitement to the season.

The above thoughts and ideas can work, but that has to be decided by those who operate each conference. I can also guarantee you that there are very few high school conferences who operate divisions in the way I suggest above. That is one thing that always puzzled me, why have divisions if you don’t use them for what they were created to do. Most conferences with divisions do not decide a “total” conference champion, but only division champs.

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