Central Illinois Proposal to improve competition

[The_Oldfan]

Every year at playoff time, two arguments seem to surface. 1)That some teams are suspect because of weak conference schedules. 2)That many undeserving teams get in, taking places that better teams are denied. 3)That the current system results in too many regular season and playoff blowouts.

A lot of us also feel that the proliferation of closed conferences, part of the justification of which involves ease of scheduling and travel, hampers the ability of good programs to schedule opponents that might actually improve the quality of their play.

In Central Illinois, both the Central State Eight and Big Twelve experience both of those situations. Between them they have a mix of 21 programs ranging from very strong to very weak, with Lincoln rejoining the CS8 in 2023 bringing the total to 22.

This is pure speculation on my point, but it seems to me that it would be very beneficial to both conferences and their member schools to consider combining and reorganizing into a 3-branched super conference by recruiting two additional rising powers, possibly someone like 5A Mahomet Seymour and Mt. Zion, and then reorganizing along the following lines:


CENTRAL STATE (WEST)

SHG
Rochester
Chatham
Jacksonville
Springfield
Lanphier
Southeast
Lincoln

CENTRAL STATE (EAST)

MacArthur
Eisenhower
Urbana
Champaign Central
Champaign Centennial
Danville
Mahomet Seymour
Mt. Zion

CENTRAL STATE (NORTH)

Normal
Normal West
Normal U-High
Bloomington
Peoria
Peoria Manual
Peoria Richwoods
Peoria Notre Dame

Each subconference would play a round robin schedule with two crossover games against teams of roughly equivalent power from the other two divisions.

This structure would have numerous advantages:
1. Ease of scheduling;
2. Preservation of traditional rivalries in Springfield, Peoria, Decatur and the two Twin Cities pairs.
3. Compaction of travel resulting in travel savings for many of the individual schools; and
4. Nurturing program improvement in the stronger members of each sub conference,.

The concept seems to work well enough in Northern Illinois. The distances are a little greater in the middle of the State but this proposal would actually reduce the length of many trips.

 

[tjjrr]

Well, I think Normal U High might have something to say about being lumped together with Normal Community, Normal West and Peoria High, since those are all much larger schools. Secondly, last I had heard, Mt. Zion is perfectly happy in the Apollo. As for Mahomet I don't know, but I would have to think they have no interest in jumping to another conference. Since we're just speculating here for fun, here's another scenario for you. How about an all private school conference. Normal U High, Peoria Notre Dame, Quincy Notre Dame, Rock Island Alleman, SHG, Decatur ST. Theresa, Belleville Althoff and perhaps Breese Mater Dei or Bloomington Cental Catholic. Yes, there is travel involved, but with all the Catholic school enrollments going down, to me this one has some merit. Probably it never happens, but it may actually interest QND and Decatur St. T. Qnd is independent already, with St. T about to join them. Both Alleman and Althoff's enrollment is way down. And I believe Althoff just announced they are leaving their current conference. The South 7.

 

[rocketnation]

This is an interesting proposal. I think this makes geographic sense but would not result in better or more equal competition. In CS East, Urbana did not even play this year and that puts their future in doubt. Eisenhower might not be that far behind. As far as I know, Mahomet and Mt Zion are satisfied with being in the Apollo conference. As the above poster noted, U High would likely be even more disadvantaged in the CS North playing against all 5A-7A schools. They would be unlikely to ever get more than 1-2 wins. That may be why they joined the CS8 even with the added travel time.

 

[SouthofI80FootballFan]

Yeah, I don’t thing UHigh will. Like this too much. They would be better suited in the aforementioned private league or giving the Illini Prairie or Illinois Central Eight a call.
Regardless of them it doesn’t look like a bad idea.

 

[The_Oldfan]

Well, I think Normal U High might have something to say about being lumped together with Normal Community, Normal West and Peoria High, since those are all much larger schools. Secondly, last I had heard, Mt. Zion is perfectly happy in the Apollo. As for Mahomet I don't know, but I would have to think they have no interest in jumping to another conference. Since we're just speculating here for fun, here's another scenario for you. How about an all private school conference. Normal U High, Peoria Notre Dame, Quincy Notre Dame, Rock Island Alleman, SHG, Decatur ST. Theresa, Belleville Althoff and perhaps Breese Mater Dei or Bloomington Cental Catholic. Yes, there is travel involved, but with all the Catholic school enrollments going down, to me this one has some merit. Probably it never happens, but it may actually interest QND and Decatur St. T. Qnd is independent already, with St. T about to join them. Both Alleman and Althoff's enrollment is way down. And I believe Althoff just announced they are leaving their current conference. The South 7.

I could see some variant of that in football but there we old be no advantages in any other sport and the financial/travel disadvantages would be way beyond insane. Also SHG and PND are deep in local rivalries within the Capital and Peoria areas and tradition alone would be a major stumbling block.

With Althoff leaving the South Seven and St. Theresa forced out by their conference has either indicated yet where they are going?

 

[Autumnball]

UHigh is more than competitive in nearly every sport other than football and they are not poor at it, just outgunned.

 

[rocketnation]

UHigh is more than competitive in nearly every sport other than football and they are not poor at it, just outgunned.

Good point. They have an excellent baseball program and a good basketball team but don’t seem to get many of those athletes out for football.

 

[FBFever7]

I miss Lakeview Spartans & Stephen Decatur Runnin Reds.U High used to be damn good in football as did Rantoul

 

[The_Oldfan]

Good point. They have an excellent baseball program and a good basketball team but don’t seem to get many of those athletes out for football.

Kinda the reverse of Springfield, as if anyone asked me.. In Springfield you have two private
Schools with excellent athletics, (SHG & Lutheran) and THREE public schools which, although parts of three school districts, all draw students from within Springfield city limits (Chatham, Pleasant Plains and Rochester), again all with excellent athletics.

Parents with either of two reasons for not wanting to send their kids to D186 (hope of attaining a college scholarship or avoiding "contamination" of poor kids or kids of color) have FIVE legal alternatives that involve paying tuition or simply moving a couple of miles (or blocks) to a different neighborhood.. There is also persistent belief that "moving" can mean simply renting an address or post office box. The result is that, especially in the primary scholarship sports of football, basketball and baseball, Springfield public schools leak good athletes in every direction.

Normal looks from the outside to be almost a reverse. Two public high schools with excellent athletics and the competition for star players is two smaller private schools, U-high and BCC. Plus Normal's district seems from the outside to be in a booming economy and very well- funded compared to Springfield or Decatur, meaning that the impetus to send their kids to a non-public or non-local public school is much less pronounced.

 

[rocketnation]

Before my last kid graduated, I think the Rochester district enrollment had crossed over 50% that had Springfield addresses.

The reach of Chatham’s district boundaries are also surprising. Lots of the Lake Springfield/UIS area.