1926–1941 {{OSM Location map The South Central Conference was formed in 1926 by seven medium-sized high schools in south central Wisconsin:
Baraboo,
Portage,
Reedsburg,
Richland Center,
Sparta,
Tomah and
Viroqua.
Logan High School in
La Crosse joined two years later, and
Wisconsin Dells joined in 1939. The South Central Conference disbanded after the 1941 football season and most of its members went on to form two new conferences. Baraboo, Portage, Reedsburg, Richland Center and Wisconsin Dells went on to form half of the new
Southern Ten Conference (along with former
Southern Six members
Edgerton,
Fort Atkinson,
Monroe,
Stoughton and
Wisconsin High). Sparta, Tomah and Viroqua joined with
Mauston and
Westby to form the new
West Central Conference. Sparta, Tomah and Viroqua were also concurrently members of the
Gateway Conference along with La Crosse Logan during this time period.
1952–1966 {{OSM Location map In 1952, most of the schools that were part of the original incarnation of the South Central Conference joined together and reformed the conference. Baraboo, Portage, Reedsburg, Richland Center and Wisconsin Dells all rejoined from the Southern Ten Conference (with the other five schools forming the nucleus of the new
Badger Conference). Sparta, Tomah and Viroqua rejoined from the West Central Conference, along with newcomers Mauston and
Nekoosa. In 1963, the conference added two schools to bring membership to twelve:
Black River Falls from the
Mississippi Valley Conference and
Sauk Prairie from the
Tri-County League. The conference also subdivided into Northern and Southern sections, an alignment that would last for three seasons:
1966–2001 Membership of the South Central Conference underwent a few changes after the initial reformation and expansion period. Nekoosa left the conference in 1966 to join the short-lived
Vacationland Conference, Viroqua joined the
Southwest Wisconsin Activities League in 1969 and Richland Center joined the SWAL two years later. They were replaced by
Adams-Friendship, who were left without a conference after the Vacationland disbanded in 1970. After entering the league together fourteen years earlier, Black River Falls and Sauk Prairie exited the South Central in 1977 to join the
Coulee Conference and Badger Conference, respectively. Nekoosa rejoined the South Central Conference in 1982, after a four-year stint in the
Cloverbelt Conference. Seven years later, Sparta and Tomah left to join with the larger La Crosse-area schools to form the new
Mississippi Valley Conference. Membership through the 1990s remained consistent at seven schools, but more significant changes were coming at the turn of the century.
2001–present As the South Central Conference approached the fiftieth anniversary of its reformation, three of its original member schools (Baraboo, Portage and Reedsburg) left to join the Badger Conference as part of a five-school expansion. These three schools had the largest enrollment levels in the South Central Conference and wanted to join a conference more in line with their size. They were replaced by
Lodi and
Poynette from the
Capitol Conference and
Westfield from the disbanded
Dual County Conference. Lodi and Poynette quickly became disappointed with the longer travel distances between conference opponents and returned to the Capitol Conference five years after their exit. They were replaced by
Wautoma, formerly of the
East Central Flyway Conference, bringing conference membership to six schools. The South Central Conference expanded to eight schools in 2025 when
Berlin and
Ripon joined from the
East Central Conference after it was realigned out of existence by the
WIAA.
Football-only alignment In February 2019, in conjunction with the Wisconsin Football Coaches Association, the WIAA released a sweeping football-only realignment for Wisconsin to commence with the 2020 football season and run on a two-year cycle. Previously, the South Central Conference featured two football-only members for the 2019 football season: Black River Falls (a former member from 1963-1977) and Gale-Ettrick-Trempeleau. Both schools were primary members of the Coulee Conference and brough the roster of football members to eight schools. For the 2020-2021 cycle, Black River Falls and G-E-T were moved back to the Coulee Conference, and Nekoosa was moved to the large-schools division of the
Central Wisconsin Conference. The outgoing members were replaced with the
Montello/
Princeton/
Green Lake football cooperative of the
Trailways Conference and Poynette of the Capitol Conference. This alignment stayed in place for three seasons before the Montello/Princeton/Green Lake football cooperative was dissolved, with Montello and Green Lake/Princeton both moving to
eight-man football. For the 2024 season, the South Central Conference welcomed Berlin, Ripon and
Waupun (all primary members of the
East Central Conference) as new members with the return of Nekoosa after four seasons in the Central Wisconsin Conference. For Berlin and Ripon, this move came a year in advance of both schools joining the South Central Conference as full members. This offset the loss of Poynette to the
Eastern Suburban Conference and Westfield to the Trailways Conference as a football-only member. == List of conference members (1952–present) ==