Shaking up the WSC is hard to do

Font Size

Email

Bookmark

Black Text

White Text

No one's bolting the Western Sun Conference.

Not yet, anyway. But remember, this is a time of change.

"Right now, no one has said anything about leaving," said Tony Valente, Kaneland's principal and the person designated league as spokesman following Friday's monthly meeting of WSC principals.

The future of the league, which is in its third year, was discussed at the meeting and centered on the league's strengths, Valente said. He also noted that such discussions are held on an annual basis.

He is fielding all queries on the matter after a published report said a few league schools are exploring other options because of concerns with a continuing enrollment gulf and its impact on the balance of power on the fields and courts of competition.

Valente downplayed that aspect, but don't kid yourself, it definitely comes into play. And it didn't help that Geneva, the largest school in the league with 1,978 students, won every conference title contested this fall.

Add the fact that the economy is in the tank, growth that was expected to fuel the enrollments of smaller school districts in the league isn't likely going to happen as fast as had been expected when the WSC was formed.

Batavia athletic director Mike Gaspari said it's too soon to break up the conference; officials at Geneva and Glenbard South agree. Don't be surprised if that alliance keeps them together for the foreseeable future. And not everyone at the other five Western Sun schools is convinced the current format won't work.

Still, one or two schools making a move could trigger a domino effect that could impact several other leagues in the area before all is said and done.

One scenario several sources mentioned would have the remaining five Western Sun schools depart and add, say, Hampshire (892 students), which is outgrowing its Big Northern Conference brethren, to form a six-team league. The Big Northern's Burlington Central (994) might also be a fit.

It's got legs, but it remains iffy.

The hope would then be to boost membership back to eight in the future.

Two likely candidates could have been Sandwich and Plano of the Interstate Eight. But Sandwich's enrollment, at 831 this year, is expected to drop below 800 next year. Plano -- currently at 624 and in Class 2A in four-class sports such as basketball -- was recently thought to be on the fast track to 3A, but that assumption has been put on hold with new housing starts slowed.

It could be a while before Sandwich is ready to jump up.

Another factor fueling these "talks" is the IHSA's move to three- and four-class competition in various sports.

As one athletic director told The Beacon News, "It used to be cut and dried. You were either a big school (Class AA) or a small school (Class A)," he said. "With four classes, more people would like to find a 3A conference if they're 3A and a 2A conference if they're 2A. Geography, though, is going to make that difficult in a lot of cases."

One thing is certain, the sun won't set on the WSC next year. Anyone wanting to leave has to give a year's notice, so the earliest change won't come until the 2010-11 school year.

Stay tuned. The league principals will meet again in March, April and May.

rarmstrong@scn1.com