As mentioned in my previous blog, League Shuffling Part 1, area high school conferences have announced some serious remodeling in recent months.  The Inter-Valley Conference is adding five teams (for a total of 14 teams) and going to a two-division set-up for football, and possibly other sports.  The Principals’ Athletic Conference (PAC-7) has responded to losing three members by replacing them with four new schools.

That brings us to the current home of Dover and New Philadelphia:  the East Central Ohio League.  The E.C.O.L., created in 1987, fluctuated between 4 and 8 teams until 2010, when it expanded to 10 teams broken into a big school (Scarlet) and small school (Gray) division.  That arrangement, though, appears to be on thin ice due to Claymont leaving the small school division to join the I.V.C.

The league’s initial response was to move Cambridge into the small school division and invite Vincent Warren into the big school division.  When I initially saw that news, my first thought was ‘who, what, and where is Vincent Warren?”.  A quick check on the Mapquest website showed that it was west of Marietta and 97 miles from Dover High School.  97 miles!  Something tells me Dover and New Philadelphia coaches were not too eager to add this new member to the league family. But the choice of Vincent Warren seemed to show how desparate the E.C.O.L. is to find a replacement for the big school division.

Much to the joy of Tuscarawas County sports fans, and the chagrin of the auto industry, Vincent Warren turned down the E.C.O.L.’s invitation in mid-July.  So here is the current line-up for the E.C.O.L., which includes the OHSAA 2015-17 enrollment figures (based on males grades 9-11 from last year) as well as the travel times for Dover and New Philadelphia:

With nine schools, it would likely be very difficult to continue a two-division set-up.  Four teams in a division works for the National Football League, but would give high school athletic directors nightmares with all of the scheduling holes to fill.  And with the significant difference in enrollments between the bigger and smaller schools, increasing crossover games between the divisions or even merging all schools into one division is not a very appealing solution.  This is especially true when considering the match-ups in football, which produces most of the revenues for high school athletic departments.  Just this past season, Coshocton brought a 7-0 record to Dover to face the 5-2 Tornadoes and left with a 42-0 loss.  It is a tough jump for the smaller schools to match up with quality football programs that are so much bigger in size.

So, besides standing pat, what might the E.C.O.L. do?   An obvious solution is to try and find another team to join the big-school division.  The problem with that is that there are few schools that size for E.C.O.L. to draw from.  Steubenville is a possible candidate.  In 2010, the E.C.O.L. announced Steubenville was joining the league, but the Big Red soon turned the invitation down.  If they had a change of heart , that would fill the gap, but would also keep Dover and Phila fans wearing their tire treads down:

As you can see, the average big school trip for Dover and Phila fans would be about 70 miles.  A trip to Cleveland from Dover H.S. is 75 miles.  Not ideal for sports fans, and pure misery for athletes staring out the windows of those yellow school busses.  (those time would probably bump up at least 10 minutes for a school bus).

Steubenville also doesn’t fit the big-school enrollment figures, but the long-time success of their football program shows that they play much bigger than their enrollment.

Another oft-discussed candidate is West Holmes, which is currently a part of the Ohio Cardinal Conference.  In 2008, the Knights were in discussions to join the E.C.O.L., but decided to stay in the O.C.C.  Here is how their enrollment and travel times look in the E.C.O.L.:

It makes for a shorter trip for the Tornadoes and Quakers.  Unfortunately, the travel times to West Holmes for Marietta (118 minutes) and Zanesville (78 minutes) would be a very hard sell.

Another possibility that was explored in 2013 is a merger with the Muskingum Valley League. The M.V.L. has nine teams of varying sizes, so merging with the E.C.O.L. would be a monumental task.  And most of the M.V.L. is beyond Zanesville, so travel time would once again be a red flag.

Obviously, the options for the E.C.O.L. are limited, primarily due the smaller, rural populations in its area.  And thus, the future of the league appears to be very murky.  So where does that leave Dover and New Philadelphia?  I would suggest that they consider a variation of the famous Horace Greeley quote: “Go North, young Man”.  There are so many more schools that direction of comparable size as possibilities.

Looking into joining the Ohio Cardinal Conference might be something to explore.  Here is how the enrollments and travel looks if the O.C.C. was broken geographically into East and West divisions:

*note that  Mount Vernon was just invited to join the league to replace Orrville this spring.

The East Division for Dover and New Philadelphia would be very appealing in terms of travel and time.  Crossover games with the West division, though, would be a onslaught of long road trips to go along with match-ups with some big schools.  Overall, I think the Tornado and Quaker decision makers would strongly consider this option if it became available.  I don’t think, however, that members of the O.C.C. would want to stretch their map so far east.

