Chicagoland Conference Realignment (Fake/Not Real)

[guerinfbfan]

Ok all I had to pump one out before the start of the new season...

I eliminated a few conference, stole Ramblinman's NIPL structure for the Chicagoland area private schools.

I'll answer any questions to the best of my ability.

I tried to keep things level from a football standpoint. Enrollments/talent was used for the NIPL as well.

So here we go....

Du-Cook Conference North
Elmwood Park
Fenton
Leyden
Maine East
Maine West
Niles North
Niles West
Ridgewood

Du-Cook Conference South
Addison Trail
Argo
Glenbard East
Glenbard South
Morton
West Chicago
Willowbrook

DuPage Valley Large
Bolingbrook
Lake Park
Metea Valley
Naperville Central
Naperville North
Neuqua Valley
Waubonsie Valley

DuPage Valley Small
Batavia
Glenbard North
Glenbard West
Romeoville
Wheaton North
Wheaton Warrenville South

West Suburban Conference
Downers Grove North
Downers Grove South
Hinsdale Central
Hinsdale South
Lyons Township
Oak Park-River Forest
Proviso East
Proviso West
York

Upstate Eight East
Bartlett
Conant
Elk Grove
Hoffman Estates
Schaumburg
Streamwood

Upstate Eight West
Elgin
Geneva
Larkin
South Elgin
St. Charles East
St. Charles North

Southwest Suburban
Bloom Township
Bradley-Bourbonnais
Crete-Monee
Homewood-Flossmoor
Lincoln-Way Central
Lincoln-Way East
Lincoln-Way West
Sandburg
Shepard

South Suburban
Andrew
Bremen
Eisenhower
Evergreen Park
Oak Lawn
Oak Forest
Richards
Reavis
Stagg
Tinley Park

Southland
Hillcrest
Kankakee
Rich Central
Rich East
Rich South
T.F. North
T.F. South
Thornridge
Thornton
Thornridge

Southwest Prairie Large
East Aurora
Joliet Central
Joliet West
Lockport Township
Minooka
Oswego
Plainfield South
West Aurora

Southwest Prairie Small
Lemont
Morris
Oswego East
Plainfield Central
Plainfield East
Plainfield North
Yorkville

Mid Suburban Conference
Buffalo Grove
Glenbrook North
Glenbrook South
Hersey
Prospect
Rolling Meadows
Vernon Hills
Wheeling

North Suburban North
Lake Forest
Lakes
Lake Zurich
Libertyville
Stevenson
Warren Township

North Suburban South
Barrington
Evanston Township
Maine South
New Trier
Palatine
Fremd

Northern Lake County Conference Large
Grant
Highland Park
Mundelein
Round Lake
Waukegan
Zion-Benton

Northern Lake County Conference Small
Antioch
Deerfield
Grayslake Central
Grayslake North
North Chicago
Wauconda

Northern Illinois Private League (Football Only Conferences)

Blue Division
Brother Rice
Loyola Academy
Marist
Mt. Carmel
Providence Catholic
St. Patrick
St. Rita

Black Division
Aurora Central Catholic
IC Catholic Prep
Joliet Catholic Academy
Marmion Academy
Montini Catholic
Nazareth Academy
St. Francis

Green Division
Benet Academy
Boylan Catholic
Carmel
Fenwick
Marian Central Catholic
Notre Dame
St. Viator

Red Division
Bishop McNamara
De La Salle
Lake Forest Academy
Marian Catholic
St. Edward
St. Ignatius
St. Laurence
Wheaton Academy

Yellow Division
Aurora Christian
Marquette Catholic
Mooseheart
Rockford Christian
Rockford Christian Life
Rockford Lutheran
Westminster Christian

White Division
Chicago Christian
Chicago Hope Academy
DePaul Prep
Guerin
Leo
Luther North
St. Joseph
Walther Christian

 

[oldfan123]

You worked hard on this and I have to say did a great job!!!

 

[woody6]

Ok all I had to pump one out before the start of the new season...

I eliminated a few conference, stole Ramblinman's NIPL structure for the Chicagoland area private schools.

