THE RELEGATION ISN'T OVER UNTIL THE PAPERWORK IS DONE.

A few years ago, I cracked wise about Big Time College Football shaking up the conferences in the British fashion.  "How best deal with the dominance of the Southeastern Conference and the embarrassing presence of weak teams in some of the other power conferences?  Create a hierarchy of teams, with footie-style promotion and relegation."  Little did I know that something like that was taking place in the Milwaukee City Conference.  "Here's how the Milwaukee City League works: at the end of each football season, the lowest team in the Richardson division and the top team in the Blackbourn division swap places."  There's not a whole lot in the Milwaukee Public Schools athletics page explaining the divisional alignment, let alone who Richardson and Blackbourn were.  It appears as though the Richardson division started with the larger enrollment schools whilst the Blackbourn division contains the smaller enrollment schools, and each year the top team in the Blackbourn gets to play a big school schedule in the following season.

Moving a team from a division within a conference to another division within the same conference isn't pro forma.

On Monday, Bay View and Pulaski high schools received letters from the WIAA informing both football programs they would have to forfeit all 2024 games and face a two-year playoff ban over executing a conference switch without filing the necessary paperwork.

Bay View athletic director Jay Wojcinski told the Journal Sentinel on Monday that it was a clerical error by Bobbie Kelsey, the MPS commissioner of Interscholastic Athletics & Academics.

That's the same Bobbie Kelsey who underachieved as head women's basketball coach in Madison but achieved notoriety for noting you had to "get your butt in the gym" to draw spectators.  Now she's antagonized the Common Council.

“This is unconscionable, as the hopes and dreams of players on those teams (and the coaching staffs) have been crushed because the top athletics official for the Milwaukee City Conference – Bobbie Kelsey – dropped the ball,” the joint statement from the Common Council said.

Bay View football has competed in the Milwaukee City Conference’s Blackbourn Division this fall after competing last year in the Richardson Division. The program was swapped with Pulaski, which moved from the Blackbourn to the Richardson. Moves of that nature have been commonplace over the years for City Conference programs, which the WIAA has approved as long as paperwork bearing the signatures of all 14 City Conference athletic directors is submitted. Wojcinski described the online application process as a simple form with a “fast track” option for such moves between divisions of a conference.

He placed blame for the incident on Kelsey.

“She didn’t fill out the paperwork with (the WIAA), so it was never approved for us to move over and Pulaski to move over,” Wojcinski told the Journal Sentinel.

She had the opportunity to shape up or ship out at Wisconsin, and she's in a similar position as commissioner for the City Conference.

The joint statement went on to say the way Kelsey has handled her duties is having a negative impact on MPS athletics.

“We have also been told about coaches and administrators who have stopped their involvement in MPS athletics because of the dysfunction in how Ms. Kelsey handles her duties. It is difficult enough getting good coaches and administrative stakeholders to step forward to help our student athletes, but having them repelled to the point of walking away is simply unacceptable,” the statement said.

“We join many others who have lost faith and confidence in Ms. Kelsey’s ability to serve effectively as the MPS Commissioner of Interscholastic Athletics & Academics.”

Never mind how brat her "get your butt in the gym" pep talk was.  She couldn't get her butt to the 'phone to comment to local newspaper or television reporters, either.

Oh, the superintendent post is also open at Milwaukee Public Schools.  Time for the new superintendent to say "Bobbie Kelsey, you're FIRED?"