It's not that I'm staunchly opposed to change.

But when I heard that Big Eight Conference principals voted recently to change the name of the conference to the Southern Wisconsin Conference this fall when Verona becomes its 10th member, I chuckled to myself and wondered aloud: "Why did they waste their time?"

The Big Eight sported that same formal name for many years — as recently as the 2001-02 school year — but it stuck as well as William to Ryan. (That'd be Bo Ryan.)

There were six teams in the Southern Wisconsin Conference in 1925 when Beloit Memorial, Janesville (now Craig), Kenosha (now Bradford), Madison Central (now defunct), Madison East and Racine (now Park) became its charter members, but it quickly became eight once Racine Horlick joined in 1929 and Madison West was added in 1930. There were as many as 13 teams in the conference (in 1968) and as few as seven (from 1970 through '76), but it never seemed to impact the name.

"Everybody referred to it as the Big Eight," retired State Journal sports columnist Tom Butler, a 1942 Madison East grad, said Monday.

Everybody, that is, except the WIAA. It went with the formal name in its directory of schools and its state tournament programs when schools from the "Southern Wisconsin Conference" made it that far.

The print media — at least in Beloit, Janesville and Madison — took a liking to the Big Eight. But as Don Lindstrom, another retired State Journal columnist and my mentor on the prep beat, reminded me Monday, so did most coaches.

"When anybody referred to it as (Southern Wisconsin Conference), it became too bland," Lindstrom, 83, said by phone from his home in Newnan, Ga.

So why repeat the mistake of naming the conference one thing and calling it something else (which — if you haven't gathered by now — will be the tradition we will uphold)? That's what I wondered.

According to Middleton athletic director Luke Francois, it became an issue about a year ago after the WIAA Board of Control made Verona's addition to the Big Eight official.

Why? As Verona athletic director Mark Kryka told me: "It doesn't make very much sense to have the Big Eight name when you have 10 teams."

Never mind that the Big Eight hasn't been sensitive or vocal about its name even after admitting Middleton as its ninth member in 1994.

"I think if we would have been the ninth team, we would've pushed for a change," Kryka said.

Read into that what you will. But let's not forget: It wasn't Verona's decision to leave the Badger Conference.

So, in an effort to make Verona feel welcome and to settle this identity crisis once and for all, conference athletic directors pushed to change the name to the Big Ten and, Francois said, had University of Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez's blessing.

But officials at the Big Ten, which has been alienating Penn State since it became the conference's 11th member in 1992, nixed the idea. They felt a Big Ten high school conference with members from a Big Ten college town would create too much confusion for fans.

And now it has caused a great deal of frustration for Big Eight athletic directors.

Francois said they considered many ideas — Elite Ten, Capitol Ten, Big Lake Ten — before endorsing the idea of a Big Eight logo with the number 10 in the two circles of the "8." They were overruled by conference principals, who last month went off the board and went back to the Southern Wisconsin Conference.

Apparently, they hadn't been told that — since the Big Eight last answered to that name — the acronym SWC has been used locally by the Southwest Wisconsin Conference, which includes Dodgeville, Platteville and Richland Center.  In fact, of the 12 umbrella conferences in our area, four have a variation of the word South and three others break into North and South divisions.

"It's a generic name," Francois said of the Southern Wisconsin Conference. "My hope is people won't be satisfied with a generic name and come up with something better."

According to Kryka, that movement is under way. And that's where you can help.

Take into consideration the unique features of the cities that comprise the Big Eight (perhaps the lakes of Dane County and the Rock River, which winds through Janesville and down to Beloit) and e-mail me your suggestions.

I'll share them in a future column and perhaps we can facilitate change instead of just complaining about it.