ECC's future in doubt again
The future of the 18-school Eastern Connecticut Conference might be in jeopardy again, less than a month after its members put up a united front and voted to stay together.
Seven ECC schools - Griswold, Killingly, Lyman Memorial, Plainfield, Tourtellotte Windham and Woodstock Academy - have applied for admittance into the North Central Connecticut Conference and will formally meet with NCCC officials on Thursday, March 5, according to a Norwich Bulletin report.
The NCCC currently has 14 schools, but will lose Avon to the Central Connecticut Conference next season and Enfield, which is merging with with Fermi to become a one-town high school, at the start of the 2016-17 academic year.
"This was definitely surprising," said Stonington High School principal Mark Friese, spokesman for the ECC Board of Directors. "When we left the last meeting (Jan. 30), we thought we were good moving forward. So this was surprising. It's something we'll need to work through."
Ironically enough, the ECC has a scheduling meeting next Thursday, too.
"Not so long ago, we sat at a table and agreed that we were going to move forward as a league and make things work, but everyone has their reasons," Ledyard athletic director and football coach Jim Buonocore said. "Everyone is trying to do what's best for their schools and communities.
"We're a member of the ECC and plan on staying a member of the ECC until someone tells us the conference doesn't exist anymore. We're here and we're happy to be here."
Should all seven northern schools decide to apply for admittance into the NCCC before the end of the 2014-15 academic year - and are accepted - ECC bylaws state that schools must give the conference a one-year notice before departing, meaning they must remain in the ECC for the 2015-16 academic year.
The ECC could blow apart after that, however, as the other 11 schools - Bacon Academy, East Lyme, Fitch, Ledyard, Montville, New London, