Big East Conference (Wisconsin)

The Big East Conference is a high school athletic conference comprising small high schools in east central Wisconsin. Formed in 2015, all members are affiliated with the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association.

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 ( Cedar Grove-Belgium, Elkhart Lake-Glenbeulah, Howards Grove, Kohler, Oostburg, Ozaukee, Random Lake, Sheboygan Christian and Sheboygan Lutheran) joined with five smallest schools in the former Olympian Conference (Hilbert, 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 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 and Mishicot to the Packerland Conference . 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

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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