Kaneland principal Chip Hickman isn’t a fan of the two, five-team divisions format the Northern Illinois Big 12 Conference is moving toward, but he understands there was no perfect solution to be had.

For a conference with relatively far-flung geography and a wide gulf in athletic performance – most notably in football – finding an arrangement that satisfies each of the current members, let alone entices potential replacements for departing Dixon and Streator, is quite an undertaking.

The conference announced this week that starting with the 2014-15 school year, Kaneland, Morris, DeKalb, Sycamore and Yorkville will be the only five teams in the NI Big 12’s East Division, with Rochelle shifting to the West Division to help compensate for the departures of Dixon and Streator. The Northern Illinois Big 12 is continuing its search for prospective new members, but that’s proven to be a slow, difficult process.