By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
The Beebe Badgers sports teams are awaiting an appeal to the Arkansas Activities Association to see if they will change conferences for the third time in as many alignment cycles.
Classifications and conferences are realigned every two years to account for school population changes. Those realignments have bounced Beebe around at every turn since football coach John Shannon took over five years ago.
Beebe was part of the 5A East when Shannon started and had been since entering the 5A classification three years prior to his arrival.
In his second year the team was moved to the 5A Southeast. Two years after that, it was back to the East for the Badgers. The new alignment that begins next year, has Beebe remaining in the East, but it is awaiting an appeal by West Helena to find out if it will have to change again.
West Helena, who was put in the new 5A Central conference, has appealed to the AAA board to swap it and Beebe, putting West Helena in the East and Beebe in the Central. Geographically, the appeal makes sense, but Shannon would like to see some stability for his program.
“It would be nice to be in the Central where you don’t have to travel as much, but my main thinking is I just want to get somewhere and stay put,” Shannon said. “Our kids aren’t getting the chance to build any rivalries with anybody or establish any traditions. I just want to get somewhere and stay.”
Shannon likes playing in the East. He feels some good relationships and rivalries have developed, especially with Batesville and Blytheville, but it’s hard to ignore the huge difference in travel, and therefore expenses, involved between the two conferences.
West Helena’s travel will be reduced by almost 20 percent by moving to the East. Beebe’s would be reduced by more than 50 percent.
If Beebe stayed in the East, it’s conference opponents would be Batesville, Blytheville, Forrest City, Greene County Tech, Nettleton, Paragould and Wynne.
If West Helena’s appeal was granted, it would move to the East and Beebe to the Central, where its opponents would be Jacksonville, Little Rock Christian, Little Rock McClellan, Mills, North Pulaski, Pulaski Academy and Sylvan Hills.
That appears to be a slam-dunk appeal for West Helena, but as Shannon and other Badger coaches know, the AAA’s decisions aren’t always based on what seems to make the most sense.
“I really don’t know what their criteria is for moving teams around,” Shannon said. “When they swapped us with Helena and moved us to the Southeast, it seemed to make sense because it was a little less travel, but the next time around they swapped us right back. So I don’t know how it’s going to play out. I like being in the East, we’ve got good relationships there. I can see how it’s a lot less travel and expenses to go to the Central. I’d be ok with that if we could just get somewhere and stay put. Our main thing is finding some stability.”
The decision regarding West Helena’s proposal to switch conferences with Beebe is scheduled to be handed down in October.