Southland
Hillcrest
Kankakee
Rich Central
Rich East
Rich South
T.F. North
T.F. South
Thornridge
Thornton
Thornridge

Much thought and effort in this product. IMO, the most striking formation is the Southland Conference. Such a segregated grouping simply would not be allowed. In fact, a similar league was briefly part of a planned restructuring of the old SICA conferences. Lawsuits were in the works, so the idea was modified, which lead to the creation of the South and Southwest Suburban Conferences, which includes some of the plaintiffs.

http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/...cle_7b39f3fa-f577-5f09-9141-69b865c4ba10.html

 

[guerinfbfan]

Much thought and effort in this product. IMO, the most striking formation is the Southland Conference. Such a segregated grouping simply would not be allowed. In fact, a similar league was briefly part of a planned restructuring of the old SICA conferences. Lawsuits were in the works, so the idea was modified, which lead to the creation of the South and Southwest Suburban Conferences, which includes some of the plaintiffs.

http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/...cle_7b39f3fa-f577-5f09-9141-69b865c4ba10.html

I understand your point, but that grouping makes great sense from a football & basketball standpoint.

 

[all4theillini]

Nice work!

Couple comments:

I've always thought a U46 + West Chicago & East Aurora would make a good conference from a geographical & demographic standpoint.

Your complete omission of Batavia had me cracking up.

At some point Yorkville might consider approaching the Upstate Eight with their enrollment at 1,700 and the area continuing to grow.

Where do you put Kaneland?

 

[guerinfbfan]

Nice work!

Couple comments:

I've always thought a U46 + West Chicago & East Aurora would make a good conference from a geographical & demographic standpoint.

Your complete omission of Batavia had me cracking up.

At some point Yorkville might consider approaching the Upstate Eight with their enrollment at 1,700 and the area continuing to grow.

Where do you put Kaneland?

Fixed the original post. DVC now added.

I had Kaneland staying out west with DeKalb, Sycamore, etc..

 

[USD24]

Don't know how Morris would feel about a conference with schools 3x their size. Morris has 870 kids and is getting smaller. Oswego East 2400 students and growing

 

[Simon "GHOST' Riley]

Northern Illinois Private League (Football Only Conferences)

Black Division
Aurora Central Catholic
IC Catholic Prep
Joliet Catholic Academy
Marmion Academy
Montini Catholic
Nazareth Academy
St. Francis

Guerin,

Great stuff. I really like the division you have for SF but I think ACC and IC would complain.

 

[guerinfbfan]

Don't know how Morris would feel about a conference with schools 3x their size. Morris has 870 kids and is getting smaller. Oswego East 2400 students and growing

Good point, but Morris has always played with the big boys. They had to be one of the smallest back in the Suburban Prairie Conference days.

 

[guerinfbfan]

Guerin,

Great stuff. I really like the division you have for SF but I think ACC and IC would complain.

True, but it was hard to fit them with the smaller, less accomplished teams. Some one had to bite the bullet.

 

[UlbKA91]

If football-only is allowed for the publics, I could see some of the south side CPS schools in the Southland or South Suburban (Hubbard and MP have beaten Bremen in state playoff games) and the big enrollment polyglots like Curie, Taft, Lane Tech, and Schurz peeling off Morton, P-East, P-West, Leyden in a 2nd West Suburban Division.

 

[guerinfbfan]

If football-only is allowed for the publics, I could see some of the south side CPS schools in the Southland or South Suburban (Hubbard and MP have beaten Bremen in state playoff games) and the big enrollment polyglots like Curie, Taft, Lane Tech, and Schurz peeling off Morton, P-East, P-West, Leyden in a 2nd West Suburban Division.

I do love the CPS promotion/relegation within the conferences.

 

[ramblinman_rivals165935]

I eliminated a few conference, stole Ramblinman's NIPL structure for the Chicagoland area private schools.

I'll answer any questions to the best of my ability.

I tried to keep things level from a football standpoint. Enrollments/talent was used for the NIPL as well.

So here we go....

I like it. But, then again, I like any effort meant to shake things up and improve the football landscape.

A few thoughts:

I like that you went out as far as Rockford on the northwest, Morris on the southwest, and Kankakee on the southeast. However, when you do that, you will invariably run into some outliers and schools that you have left out. You have schools way to the south and west of Westmont and Lisle in your Chicagoland Conference, but those two are not in it. How do you include the Rockford private schools, but not the Rockford publics or schools closer to Chicago like those from Marengo, Harvard, Johnsburg, Kaneland, etc. You go as far south as Kankakee for a public school, but jump over closer-to-Chicago public schools like Manteno, Momence, Wilmington, etc.

I understand you have to draw the line and bite the bullet somewhere, but Highland Park and Deerfield, in far southern Lake County, are in your Northern Lake County Conference with the likes of Grant, Round Lake, etc. That seems odd to me. Why separate two similarly sized and nearby schools like Deerfield (1600 kids) and Vernon Hills (1300 kids)? You have Vernon Hills in with Glenbrook South and its almost 3000 kids.

Think about moving Glenbrook South and Lake Forest into the North Suburban South, and moving Palatine and Fremd to the North Suburban North. Move Lakes from the North Suburban North to the Northern Lake County Large.