What about joining the Federal League?  Those Stark County schools are pretty close.  And very, very big.  I am sure Quaker fans haven’t forgotten their 1990’s struggles when they were the small school in the Federal League meat grinder.

So what else is out there?  I think there is one option out there that would be a great fit:

The Northeastern Buckeye Conference.

Stay tuned that discussion in Part 3.

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The landscape of college sports has been shaken within the past decade.  The Big Ten now has 14 teams, the Big 12 is down to 10 teams, and various other conferences have re-shuffled their their traditional line-ups.  These changes have been driven primarily by money and security.  Conferences add universities to expand their television markets (see Big Ten adding Rutgers and Maryland).  Colleges look to secure a better seat for themselves, ideally in one of the big-time conferences that provides big-time pay-outs and long-term stability (see Utah joining the PAC-12 as well as Pitt and Syracuse abandoning the weakened Big East for a stronger ACC) . 

High school athletics is not immune to the epidemic of conference re-shuffling.  Like college, every school wants the security of a league with long-term stability.  Money also plays a big role, but for different reasons.  Schools want fellow members that minimize travel costs while bringing strong crowds that maximize ticket sales.  But currently, probably the biggest factor is competitiveness.  Schools want to be a part of a conference where they have a good chance to win and develop consistent, competitive programs.  Losing is not much fun.  Losing a lot is MISERABLE!  And schools with smaller enrollments are at a competitive disadvantage to bigger schools, especially in the sport that generates most of the revenues:  football.

2015 has been a year where area leagues have been put through the blender.  The Inter-Valley Conference has about as rock-solid of a foundation as just about any league in the state.  Five schools are 1967 founding members–Garaway, Hiland, Malvern, Newcomerstown, and Ridgewood—while Strasburg (1970) and Tuscarawas Central Catholic (1971) joined soon after.  The league has had various additions and subtractions in its 48-year history, with its current line-up including Sandy Valley (added in 2001) and East Canton (2013).

The IVC announced in recent months that it would be undergoing  the biggest make-over it its 46-year history by adding five teams:  former members Connotton Valley, Tusky Valley, and Indian Valley (formerly North and South in their IVC heyday) as well as Claymont and Buckeye Trail.  These schools will begin IVC play for the 2016-17 school year.

Some have questioned the decision to shake up what appears to be a very stable league.  But my guess is the IVC is being very proactive in maintaining competitive balance.    The enrollment gap was becoming a growing issue, especially with TCC, Strasburg, and Malvern being well less than half the size of Ridgewood, Garaway, and Sandy Valley.   The additions give the IVC the flexibility to better balance the discrepancy in enrollments among its members by splitting the 14 schools into two divisions as needed.  As mentioned in Times Reporter article written by Roger Metzger.   the conference will split into these two 6-team divisions for football (along with the OHSAA 2015-17 enrollment figures based on  males grades 9-11 from last year):

*note that  Hiland (135 boys) does not have a football team, and Conotton Valley (50 boys) will not participate in the IVC for football.

The positioning of Sandy Valley and Newcomerstown are puzzling, but overall, this set-up should give schools a better chance to be successful in football on a constistent basis.

This division set-up will not necessarily be used for all sports.  As stated by IVC commissioner Chuck Rest in Roger Metzger’s article mentioned above, some sports may have no divisions, while others may be split by size or geography.  School athletic directors will decide this in a sport-by-sport basis.

Let’s take a brief look at the pros and cons of the new IVC set-up:

PROS:

1.  As previously stated, the two-division set-up allows for school to be grouped for competitive balance enrollment-wise.

2.  The two-division set-up also allows for the possibility of schools being grouped by the performance of individual programs.  For example, the more successful volleyball programs would be placed in an upper division, while more struggling schools would be put in the lower division.  This flexibility can be extremely useful for a small-school conference like the IVC.  The success of sports programs in smaller schools may widely fluctuate due to the limited number of students to draw from.

3.  Having 14 schools gives the IVC the flexibility to evolve if any schools decide to leave the conference in the future.

4.  The three largest schools (Claymont, Indian Valley, and Tusky Valley) are all new additions.  For many sports, the competition from these schools will help raise the bar for current IVC schools and better prepare them for post-season tournaments and playoffs.

CONS:

1. The ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ mentality.  The IVC has been very successful conference for almost five decades.  Will going to two divisions weaken that stability?

2.  Two-division conferences by size sometimes create a ‘big brother-little brother’ mentality where smaller schools are made to feel that their success is somehow inferior to their big-school division counterparts.

