Hulett will not field a varsity football team in 2010.
Micki Tucker, activities director at Hulett, said in an e-mail the Red Devils had trouble fielding a full team for the 2010 season. She also said a sub-varsity schedule for the Red Devils is still in the planning stages.
The Wyoming High School Activities Association will tally the games as forfeit losses for Hulett, Associate Commissioner Trevor Wilson said. Hulett is in the Class 1A 11-man East Conference.
The eight teams on Hulett’s schedule for this fall can fill the open week with another game, although the game will be a non-conference game and will not count toward playoff seeding. (When teams officially schedule new opponents, I will post that information here and will also update the 2010 schedule and results page.)
The Red Devils went 4-4 last season, but missed out on a playoff spot after losing their season finale to Pine Bluffs, 22-20.
Hulett had moderate success in the mid-1990s, finishing as state runners-up in Class 1A nine-man in 1992, 1993 and 1994 and in Class 1A Division II in 1996. The Red Devils advanced to the state semifinals as recently as 2008 in Class 1A.
The program last failed to field a team in 1982. The Red Devils also played a sub-varsity schedule in 1981.
–patrick
Feel bad for the Hulett kids and their parents. It’s gotta be hard to toe that 11-man line sometimes I imagine. Patrick, what do you see in the long-term future of Wyoming in terms of 11-man versus 6-man for schools that have under 100 students?
This will be interesting. A lot of schools may find it hard to switch from 11-man to six-man. I think several schools at or near the 100-student range should make the switch… but that’s just me. Upton finished with 11 players a couple years ago; Shoshoni had at least one game last year where every player was on the field and it wasn’t 11; Dubois has fought numbers problems for several years. What makes the switch difficult is selling the coaches and the community on it… the idea that six-man isn’t “real” football is very tough for some of those people to get past.
I think six-man will be strong with the eight teams in it now. I think some teams wanted to wait and see how the first year or two went before they made the decision to commit to it long-term. I don’t think a division of 12, 14 or 16 teams within the next 6-8 years is out of the question. It will depend on the willingness of the coaches and communities to adapt to what they have and not hold onto tradition for tradition’s sake.
One thing I do like is that the WHSAA has expanded the choice to every 1A team and I commend them for that. That way Cokeville doesn’t have to play six-man, even though their numbers might say otherwise. I don’t think the WHSAA should ever mandate that smaller schools play the six-man version — but I also think some of those schools that struggle to scrimmage in practice because they can’t find 22 bodies should really consider six-man more seriously.
–patrick
Facebook friends tell me Hulett and Midwest will play at 1 p.m. Saturday in Midwest. As soon as I get official confirmation, I’ll post it on the schedule page.
–patrick
I’ve had that thought for several months also-the possiblility that 6man will have more schools than those playing 1A 11man in the near future.
Hulett, Upton, Shoshoni, Dubois and even LFL are the ones that jump out the most to me that should consider playing 6man.
with the reclass coming up fast-how about a 12 team 4A, 12 team 3A, 12 team 2A, 14 team 1A and at least a dozen schools that could fill the 6man.
I’m betting that some of the stronger programs will always fight to play 11man, but if more kids get to participate at any level that’s a good thing.
Here’s another thought. Over here on the western border, the money woes of Idaho are very apparent. Axed travel budgets, taking games off the schedule and telling the teaching staff that you are taking a 9 percent paycut this year in one district. Do you ever think that in Wyoming where our number of schools is so much less than even an Idaho, that our small schools will be asked to close and be absorbed by some of the bigger ones in the area? My wife is from a little school outside Great Falls MT. Proud athletic tradition at one time, now it’s closed and absorbed by one of the schools in the area. Would that ever happen? Or is it too extreme?
Dahl, I don’t think that’s out of the realm of possibility. Wyoming has been really fortunate the past 20-25 years in that the economic situation hasn’t forced too many school districts to do this. The last wave of consolidation in the late 1970s and early 1980s really wiped out some good schools with great athletic traditions (Manderson, Cowley, Deaver and Huntley, specifically). Since then, Wyoming has also lost two more schools (Medicine Bow and Albin) to consolidation.
I think it could happen again and I’m afraid Wyoming might be overdue for a big wave of it… but the one thing going for Wyoming’s smaller schools is that there aren’t a lot of small schools that are close enough together to combine, or close enough to a larger school to absorb. Geography will help keep a lot of those small schools open.
It’s definitely not too extreme to think about it — especially given our state’s focus on education spending. The decisions are not always made with the best options for students in mind; often, they’re made with what makes the best financial sense. It’s a hard line to toe and it makes me glad that I’m not an employee of the state’s education department. Striking that balance has to be incredibly difficult for the folks in that position.
To sum: I think you would see pay cuts, shortened schedules, etc., like you’re seeing in Idaho right now before you would see anything drastic like consolidation.
–patrick