High school football coaches meet for UIL realignment day

WICHITA FALLS, Texas (KAUZ) - The University Interscholastic League (UIL) officially announced its 2026-28 alignments for football, basketball and volleyball on Monday. In Wichita Falls, Texoma-area football coaches and athletic directors met at Region 9 Education Service Center in the morning to learn about their districts and also find non-district opponents to fill their schedules.

Every two years, the UIL announces new alignments based on student-body populations of each school. Schools will be grouped with others of similar size and then from there, compete against those with close geographical proximity. The different possibilities of learning who teams will play often leads coaches to really look forward to this day.

Seymour head football coach Tarrington Rivers said he couldn’t sleep the night before.

“Excited about the possibility of the change and what it could look like,” Rivers said. “I think that goes for everybody in the room. It’s probably one of the most exciting nights... or days of the year.”

Henrietta’s head football coach, Jay Jones, said this year’s alignments are a little different from what he and his team were expecting but that that’s what highlights the beauty of the whole process.

“There’s always little changes, and so it’s super exciting just to see what’s going to happen,” Jones said.

Many schools remain in the same district and won’t see any changes to the opponents they’ll play. Others, however, moved to a new classification or will stay where they are but play in a different district.

Notably, Iowa Park moved from 3A to 4A and will compete against Burkburnett and Graham. Meanwhile, Nocona and Olney are now joined by Muenster in District 6-2A Division 1.

Legacy and Memorial high schools are staying together in District 2-5A Division 2.

District 6-2A Division 2 in football, which features all Texoma schools, had its second-straight realignment without changing at all. This means its teams will have been competing against the same opponents for six consecutive seasons. Archer City’s head coach, Bradan Ritchey described how he feels to experience repetitive alignments.

“It’s exciting, and you get this buildup, and then you get the same district. It kind of kills the excitement. But... it makes thing easier,” Ritchey said.

Chris Tackett, the head football coach for Windthorst, said it’s like receiving clothes for Christmas as a kid.

“You appreciate what you got, but it’s no big surprise,” Sackett said. “There’s no big celebration because you just stay the same and... you know... roll on from there.”

The 2026-28 football alignments for UIL schools in Texoma are listed below. Full alignments for the sport, as well as for basketball and volleyball, can be found here.

5A Division 2

District 2

• Wichita Falls Legacy
• Wichita Falls Memorial
• Abilene Cooper
• Abilene Wylie
• Amarillo Palo Duro
• Lubbock Cooper
• Lubbock Coronado

4A Division 2

District 4

• Burkburnett
• Graham
• Iowa Park
• Bridgeport
• Brock
• Mineral Wells

3A Division 1

District 4

• Bowie
• Vernon
• Boyd
• Paradise
• Peaster

3A Division 2

District 4

• Henrietta
• Holliday
• Jacksboro
• Wichita Falls City View
• Breckenridge
• Merkel

2A Division 1

District 6

• Nocona
• Olney
• Alvord
• Chico
• Muenster
• Olney
• Tioga

2A Division 2

District 6

• Archer City
• Electra
• Petrolia
• Seymour
• Windthorst
• Haskell
• Munday

1A Division 1 6-Man

District 9

• Bryson
• Newcastle
• Perrin-Whitt
• Vernon Northside

District 12

• Saint Jo
• Campbell
• Fruitvale
• Savoy

1A Division 2 6-Man

District 2

• Chillicothe
• Crowell
• Guthrie
• Matador Motley County
• Paducah
• Turkey Valley

District 9

• Benjamin
• Knox City
• Haskell Paint Creek
• Lueders-Avoca
• Rule

District 10

• Gold-Burg
• Forestburg
• Harrold
• Throckmorton
• Woodson