3.  Adding Buckeye Trail in Guernsey County off of Interstate 70 greatly stretches travel times for schools heading south.  According to the website, Mapquest,  Buckeye Trail High School is 28 miles (and 29 minutes driving) from the I-77/Route 36 interchange near Newcomerstown (the furthest school south right now).  For Sandy Valley High School, it would be a 62-minute drive.  It is 69 minutes from Hiland H.S., 72 minutes from East Canton H.S., and 79 minutes from Malvern H.S.  Fans of those schools might want to read my recent Road Trip Rewind blog before heading out the door.

4.  The three largest schools (Claymont, Indian Valley, and Tusky Valley) are all new additions. That will be a challenge for current members to against stiffer competition.  As I said earlier, no one likes to lose.

The best news for the IVC is that is has a fine leader in commissioner Chuck Rest, and that it is filled will many quality coaches, athletic directors, principals, and communities.  With all of those positives, it is easy to bet on a great future for the IVC.

The expansion of the IVC, though, put other leagues into scramble mode.  The Principals’ Athletic Conference (PAC-7) not only lost Tusky Valley and Indian Valley, but also saw Timken disappear when it was absorbed by Canton McKinley.   Being down to four teams appeared to be a possible death blow for the PAC.  But several area schools were looking for a better fit for their location and enrollment, and the PAC provided a great landing strip.  In May, Orrville, Northwest, and Loudonville (football only) all agreed to join the league by 2017.  Here is the male enrollment breakdown of what appears to be a very competitive league:

The other local league that felt the butterfly effect of the IVC metamorphosis was the East Central Ohio League.  The ECOL has had a big (Scarlet) and small (Gray) division of five schools since 2010.  The loss of Claymont from the Gray division put the league status in jeopardy.  The enormous gap in school enrollments made a merger of the two divisions into a nine-team league appear unlikely possibility:

The solution that the league initially chose this past spring was to move Cambridge into the small school division and invite Vincent Warren into the big school division.

Adding  Vincent Warren didn’t exactly have Dover and New Philadelphia fans jumping  for the joy.  According to Mapquest, the drive would be 99 minutes from Dover High School and 100 minutes for the Quakers (must be some heavy traffic in downtown New Philadelphia).  And something tells me that riding in a school bus would bump those drive times up some.

Unfortunately, it appears those ECOL scenic excursions will not come to fruition.  Last week, The Jackson County Times Journal reported that the Warren board of education voted not to join the ECOL.

So where does that leave future for Dover, New Philadelphia, and the ECOL?  Stayed tuned for my ideas in my upcoming PART 2.

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Tomorrow marks the day that the sequel to Harper Lee’s classic novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, gets released for publication.  The controversy concerning this sequel is being addressed all over the internet, including this Neal Simon blog that is on our Times-Reporter website.

To be honest, this news meant very little to me up until a few weeks ago when I read my fellow T-R blogger Jim Gill’s article, Lessons From Atticus Finch.

I had very little familiarity with the novel, other than it was considered a classic.  One thing that I distinctly remember from my high school and college days is that the title, literary classic, often does not equal literary enjoyment.   I’m talking to you, Kafka’s The Trial.  And you, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby.  Don’t try to hide, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter.

And you know who else doesn’t get a free pass from me:  Billy Shakespeare!  I would say Shakespeare is kind of like maple syrup:  sweet and smooth in small doses, but too much makes for a sticky mess!  Reading Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet was pretty much like reading a foreign language.  I had to use the side notes to translate just about every line into something I understand.  And that’s coming from a student that loved reading and was the son of an English teacher!

My knowledge of To Kill a Mockingbird was very limited.  I knew that it involved racism and a court trial.  Years back, I had watched the American Film Institute special, AFI’s 100 YEARS, 100 HEROES AND VILLIANS.   Guess who edged out James Bond and Indiana Jones for the #1 spot…

Atticus Finch.  Considering lawyer got the #1 hero spot, I put watching the movie on my to-do list.  And it stayed on the way-back-burner of that list for years.  Mr. Gill’s blog was perfect timing though, as I was heading for a beach vacation the next week.  I needed a book to read in the shade (I am a burner), so I bummed a copy off of a fellow teacher and headed to Florida with the family.

My verdict?  I am proud to say that To Kill a Mockingbird is a true American classic in every sense of the word.  Not only is it a brilliant take on the evils of racism and the courage to stand up to it.  It also paints a beautiful, vibrant portrait of childhood through the eyes of its ornery, adorable narrator, Scout.  It is a story that I will always cherish and look forward to introducing to my own children.

So thanks, Jim Gill, for sharing your passion for this beautiful novel with me along with the rest of your readers!  Now I need a recommendation for my upcoming 20-year anniversary trip with my beautiful wife.  And remember, no Shakespeare!

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