The Roseburg High School football team could be seeing plenty of change for the 2024 season.

The program will have a new head coach after Dave Heuberger resigned at the end of the season after eight years at the helm. The Indians may also find themselves in a new football conference after petitioning to play at a lower classification.

Roseburg Public Schools Superintendent Jared Cordon announced Wednesday during a RPS school board meeting that the RHS football program is seeking a petition to temporarily play down at the 5A classification for the 2024 season.

The petition was reviewd by the Oregon School Activities Association Football Ad Hoc Committee during a work session on Wednesday in Wilsonville and the committee has initially proposed that Roseburg football move to the Class 5A ranks.

“We think about our ‘why?’ behind why we do athletics and activities in school,” Cordon said at the meeting. “One of those key reasons we do this is we want kids to have a great experience. We want them to have a meaningful experience that they remember.”

To meet the OSAA’s Petition to Play Down criteria, a football program must have an in-classification winning percentage of 22% or less during a two-year period.

Roseburg has won just 12% of its Class 6A games over the past two seasons and thus was one of nine 6A schools to meet the requirement to play down next year.

Only two other Class 6A programs petitioned to play down, according to the Football Ad Hoc committee proposal. Glencoe and Aloha were the other two schools.

The current proposal places Roseburg in a nine-team conference along with Churchill, Crater, Eagle Point, North Eugene, South Eugene, Springfield, Thurston and Willamette. South Eugene and Willamette are Class 6A schools that are already playing down at 5A for football.

The committee will hold another meeting Jan. 24 to discuss any new feedback on the initial proposal and plans to have its final reccommendation for the OSAA Executive Board shortly after. The Executive Board would consider the final reccommendation for approval at its Feb. 6 meeting.

Roseburg athletic director Adam Blue has also said that the hiring process to replace Heuberger is beginning. The varisty head coach position has been posted and the school will take applications through Jan. 15.

The interview process is expected to begin later this month.

Heuberger resigned his position as head coach three weeks after the Indians finished the 2023 football season. Roseburg went 21-48 during his eight years.

The coach was not on the sidelines over the final three weeks of the season. An explanation for his absence has not been given by Heuberger or RHS administration, despite multiple requests for comment.