Big East Conference (Wisconsin)
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Big East Conference is a high school
athletic conference An athletic conference is a collection of sports teams which play competitively against each other in a sports league. In many cases conferences are subdivided into smaller Division (sport), divisions, with the best teams competing at successively ...
comprising small high schools in east central
Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...
. Formed in 2015, all members are affiliated with the
Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association The Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association (WIAA) is the regulatory body for all high school sports in Wisconsin. Its history dates to 1895, making it the earliest continually existing high school athletic organization in the country. ...
.


History

The Big East Conference was formed in 2015 from the merger of two previously established conferences for small high schools in east central Wisconsin. Nine schools in the
Central Lakeshore Conference The Central Lakeshore Conference is a former high school athletic conference in east central Wisconsin. It was operational from 1969 to 2015 and all member schools (with the exception of one) were members of the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic ...
( Cedar Grove-Belgium, Elkhart Lake-Glenbeulah, Howards Grove,
Kohler Kohler is an occupational surname of German origin. It means "charcoal burner". Notable people with the surname include: *Alan Kohler (born 1952), Australian journalist *Anton Kohler (1907–1961), German chess player *Berthold Kohler (born 1961 ...
,
Oostburg Oostburg (Zeelandic Flemish: ''Wòstburg'') is a city in the south-western Netherlands. It is located in the municipality of Sluis, in the province of Zeeland. As of 1 January 2015, its population is 4731, down from 5008 in January 2005. It receiv ...
, Ozaukee,
Random Lake Random Lake is a village in Sheboygan County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 1,561 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Sheboygan, Wisconsin Metropolitan Statistical Area. Geography Random Lake is located at (43.552, -87.960). ...
, Sheboygan Christian and Sheboygan Lutheran) joined with five smallest schools in the former Olympian Conference (
Hilbert David Hilbert (; ; 23 January 1862 – 14 February 1943) was a German mathematician and philosophy of mathematics, philosopher of mathematics and one of the most influential mathematicians of his time. Hilbert discovered and developed a broad ...
, Manitowoc Lutheran, Mishicot, Reedsville and St. Mary Catholic) to form the current fourteen-member circuit. For most sports, the Big East Conference is subdivided into North and South Divisions:


Football-only alignment

The Big East Conference's initial football lineup featured two cooperative programs due to the small size of its member schools. Hilbert and Stockbridge joined forces for football until the 2017 season, and three programs (Kohler, Sheboygan Christian and Sheboygan Lutheran) combined to form KLC Football. The only full member to have never participated in football is Elkhart Lake-Glenbeulah, who has sponsored eight-player football since 2012. When St. Mary Catholic entered into a cooperative with Valley Christian in Oshkosh in 2017, they transitioned into eight-player football and left the conference the year after. In February 2019, in conjunction with the
Wisconsin Football Coaches Association The Wisconsin Football Coaches Association is an association of American football coaches on all levels within the state of Wisconsin. An annual clinic of members is held in Madison, Wisconsin to promote the sport, primarily at the high school lev ...
, the WIAA released a sweeping football-only realignment for Wisconsin to commence with the 2020 football season and run on a two-year cycle. The Big East Conference lost two of its ten football members to realignment: KLC to the
Eastern Wisconsin Conference The Eastern Wisconsin Conference is a high school athletic conference with its membership based in east central Wisconsin. It existed in two incarnations: the original conference from 1923 to 1970 and the current one since 1979. The conference an ...
and Mishicot to the
Packerland Conference The Packerland Conference is an athletic conference of high schools located in northeastern Wisconsin. Formed in 1970, the conference and its member schools are affiliated with the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association. History 1970- ...
. The eight remaining schools (Cedar Grove-Belgium, Hilbert, Howards Grove, Manitowoc Lutheran, Oostburg, Ozaukee, Random Lake and Reedsville) continued on and maintained this alignment through the 2022-2023 realignment cycle. In 2024, Ozaukee and Random Lake entered into a cooperative agreement to run a joint football program, leaving the Big East Conference with seven football-playing members. That number will increase back to eight for the 2026-2027 cycle, with full members Mishicot rejoining from the Packerland Conference.


List of member schools


Membership timeline

DateFormat = yyyy ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:20 Period = from:2015 till:2030 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal PlotArea = right:30 left:0 bottom:50 top:5 Colors = id:barcolor value:rgb(0.99,0.7,0.7) id:line value:black id:bg value:white PlotData= width:15 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:m bar:1 color:blue from:2015 till:2030 text:Cedar Grove-Belgium (2015-present) bar:2 color:skyblue from:2015 till:2030 text:Elkhart Lake-Glenbeulah (2015-present) bar:3 color:skyblue from:2015 till:2030 text:Hilbert (2015-present) bar:4 color:skyblue from:2015 till:2030 text:Howards Grove (2015-present) bar:5 color:blue from:2015 till:2030 text:Kohler (2015-present) bar:6 color:skyblue from:2015 till:2030 text:Manitowoc Lutheran (2015-present) bar:7 color:skyblue from:2015 till:2030 text:Mishicot (2015-present) bar:8 color:blue from:2015 till:2030 text:Oostburg (2015-present) bar:9 color:blue from:2015 till:2030 text:Ozaukee (2015-present) bar:10 color:blue from:2015 till:2030 text:Random Lake (2015-present) bar:11 color:skyblue from:2015 till:2030 text:Reedsville (2015-present) bar:12 color:blue from:2015 till:2030 text:Sheboygan Christian (2015-present) bar:13 color:blue from:2015 till:2030 text:Sheboygan Lutheran (2015-present) bar:14 color:skyblue from:2015 till:2030 text:St. Mary Catholic (2015-present) ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:2 start:2015


Football members

DateFormat = yyyy ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:20 Period = from:2015 till:2030 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal PlotArea = right:30 left:0 bottom:50 top:5 Colors = id:barcolor value:rgb(0.99,0.7,0.7) id:line value:black id:bg value:white PlotData= width:15 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:m bar:1 color:lavender from:2015 till:2030 text:Cedar Grove-Belgium (2015-present) bar:2 color:lavender from:2015 till:2018 text:Hilbert/Stockbridge (2015-2017) bar:3 color:lavender from:2015 till:2030 text:Howards Grove (2015-present) bar:4 color:lavender from:2015 till:2020 text:KLC (2015-2019) bar:5 color:lavender from:2015 till:2030 text:Manitowoc Lutheran (2015-present) bar:6 color:lavender from:2015 till:2020 text:Mishicot (2015-2019) bar:6 color:lavender from:2026 till:2030 text:(2026-future) bar:7 color:lavender from:2015 till:2030 text:Oostburg (2015-present) bar:8 color:lavender from:2015 till:2024 text:Ozaukee (2015-2023) bar:9 color:lavender from:2015 till:2024 text:Random Lake (2015-2023) bar:10 color:lavender from:2015 till:2030 text:Reedsville (2015-present) bar:11 color:lavender from:2015 till:2018 text:St. Mary Catholic (2015-2017) bar:12 color:lavender from:2018 till:2030 text:Hilbert (2018-present) bar:13 color:lavender from:2018 till:2019 text:St. Mary Catholic/Valley Christian (2018) bar:14 color:lavender from:2024 till:2030 text:Random Lake/Ozaukee (2024-present) ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:2 start:2015


Membership map


List of state champions


Fall sports


Winter sports


Spring sports


List of conference champions


Boys Basketball


Girls Basketball


Football


References


External links


Big East Conference (official site)
{{Wisconsin high school athletic conferences Wisconsin high school sports conferences Sports organizations established in 2015 2015 establishments in Wisconsin