What if: Modern enrollments, 1976 alignment rules for Wyoming high school football

The past couple weeks, we’ve looked at how the seasons of 1976 and 1985 would have shaped up if given modern conference and classification alignments. But what if, like many other aspects of Wyoming life, the WHSAA was resistant to changing a classification setup? What if, in 2014, we were still using the 1976 classification and conference alignments — with the largest 14 schools in Class AA, the next 15 in Class A and the rest in Class B?

Well, we’d likely have conferences and classifications that look like this:

Class AA East
1. Gillette, 2,439
4. Cheyenne East, 1,468
5. Kelly Walsh, 1,395
6. Cheyenne Central, 1,269
7. Cheyenne South, 1,223
8. Sheridan, 1,017
9. Laramie, 991

Class AA West
2. Natrona, 2,184
3. Rock Springs, 1,562
10. Evanston, 918
11. Green River, 817
12. Riverton, 788
13. Star Valley, 717
14. Jackson, 673

Class A East
16. Douglas, 516
17. Rawlins, 507
21. Torrington, 399
22. Buffalo, 328
24. Wheatland, 298
25. Newcastle, 237
27. Glenrock, 222

Class A West
15. Cody, 661
18. Lander, 493
19. Powell, 484
20. Worland, 426
23. Pinedale, 303
26. Mountain View, 222
28. Lovell, 215
29. Thermopolis, 210

Class B Northeast
35. Big Horn, 157
36. Wright, 156
37. Moorcroft, 153
41. Tongue River, 123
45. Sundance, 103 (contingent on co-op breakup)
50. Upton, 81 (contingent on co-op breakup)
—
*57. NSI, 65
*58. Midwest, 63
*60. Hulett, 51
*62. Kaycee, 47

Class B Southeast
34. Burns, 166
42. Lusk, 116
44. Pine Bluffs, 109
46. Southeast, 101
51. Lingle, 80
—
*56. Guernsey, 65
*67. Rock River, 33

Class B Northwest
33. Greybull, 175
38. Wyoming Indian, 139
39. Wind River, 128
40. Rocky Mountain, 124
43. Shoshoni, 115
48. Riverside, 97
49. Burlington, 82
—
*53. St. Stephens, 70
*59. Dubois, 52
*66. Meeteetse, 40
*68. Ten Sleep, 33

Class B Southwest
30. Lyman, 204
31. Big Piney, 198
32. Kemmerer, 177
47. Saratoga, 100
52. Cokeville, 74
—
*55. Hanna, 68
*61. Farson, 49
*63. Snake River, 46

This week, we could be prepping for that big Natrona-Jackson showdown. Or the Converse rivalry game between Douglas and Glenrock. Or the top-tier showdown between Cody and Mountain View. … However, the uneven split in Class AA might force us to split up the two Casper schools, or consider moving Laramie to the West, or consider a North-South arrangement instead of the East-West split used in 1976 (with a North of Gillette, Sheridan, Natrona, Kelly Walsh, Riverton, Star Valley and Jackson and a South of Cheyenne East, Cheyenne Central, Cheyenne South, Laramie, Rock Springs, Evanston and Green River).

Meanwhile, 13 of the state’s smallest programs would be left to the breeze, maybe unable to field a team at all, as six-man is but a distant memory in our three-class 2014. Of those 13, only a handful would be in existence in 2014, large enough to support an 11-man squad. (Of course, in 1976, a few squads opted to play eight-man together instead — a plausible scenario in our alternate 2014.)

Oddly enough, with only three classifications, Wyoming might be able to squeeze all three of its title games into one epic day (instead of one epic weekend) at War Memorial Stadium.

In short, our Fridays (and our old Championship Saturday) would be quite different.

+++

One of the things to consider is that, with fewer classifications, reclassification would be a much bigger deal. With fewer schools switching classifications from one cycle to the next, and therefore a smaller percentage of schools changing classifications, each move would cause huge shifts in conference balance, competitive equity and a host of other concerns that are somewhat minimized by having more numerous classifications.

Does this alignment look better to you than the one Wyoming uses now? In some ways, I actually like this one better; in some ways, I’m incredibly happy to see the changes time has brought to Wyoming high school football. Share some thoughts and let’s talk reclassification options… if you’re so inclined.

–patrick