SOC (Basketball) going to 3 (6 team) divisions (2023-24)

[bfry]

But a chance to win the league most years. Would love to see Northwest be more competitive year in and year out in basketball and stay with Valley, Minford, Burg, etc. Maybe if Waverly decides to leave for the FAC (Rumor at this point) NW can move up?

Yeah, I was being facetious. Still won’t look forward to those trips.

[smurray]

Enrollment figures, not adjusted for competitive balance.

Waverly 240
Wheelersburg 176
Minford 167
West 160
Northwest 160
Oak Hill 147

Valley 122
Eastern 109
Symmes Valley 94
Western 93
South Webster 86
South Gallia 75

Green 66
Clay 52
Notre Dame 48
East 41
New Boston 40
St. Joe 15

So this is what it would like like if it was based on enrollment - like they said it was.

[The Ghost of Swanker]

I thought last time I looked Western had like 120 kids or so.

Clearly not based on enrollment.

[baseball16]

I thought last time I looked Western had like 120 kids or so.

Clearly not based on enrollment.
[/quote

These divisions were not decided on Enrollment. They were decided on Competitive Balance and not the OHSAA Competitive Balance.
It's probably an area in 3 or 4 years can be realigned if teams are dominating or overwhelmed.

[Sonny Weaver]

this is an absolute homerun. needed to happen. too many league games being played. especially for the football schools, where essentially everyone is making the playoffs now, taking away a week of hoops prep for most teams, and multiple weeks for the Wheelersburg's, West's, Waverly's of the league.

Burg has gotten off to a hot start this season, but its been typical of them to lose league games prior to New Year's when they haven't gotten their basketball legs yet -- costing league titles.

[doug.williams]

Smurray & Swanker- I can tell you as someone who sat in those meetings in the beginning that smurray's numbers here are correct. Western 4 years ago had a competitive balance of around 120ish which was why we spent a couple of years in D3. Our numbers now are not close.

The original plan was what smurray has here. However, Valley and South Webster would not approve unless they could stay up with their normal rivalries. Obviously, as you know, money at gates and geography play into those decisions for them. There is no great conspiracy to lie or withhold anything from the public. I believe that it is "loosely' based on numbers at this point. I would venture to say that if there are any great number changes that movement would be discussed ( I am not longer AD so I cannot tell you that for a fact).

Whether you like it or not, it was something that needed to happen for many reasons. I am not sure how much longer the league would have functioned if something didn't change.

I also have heard the poor Western argument here with Travel. We were going to have to travel anyways if we didn't change. In this scenario we get Eastern rivalry back every year. We also add some nice competition and maybe some rivalry with Northwest and Oak Hill.

I don't post a lot, but I couldn't take the speculation anymore... You can still have an opinion on good or bad move, but I can tell you that something was going to happen soon.

[Crab's Brother]

Solid move for all involved.

I do feel like this should be flexible by sport. Anyone paying attention knows that ND should not be playing those small schools in any girls sport at this point. Honestly, they should be with the big dogs in girls sports and adjust accordingly. They will not play a full basketball game this season in league play and they have won nearly 100 in a row (if not more). They will destroy softball as well.

I am glad Valley stayed where they were. No doubt Western and Webster would compete with Valley in basketball, but what Valley would do to that middle group in baseball would be good for no one.

[The Ghost of Swanker]

Smurray & Swanker- I can tell you as someone who sat in those meetings in the beginning that smurray's numbers here are correct. Western 4 years ago had a competitive balance of around 120ish which was why we spent a couple of years in D3. Our numbers now are not close.

The original plan was what smurray has here. However, Valley and South Webster would not approve unless they could stay up with their normal rivalries. Obviously, as you know, money at gates and geography play into those decisions for them. There is no great conspiracy to lie or withhold anything from the public. I believe that it is "loosely' based on numbers at this point. I would venture to say that if there are any great number changes that movement would be discussed ( I am not longer AD so I cannot tell you that for a fact).

