KANSAS — The Dr. Ted Kessinger and Franklin "Gene" Bissell Divisions have been set for the 2025 football season, the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference (KCAC) announced Monday.
This is the first reset of the divisions since their inception in 2023. Currently, divisional makeup is scheduled to be reset every two years, with the goal of maintaining a competitive balance within and between each division. However, KCAC football head coaches are discussing changes to their sport guidelines regarding division structure, so divisions may be reset for the 2026 season, as well.
To set the 2025 divisions, the KCAC utilized total conference wins over the 2022 and 2023 seasons by all KCAC programs. Institutions were then placed into divisions using a snaking method to competitively balance the divisions, based on their overall conference wins.
The divisions are set for the 2025 season
(UPDATED JULY 24, 2025 AFTER KCAC GOVERNING COUNCIL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING). The divisions for that season is as follows:
- Dr. Ted Kessinger Division
- Avila University
- Bethany College
- Bethel College
- Evangel University
- Ottawa University
- Tabor College
- Franklin "Gene" Bissell Division
- Friends University
- Kansas Wesleyan University
- McPherson College
- Southwestern College
- Sterling College
- University of Saint Mary
Each team will play all 11 conference opponents each season. In the 2025 season, cross-division play will begin on August 30 (Week 1), followed by a uniform bye week. Division play will then begin on October 18.
ABOUT DR. TED KESSINGER
Dr. Kessinger coached at Bethany College for 28 seasons (1976-2003), winning 219 games, 16 conference championships, and 10 appearances in the NAIA Playoffs. His 219 wins rank No. 7 all-time in the NAIA. Kessinger was the KCAC Coach of the Year 11 times, and never suffered a losing season while at the helm of the Swedes. Kessinger was inducted into the Bethany College Athletics Hall of Honor in 1999, the NAIA Hall of Fame in 2003, the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame in 2005, and the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame in 2010.
ABOUT DR. FRANKLIN "GENE" BISSELL
Bissell was the head coach at Kansas Wesleyan University for 26 years, winning 116 games. The Coyotes won the KCAC Football conference title four times in his time as the head coach. Bissell was inducted into the Kansas Wesleyan Coyote Hall of Fame in 1986, the NAIA Hall of Fame in 1991, and the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame in 2019. Coach Bissell passed away in 2016.
—KCAC—