March 5, 2024
By: Bethany Behnke
The OK-Blue is no more. Starting in the fall of 2024, there will no longer be an OK-Blue in the OK Conference. The conferences, named by color, will furthermore be known as Red, Gold, Silver, Black, Green, and White. Hamilton will be a part of the OK-White for Football but the OK-Black for all other sports.
The new conferences for 2024-2028 are as follows:
OK-Red Football: East Kentwood, Rockford, West Ottawa, Hudsonville, Grand Haven, Grandville.
OK-Black Football: East Grand Rapids, Northview, Thorneapple-Kellogg, GR Ottawa Hills, Holland Christian, GR Catholic Central.
OK-Gold Football: Forest Hills Central, Zeeland East and West, Wyoming, Unity Christian and South Christian
OK-Green Football: Muskegon, Byron Center, Mona Shores, Reeths-Puffer, Forest Hills Northern and Grand Rapids Union
OK-Silver Football: Belding, Comstock Park, Hopkins, Godwin, Kelloggsville, Fruitport, Holland.
OK-White Football: Spring Lake, Wayland, Hamilton, Forest Hills Eastern, Grand Rapids Christian, West Catholic.
OK-Red: East Kentwood, Rockford, West Ottawa, Hudsonville, Grand Haven, Grandville.
OK-Black: Zeeland East and West, Holland, Spring Lake, Hamilton, Holland Christian, Unity Christian
OK-Gold: GR Union, Wyoming, Northview, Thorneapple-Kellogg, Wayland, South Christian, West Catholic
OK-Green: Jenison, Caledonia, Byron Center, Mona Shores, Reeths-Puffer, Muskegon
OK-Silver: Fruitport, Godwin, Kelloggsville, Belding, Comstock Park, Hopkins, Northpointe Christian, Calvin Christian
OK-White: Forest Hills Northern, GR Ottawa Hills, Forest Hills Central, East Grand Rapids, Forest Hills Eastern, GR Christian, GR Catholic Central
But the real question that everyone has is, how are the conferences formulated?
Who?
Before 6 teams left the OK-Conference, there were 48 teams apart of it. Those then 48 schools are broken up into different divisions and there are 8 schools in each division for a total of 6 divisions. These divisions become important when it comes to the realigning of the Conferences as they approach the 4 year renewal period.
These divisions then have 2 representatives that are assigned to speak at Conference meetings about possible realignments and represent each school equally with what each school is looking for in opponents. A total of 12 representatives are at these meetings for the purpose of discussing and speaking on behalf of all schools that are affected by the change in conference!
Once it gets closer to the 4 year realignment period, the committee will meet to formulate a mock conference list to be sent out to all schools. The conferences will first be voted on by the schools’ Athletic Directors. The OK-Conference will take a majority vote when it comes to if the conferences will be instilled within the following school years.
Although the Athletic Directors have a large vote in these matters, if the vote passes through them, the schools Superintendent and Principal are next on the list. If the majority of both groups are in favor of the realignment, it is final and those conferences are confirmed for the following school years!
It may seem like a committee is sat down to discuss and they decide right then and there, but that would be a false narrative. It is a lengthy process where many different opinions are valued and heard.
The Football Only OK-Conference passed with a vote of YES (28) and NO (11)
The Other Sports OK-Conference passed with a vote of YES (34) and NO (7)
Why?
In the Spring of 2023 the new alignments for the 2024-2028 school years were announced. Following that announcement, the conferences received a lot of criticism and many schools left which forced a new realignment to be made.
A total of 6 schools had decided to leave and make their own conference named the “River Cities Alliance ”. Those schools consist of Allendale, Cedar Springs, Coopersville, Greenville, Kenowa Hills, Lowell, and Sparta. Two of these schools are currently in the OK-Blue with Hamilton and will finish out their OK-Conference career at the end of the 2024 spring season.
Because these schools have decided to leave the OK-Conference, new conferences had to be proposed because of the missing gaps and the uneven amount of teams that remained in each grouping.
It was a lengthy process to get where we are today, it took many different proposals and voting periods to decide on the new conferences that will be instilled in the fall. The new conferences were not released until December of 2023, something that is almost unheard of from Athletic Directors around the state. It took almost 8-9 months to make new conferences after a handful of schools had left, the previous realignments were announced in Spring 2023. This is a late start, but a new beginning for most schools.
What this Means:
Hamilton will compete in the OK-White Football only conference while also competing in the OK-Black for all other sports. Swim would be the only exception to that because they participate in the “OK-Rainbow”, which is a mix of schools from all conferences around West Michigan.