Whether you like it or not, it was something that needed to happen for many reasons. I am not sure how much longer the league would have functioned if something didn't change.

I also have heard the poor Western argument here with Travel. We were going to have to travel anyways if we didn't change. In this scenario we get Eastern rivalry back every year. We also add some nice competition and maybe some rivalry with Northwest and Oak Hill.

I don't post a lot, but I couldn't take the speculation anymore... You can still have an opinion on good or bad move, but I can tell you that something was going to happen soon.

I wasn’t saying anything good or bad about it or implying any conspiracy. Just saying as others have said it’s loosely based on enrollment and last time I looked (probably 3 years ago) that’s Western actually had quite a few more boys than they do now apparently and I didn’t know. We’ll see how it shakes out.

[VetteMan]

Smurray & Swanker- I can tell you as someone who sat in those meetings in the beginning that smurray's numbers here are correct. Western 4 years ago had a competitive balance of around 120ish which was why we spent a couple of years in D3. Our numbers now are not close.

The original plan was what smurray has here. However, Valley and South Webster would not approve unless they could stay up with their normal rivalries. Obviously, as you know, money at gates and geography play into those decisions for them. There is no great conspiracy to lie or withhold anything from the public. I believe that it is "loosely' based on numbers at this point. I would venture to say that if there are any great number changes that movement would be discussed ( I am not longer AD so I cannot tell you that for a fact).

Whether you like it or not, it was something that needed to happen for many reasons. I am not sure how much longer the league would have functioned if something didn't change.

I also have heard the poor Western argument here with Travel. We were going to have to travel anyways if we didn't change. In this scenario we get Eastern rivalry back every year. We also add some nice competition and maybe some rivalry with Northwest and Oak Hill.

I don't post a lot, but I couldn't take the speculation anymore... You can still have an opinion on good or bad move, but I can tell you that something was going to happen soon.

Thanks for posting.

[NW97]

Solid move for all involved.

I do feel like this should be flexible by sport. Anyone paying attention knows that ND should not be playing those small schools in any girls sport at this point. Honestly, they should be with the big dogs in girls sports and adjust accordingly. They will not play a full basketball game this season in league play and they have won nearly 100 in a row (if not more). They will destroy softball as well.

I am glad Valley stayed where they were. No doubt Western and Webster would compete with Valley in basketball, but what Valley would do to that middle group in baseball would be good for no one.

I'm curious how much Valley factored in the girls sports. No doubt about baseball, but girls basketball, volleyball, and softball would have been better suited in the middle group. I also don't see how you can leave ND in the small school division. They are the perfect example of how enrollment numbers don't mean anything when it comes to sports teams.

[jujubean]

Enrollment figures do NOT matter when it's a private school. However, when public schools are involved, it matters greatly.

[baseball16]

Enrollment figures do NOT matter when it's a private school. However, when public schools are involved, it matters greatly.

I don't read that last quote like that at all. I read it as ND is very competitive with many teams , despite their numbers.

ND Girls should Def. be playing up. Those 80-10 games can not be fun time after time !

[bobcats94]

Enrollment figures do NOT matter when it's a private school. However, when public schools are involved, it matters greatly.

I don't read that last quote like that at all. I read it as ND is very competitive with many teams , despite their numbers.

ND Girls should Def. be playing up. Those 80-10 games can not be fun time after time !

I agree. I think overall its a much better move for most of the SOC schools, the teams I see benefiting from this the most are Northwest, Oak Hill, Eastern Pike, and ND. ND will run the small division most years and the other teams mentioned will be much more competitive in the middle division. I understand Northwest would really struggle in the top division but they just need to find a way to get their best athletes to stay in district or develop players to be competitive. It's hard to believe Western will run up against them twice a year for the league. Western and Symmes are the two teams I see struggling in the middle conference. No more easy league wins like there are this year with East and Clay. Almost always guaranteed to win 4+ games due to New Boston, East, Clay, Green, someone having a down year.

