Sussex County Sports Blog

By Dan Cleary

8/25/2008 - State Plan Needs Second Look

Like a NFL replay official, I have been studying the proposed realignment plan released by the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association last week looking to see if it should be overturned.

And after further review, the plan should be reversed and sent back to the Leagues and Conferences Realignment Committee for an overhaul. Now, I appreciate all the hard work put in by the committee, in what was essential a thankless and no-win job, but in my opinion it didn’t succeed in its goal of leveling the playing field and solving the issue of competitive balance between the public and non-public schools in the state.

The committee in its conclusion statement said as much, “It is certainly not a panacea (cure-all) but represents the best effort to assure fairness among public, private and parochial schools alike, throughout New Jersey.”

No, what the plan was the committee’s best effort not to separate the non-public and the public schools, thus preventing a long, drawn-out legal battle that surely would have ensued if the non-public schools were separated into their own leagues.

There is no doubt in my mind that the non-publics would have lined up at the NJSIAA headquarters in Robbinsville with an armada of lawyers ready to sue the association if they were separated, and most likely, they would have won.

In 1982 it was mandated that parochial and urban schools be included in local conferences after they complained they could not obtain sufficient scheduling of regular-season games, which in turn put them at a disadvantage when it came to qualifying for the state tournament.

Yes, times have changed and the climate in high school sports in New Jersey is dramatically different than 1982. For whatever reason, and there are plenty of theories out there, the parochial schools in North Jersey have become monsters and have dominated the sports landscape in almost every sport and the public schools are sick of it.

The public schools’ beef is legitimate in a lot of respects in that non-public schools can draw students from anywhere. But it seems to me, the ire against the non-public schools is relegated to a few schools, like Don Bosco, Bergen Catholic and St. Joseph’s in Bergen County, St. Peter’s Prep in Hudson County, Seton Hall Prep in Essex, Delbarton in Morris and our very own Pope John here in Sussex.

So by just realigning the schools in North Jersey, it seems like the NJSIAA was sick and tired of everyone moaning and then blew up all the conferences for all sports instead of addressing the problem on an individual conference basis. It is the old, be careful what you wish for, you just might get it scenario.

Yes, I know the plan that would have separated the public and non-public schools was voted down by a mere eight votes (186-178) by the member schools in December, which prompted the state to look into realignment.

But I feel if the conferences and leagues with most issues should have taken upon themselves to clean their own house, like the Shore Conference did years ago. In fact the realignment plan is based on the Shore Conference which houses over 40 schools and is broken into divisions.

Now I don’t want to beat a dead horse, but my feeling all along was football needed to be realigned, and the other sports, especially in the Sussex County Interscholastic League, should be left alone. Like I have written in previous blogs, the soccer coaches in the SCIL did a great job of breaking the league into big school and small school divisions for this upcoming season. Now that is a proactive solution which keeps the SCIL intact and competitive.

But it looks like it will be too little, too late. And after one season, that plan will be thrown out the door. After talking with almost all the soccer and field hockey coaches in the SCIL this past week, the majority of the coaches opposed the proposed state plan. The general consensus was that once again football was the driving factor for the state and the other sports were not taken into consideration.

I don’t think that is entirely true, but I agree with the premise that we wouldn’t be talking about realignment if it wasn’t for football. Heck, the whole idea was hatched by the gang at Wallkill Valley over a decade ago with just football in mind. And it must be noted that Wallkill’s plan was not just directed at booting Pope John from the SCIL, but the larger schools like Group 4 Vernon and Group 3 schools High Point and Sparta and at the time Jefferson as well.

So the idea that Wallkill was on a crusade against Pope John is not true. The Rangers just wanted to play similar-sized schools. But the separation issue has taken on a life of its own over the years, especially in Bergen County.

All right, so what is the solution? First off, the proposed realignment should be postponed until every avenue other than a complete overhaul is exhausted. That means all the affected leagues should get together and hammer out a plan themselves, don’t leave it to the state. Part of that plan should address the non-public issue because like it or not, folks, they are not going anywhere.

Putting all the superpowers in Bergen County in one division seems feasible and as far as Pope John, yes, they are good in several sports, but the Lions are no more dominant than the public schools in the SCIL. And isn’t one of the goals of high school athletics is to continue to improve? What better way is there to challenge yourself than playing the best like Pope John?

So, I disagree with the realignment for all sports, nothing new there. And the state and the vocal faction of schools that want realignment should slow down and not rush into breaking up the conferences starting in September of 2009. As of now, if the NJSIAA Executive Committee approves the plan, it could go into effect next year. So how about putting it up to a vote in front of the whole membership? I know the NJSIAA by-laws state the Executive Committee has the power to realign, but this is too big of an issue for just a select few to decide.

I know whatever plan is finally approved will not make everyone happy. But let’s hope the Executive Committee really takes into consideration all of the concerns schools have about the plan and doesn’t rush into anything. There is no timetable that says it has to be done by 2009.

That’s it for now, see you on the sidelines.

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Sussex County Sports Blog

By Dan Cleary

8/25/2008 - State Plan Needs Second Look