Decorah will compete as an independent after Northeast Iowa Conference dissolves

School in Iowa denied request to join new conference after old league dissolves, leaving them as an independent starting in 2025-26

The Decorah boys soccer team will not have a conference to compete in beginning with the 2025-26 season. They qualified for the state tournament last year. / Lily Smith/The Register / USA TODAY NETWORK

Students in the Decorah school district will have an interesting 2025-26 athletic year.

After the Northeast Iowa Conference dissolves at the conclusion of the current academic and athletic year, Decorah will be left without a home. They will operate as an independent, meaning they will need to schedule games for all sports on their own, according to a report by KCRG.

“I don’t assume that it’s going to be easy to operate as an independent because our schedule is blank and most schools that are in a conference have most of their blanks filled in,” Decorah School Board President Cindy Goodner said. “But we’re starting with nothing so it’s going to be a challenge for next year.”

An appeal to the Department of Education was denied for Decorah to join the Upper Iowa Conference. Iowa law says that every district is entitled to belong to a conference, but the DOE stated the enrollment size of Decorah was more than double the average of those in the Upper Iowa Conference.

Decorah has 435 students in grades 9-12, while the Upper Iowa Conference averages 170 per school in those same grade levels.

The WaMaC was also considered, but the nearest school there, Independence, is 68 miles away. And conference matchups would include travel to schools almost 300 miles away round-trip.

Most schools put their schedules together years in advance, leaving Decorah without many options for 2025-26. The school board stated they are working hard to resolve the matter starting in 2026-27. 

The Decorah football team will not face these same issues, as those scheduled are set by a district and through the Iowa High School Athletic Association. The Vikings reached the state quarterfinals this past fall and went undefeated in the regular season.

Waukon, New Hampton and Crestwood have been allowed to join the Upper Iowa Conference. The Northeast Iowa Conference voted to remove Waverly-Shell Rock two years ago, which left it with just five teams.

The Northeast Iowa Conference is the oldest conference in Iowa, holding events for more than 100 years. Once the baseball and softball seasons come to a conclusion in summer 2025, though, it will no longer exist.

This news come on the heels of several high school varsity basketball programs announcing they will not compete at that level in 2024-25.