Since there has been some banter in a recent thread about the hypothetical NIPL (Northern Illinois Private League), I felt it was time to revisit the NIPL and tweak it a little. It has been quite a while since the NIPL has been tweaked and, frankly, it's exciting when people pay attention to it.
There have been a few changes within the private school scene since we last gave some serious love to the NIPL a few years back. A number of Northern Illinois private schools are either closed or no longer offer football. LFA has gone to 8 man football. Christ the King High School has begun a football program.
Originally, the NIPL started as an alternative athletic association to the IHSA. It still could be that. By my count,, there are almost 90 current IHSA member private schools in northeastern Illinois which I roughly define as being east of I-39 and north of Illinois Route 17. A substantial majority of these are in the Chicago metro area. In the past, detractors of the NIPL have claimed that there isn't a sufficient enough number of private schools to ensure a strong, healthy NIPL that is able to proudly stand out and function properly. I disagree. A 90 member school NIPL would have a larger membership than that of some less populated state high school athletic associations.
It could also function as a football only conference. This actually might not be a bad way to introduce the NIPL; to flesh it out as it were.
If the NIPL were a football only conference, the following is what such a conference divisional alignment might look like from the perspective of 11 man football. The rationale behind this alignment is based on a flexible combination of size, current competitiveness, and geography. I tried to incorporate the current CCL/ESCC thought that divisions should be small to allow for flexibility, but I have modified that to allow for a larger division that would allow some of the less competitive schools to benefit from the automatic conference champion playoff qualification that is granted to conferences with at least six schools. No serious attempt at divisional nomenclature yet.
A
Carmel Catholic
Loyola
Notre Dame
St Pat
B
Boylan
St. Ed
MCC
St. Viator
C
Fenwick
Ignatius
DLS
MC
D
PC
Benet
Rice
Marist
E
Montini
Naz
St Laurence
St Rita
F
JCA
Mac
ICCP
Marian Catholic
G
Wheaton St Francis
Wheaton Academy
Rockford Christian
Rockford Lutheran
H
Aurora Christian
ACC
Marmion
Ottawa Marquette
I
DePaul
Guerin
Leo
Chicago Hope Academy
Chicago Christian
St. Joe
Christ the King
Mooseheart
Walther
Each team in the I division would have eight division games, and they could schedule one non-conference opponent.
Each school in the A through H divisions would play three divisional games and then they could conceivably schedule a single crossover game against a team from each of the remaining four school divisions. Yes, I know that equals ten total games. BUT, if the NIPL were its own athletic association, they could make their own rules and have ten regular season games with shortened playoffs! If the NIPL were a conference within the IHSA, I still think it would be relatively easy to schedule crossover games from within the four school divisions and even leave room for a single non-conference game if that were deemed desirable.
Feel free to nibble away at this tweaked NIPL.
There have been a few changes within the private school scene since we last gave some serious love to the NIPL a few years back. A number of Northern Illinois private schools are either closed or no longer offer football. LFA has gone to 8 man football. Christ the King High School has begun a football program.
Originally, the NIPL started as an alternative athletic association to the IHSA. It still could be that. By my count,, there are almost 90 current IHSA member private schools in northeastern Illinois which I roughly define as being east of I-39 and north of Illinois Route 17. A substantial majority of these are in the Chicago metro area. In the past, detractors of the NIPL have claimed that there isn't a sufficient enough number of private schools to ensure a strong, healthy NIPL that is able to proudly stand out and function properly. I disagree. A 90 member school NIPL would have a larger membership than that of some less populated state high school athletic associations.
It could also function as a football only conference. This actually might not be a bad way to introduce the NIPL; to flesh it out as it were.
If the NIPL were a football only conference, the following is what such a conference divisional alignment might look like from the perspective of 11 man football. The rationale behind this alignment is based on a flexible combination of size, current competitiveness, and geography. I tried to incorporate the current CCL/ESCC thought that divisions should be small to allow for flexibility, but I have modified that to allow for a larger division that would allow some of the less competitive schools to benefit from the automatic conference champion playoff qualification that is granted to conferences with at least six schools. No serious attempt at divisional nomenclature yet.
A
Carmel Catholic
Loyola
Notre Dame
St Pat
B
Boylan
St. Ed
MCC
St. Viator
C
Fenwick
Ignatius
DLS
MC
D
PC
Benet
Rice
Marist
E
Montini
Naz
St Laurence
St Rita
F
JCA
Mac
ICCP
Marian Catholic
G
Wheaton St Francis
Wheaton Academy
Rockford Christian
Rockford Lutheran
H
Aurora Christian
ACC
Marmion
Ottawa Marquette
I
DePaul
Guerin
Leo
Chicago Hope Academy
Chicago Christian
St. Joe
Christ the King
Mooseheart
Walther
Each team in the I division would have eight division games, and they could schedule one non-conference opponent.
Each school in the A through H divisions would play three divisional games and then they could conceivably schedule a single crossover game against a team from each of the remaining four school divisions. Yes, I know that equals ten total games. BUT, if the NIPL were its own athletic association, they could make their own rules and have ten regular season games with shortened playoffs! If the NIPL were a conference within the IHSA, I still think it would be relatively easy to schedule crossover games from within the four school divisions and even leave room for a single non-conference game if that were deemed desirable.
Feel free to nibble away at this tweaked NIPL.