St. Pat's belongs in the NIPL Green, not the Blue. The Rocks and the Dons need to be in the same conference.

Love your DuPage Valley Small Conference!

Some of your conferences (South Suburban and Southland, for example) are on the large side.

Brutal placement for Shepard and Bloom in the Southwest Suburban Conference with H-F, LWE, LWW, etc. Crete Monee may be a bit small for that conference as well when you consider their enrollment vs. those of Sandburg, H-F, LWE, etc.

Again, I like it. Please don't mistake my comments or suggestions as negative criticism. I think it's a great idea and it reflects a lot of work and thought on your part.

Sometime in the not too distant future, I think we will see significant changes to the way that we organize and play football in this state. I'm talking about embracing 8 man football and more co-op teams. I'm talking about eliminating conference hopping and shenanigans designed to get a school to 6 Ws. I'm talking about reducing the number of classifications and going to the district concept. The winds of change are blowing, especially when you look at declining participation numbers and the head injury prevention crusade. It would be a good thing to proactively get out in front of this curve with new and different ideas, rather than react to it with the same solutions that we've been using for a long time.

Great job, guerin.

 

[Wild_Mustang]

Wow, nice work bud. I hope the West Suburban never happens the way you have it. Hinsdale South would win 2-4 games a year. Maybe.

 

[Cat Box]

Guerin,

Great stuff. I really like the division you have for SF but I think ACC and IC would complain.

Agree with your input, Simon.
BTW, excellent work on this, Guerin! Love what you've done overall.
I struggle when where you put Aurora Christian and Rockford Lutheran. I don't think playing a bunch of 1A schools is the place for them. I understand the geography, but the skill level is a big mismatch.

Would love to find a way to keep AC, ACC, IC, St. Edwards together. It just makes sense.
I like your Private Black division but without ACC and IC.

Maybe pull St. Edwards and Wheaton Academy out of the Red and put them in a 6-team conference with AC, ACC, IC and St. Edwards. All of these schools are 3A and 4A.

Add St. Bede from LaSalle/Peru to your conference with Mooseheart, Marquette, Westminster, Rockford Christian and Rockford Christian Life.

 

[practiceplan]

If you're looking to keep things relatively simple, reduce travel times, match up against somewhat equal enrollments, keep as many previous conference affiliations and the most rivalries intact, and give almost every team their best path to a possible shot at the playoffs here is how I'd do it...

Fox Valley North (1 crossover involved)
McHenry
Prairie Ridge
Cary-Grove
Crystal Lake Central
Crystal Lake South
Huntley
Jacobs
Fox Valley South (1 crossover involved)
Hampshire
Dundee-Crown
South Elgin
Bartlett
Elgin
Larkin
Streamwood
Upstate Eight
St. Charles North
St. Charles East
Batavia
Geneva
West Aurora
East Aurora
West Chicago
Glenbard East
West Suburban Gold
Downers Grove South
Downers Grove North
Hinsdale Central
Hinsdale South
Lyons
Morton
Proviso West
Proviso East
West Suburban Silver
Glenbard West
York
Oak Park River Forest
Leyden
Wheaton Warrenville South
Wheaton North
Addison Trail
Willowbrook
DVC
Nequa Valley
Waubonsie Valley
Metea Valley
Naperville Central
Naperville North
Bolingbrook
Oswego
Oswego East
Glenbard North
Lake Park
Southwest Prairie
Plainfield North
Plainfield East
Plainfield South
Plainfield Central
Joliet West
Joliet Central
Romeoville
Minooka
Southwest Suburban
Lockport
Lincoln-Way East
Lincoln-Way Central
Lincoln-Way West
Bradley-Bourbonnais
Homewood-Flossmoor
Sandburg
Andrew
South Suburban
Lemont
Stagg
Richards
Shepard
Eisenhower
Argo
Oak Lawn
Reavis
Southland (West)
Oak Forest
Tinley Park
Bremen
Hillcrest
Evergreen Park
Rich Central
Rich East
Rich South
Southland (East)
Bloom
Crete-Monee
Thornton
Thornwood
Thornridge
T.F. South
T.F. North
Kankakee

 

[SWSideFan]

Great work - very thorough and it makes sense on many levels.

While numbers and other realities may dictate a revisit among the private schools, the experience with the former Metro Catholic football only conference showed that the ESCC schools will likely not want to blend into a bigger conference. Back to your models, Marist is a logical addition to the Blue; not sure St. Pat's is the next addition. Few, if any, of the CCL teams want to go into today's CCL Blue which is why the annual rotation from the other divisions stopped.