STEVENS POINT, Wis. – The Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association Board of Control approved a strategic plan, several of the Conference Realignment Task Force recommendations, and advanced two Constitutional amendments to the Annual Meeting at its March meeting today.
The Board approved a five-year strategic plan for the membership with vision and mission statements that will be shared with the membership at next month’s Annual Meeting
Among the conference realignment solutions approved by the Board were sport specific. Altoona will move to the Middle Border Conference from the Cloverbelt in wrestling only; Shawano/Bonduel will transition to the Great Northern Conference for boys hockey from an independent status; Parkview will go from independent status to joining the Rock Valley Conference in girls’ golf; Middleton would depart its current co-op in the Badger Conference to form a stand-alone boys’ lacrosse team in the Big Eight Conference; and the Sun Prairie Co-op will split into two stand-alone programs in the Big Eight Conference for boys’ volleyball, which is associated with a larger plan that realigns the Badger and Big Eight Conferences for the sport, effective in the 2027-28 school year.
The Big Eight Conference for boys’ volleyball will include Sun Prairie East, Sun Prairie West, Madison West, Madison East, Madison Memorial, Madison La Follette, Verona and Middleton. The programs in the Badger Conference includes Waunakee, DeForest, Monona Grove/McFarland, Fort Atkinson and Edgewood.
Several realignment solutions for schools in all sports, excluding football, were also approved. Beginning in the 2027-28 school year, Appleton West will exit the Fox Valley Association to enter the Bay Conference, Viroqua will move to the Southwest Conference from the Coulee Conference, Portage enters the Capitol Conference from the Badger Conference, and St. Ambrose and The Lincoln Academy from independent status to the Trailways Conference.
The Board approved realignment in the Milwaukee area that moves Menomonee Falls and Germantown from the Greater Metro Conference to the North Shore Conference and Grafton from the North Shore Conference to the Glacier Trails Conference. The Board remanded plans involving other Greater Metro schools, the Classic 8 Conference, the Southeast Conference and independent schools in the Milwaukee area back to the Task Force for additional review and final consideration at the Board meeting in April.
A fast-track application placing Merrill in the Great Northern Conference for boys’ hockey will be addressed by the Board following the completion of the realignment process in April.
The Board voted to advance two Constitutional amendments to the membership vote at next month’s Annual Meeting. One addresses the powers and duties of the Board of Control. It would remove language that requires all changes to rules and regulations to be passed by the Advisory Council before advancing to the Board, which would return the power of decision-making back to the Board of Control for matters within the Constitution, Bylaws, Rules of Eligibility and sport-specific regulations. The second amendment would remove coaching contact restrictions for newly hired coaches who have not previously coached a student-athlete in the respective school’s program.
Other action items approved by the Board were the winter cooperative teams for the 2026-27 and 2027-28 school years and procedural monthly general fund financial statements and payments, fall sports financial statements and the deferred liability fund statement.
Claire Higgins of St. Mary Catholic, a member of the Student-Athlete Leadership Team, conducted a virtual presentation on the group’s activities and promoted the rescheduled Leadership Summit on April 15 at Sentry World in Stevens Point. Additional topics of discussion by the Board included dialog to reassess divisional placement regulations in basketball; updates on the Calendar and Contact Committee; competitive balance, and the ongoing efforts to recruit and retain licensed officials.
The Board received liaison reports from Dan Rossmiller of the Wisconsin Association of School Boards, Paul Manriquez of the Department of Public Instruction and Kyle LeMieux of the Wisconsin Athletic Directors Association.
The WIAA, as defined by its Constitution, is a private, voluntary, unincorporated, and nonprofit organization. The membership oversees interscholastic athletic programs for 515 senior high schools and 30 junior high/middle level schools in its membership.
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