AAC keeps status quo

Staff report

The only news coming out of Wednesday’s All-American Conference meeting regarding expansion was that there was no news.

The conference’s Expansion and Realignment Committee reportedly discussed the possibility of adding Austintown Fitch and Boardman, among others, but no action was taken.

In fact, the Committee doesn’t have the authority to add schools — it can only make recommendations to the conference’s superintendents, who have the vote to approve expansion.

Other schools known to have at least been discussed — not necessarily at Wednesday’s meeting — are Chaney, East, Jefferson Area, Ashtabula Edgewood and Conneaut.

What is known is that the AAC remains in a state of flux.

Brookfield is out and will operate as an independent in 2010-11 while it continues to seek new conference affiliation — officials there have confirmed they have applied to the Northeastern Athletic Conference.

Salem will compete in the AAC one more year before joining the Northeastern Buckeye Conference, a Stark County-based league that also includes West Branch, for the 2011-12 school year.

Some schools are unhappy with the current tier setup and have explored creating a new league or applying to other conferences.

Regardless of which — or any — schools are added, realignment is almost a certainty.

Several scenarios have reportedly been discussed, including two divisions rather than the current three, and even further splitting the tiers.