[jujubean]

That's basically what I meant. Notre Dame, being a private school, can compete with larger schools in certain sports.

I should have specified in football, enrollment matters a lot when talking about public schools. It is why Green, Eastern, East, etc don't schedule West, Waverly, Wheelersburg, etc. There is talent at the smaller schools, but larger schools have more. There will always be outliers, but mostly, numbers matter in football.

[The Ghost of Swanker]

Sooo SOC1-3 orrrrr something else

[mattash]

I assume the

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Nw
Oh
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Would be SOC3?

[mattash]

Other than Northwest it’s all the new SOC schools

[mattash]

Who’s the SOC OGs?

[bfry]

Northwest High School in McDermott, OH began playing football in the fall of 1959. It joined the already formed Southern Ohio Conference. At the time, the SOC was made up of :
 Notre Dame High School(formerly Central Catholic H.S. until 1952)
 Glenwood High School(New Boston)
 Portsmouth East High School(Sciotoville Community)
 Washington Township High School(Portsmouth West)
 Waverly High School
 Lucasville Valley High School
 Minford High School
 Wheelersburg High School

The league changed after the 1969-70 seasons as Waverly decided to try its hand in the Southeastern Ohio Athletic League. Nine years later, Clay, Green and South Webster all entered the league. At this time, the conference was divided into two divisions. The smaller school division(SOC Division 1), contained:

 Notre Dame
 East
 Green
 South Webster
 Clay
 Glenwood
 Lucasville Valley




The larger school division(SOC Division 2), contained
 West
 Wheelersburg
 Minford
 Northwest (1959-2014)



The next few years saw two schools join SOC 1 as Eastern Pike and Ironton St. Joseph came on board in 1981 and 1982 respectively. 1983 brought with it yet another change as Waverly re-joined the league, coming back from the SEOAL. Six years later, Ironton St Joe withdrew from the league and decided not to join another. In 1991, Oak Hill and Symmes Valley joined the SOC 1 but did not begin competition until the fall of 1992. Finally, Western Pike came into the fold in 2002 from the Southern Hills League to set the lineup as it is today.

SOC 1(small school division)
 Sciotoville Community 1946-present
 New Boston(football until 1980)1946-present
 Eastern Pike (no football) 1981-2014(football in 2015)
 Clay (no football) 1979-present
 Green 1979-present
 Oak Hill 1991-2021
 Notre Dame 1946-present
 Symmes Valley 1991-present
 Western Pike (no football) 2002-present
 Northwest 2014-present




SOC 2(large school division)
 Northwest 1960-2013
 Minford 1947-58, 1959-present
 Ports. West 1946-present
 Waverly 1946-1970, 1983-present
 Wheelersburg 1950-present
 Lucasville Valley 1958-present(from SOC 1 in 06)
 Oak Hill 2021-present

Some SOC 1 schools have been allowed by the league to participate in
SOC 2 sports with the exception of football. These schools have been/are currently:
 Oak Hill (1991-2021)
 South Webster (currently)
 Lucasville Valley (until 2006)
*Beginning in the fall of 2014, Northwest moved from SOC II to SOC I in football only.( It moves back to SOC II in 2023.)


Five schools have formerly been a part of the SOC family but have since parted ways. They are:
 Coal Grove 1950-52 (Ohio Valley Conference)
 Chesapeake 1948-54 (Ohio Valley Conference)
 South Point 1948-51 (Ohio Valley Conference)
 St Joe 1982-89 (Independent)
 Piketon 1957-60 (Scioto Valley Conference

[Tigernation2021]

https://www.portsmouth-dailytimes.com/s ... -divisions

Not sure if everyone got to see this or not but here's a rundown of the conferences. Also seems like it wasn't just set by numbers as South Webster wanted to stay in the big division.