Coronavirus creates scheduling nightmare
Brian Henson has been the commissioner of the Greater Metro Conference for more than 20 years and by now, you would think he had seen it all. Then the coronavirus pandemic hit. The societal effects of the virus are well known at this point. The effect on the day-to-day lives of high school athletes is also clear; the threat of the virus' spread is enough to kill a team's season. We learned that in the spring.
By comparison, the scheduling headaches caused by the virus are minor issues. Still, it's created a tricky situation for football coaches, athletic directors and conference commissioners throughout the state.
“It's been crazy,” Henson said. “I've said many times that even this fall it's been spring on steroids.”
The spring with all its weather issues can be a scheduling nightmare. Rescheduling not only involves the game, but buses, officials and event staff. It's not as simple as agreeing to a new date.
Football usually provides a break from that. Those games rarely need to be rescheduled. This year, however, when schools decided to opt out of the fall season it created holes in schedules that are usually completed a year in advance.
This year some teams have been left with less than a month to fill spots.
“There is no strategy involved. I just want to get the kids games,” Menomonee Falls coach Dan Lutz said. “I feel bad for these seniors because they've been through a heck of a year and I want them to have the most opportunities they can.”
Thirty-two percent of the state's football teams opted for the alternate fall season approved by the WIAA in July. Among area schools, 34% of the teams will play in the spring.
Thanks to the shortened fall season the WIAA approved this summer, the open dates are almost always part of the conference schedule. Among area conferences only the Classic 8, North Shore and Southern Lakes are scheduled to play a full slate this season.
Everywhere else there were spots to fill. The pressure to have a complete schedule, especially considering the season has already been shortened, is real.
“You have to look at the big picture. You don't want to be left out in the cold,” Grafton athletic director Kevin Moore said. “You don't want to be filling in an all independent schedule if you don't need to. The best-case scenario is you want to play schools that are a least somewhat in your geographic region to cut down on travel for your kids and coaches.”
Grafton's football team was stuck in a tough situation last month when one by one members of the Woodland Conference chose to not play this fall until the Black Hawks were the only team left.
They were eventually able to join for the year the Parkland Conference, which this year includes New Berlin Eisenhower, New Berlin West, Pewaukee, Catholic Memorial, Wauwatosa East and Wauwatosa West.
But before that was finalized, Grafton had to weigh that opportunity with the possibility of rejoining its brethren in the North Shore Conference. Homestead recently decided to play fall football, but if it had gone to the spring, Grafton would have been interested in filling that spot in the North Shore. The Black Hawks compete in the North Shore for its other sports.
Meanwhile Grafton passed on other chances to fill its schedule earlier.
“There were schools from all over the area and really all over eastern Wisconsin as far north as Green Bay and the Fox Valley that were calling schools all over the Milwaukee area just looking for games,” Moore said. “Any week. You can come to us. We can travel to you. We just want to fill our schedules.
The situation had a happy ending for Grafton, which landed in the Parkland, a league similar to the Woodland.
The Southeast and Greater Metro, two more area conferences that were left short after schools opted for the spring also came up with game plans for the season.
With Racine Case, Racine Horlick and Racine Park opting for the spring football season, the Southeast's remaining five teams will play a round-robin schedule for the first five weeks of the season. The top four teams from those games will play in a playoff in Weeks 6 and 7.
With Marquette, West Allis Hale and West Allis Central playing in the spring, the Southeast has scheduled its games for the first five weeks of the season, leaving the final two weeks for nonconference or reschedule dates.
It all looks good now, but we could be an outbreak away from games getting postponed and teams scrambling for opponents.
“It's kind of week-to-week, day-today,” Franklin coach Louis Brown said. “I could see a team not being on the schedule and then literally four days before all of a sudden we have them on our schedule that week.”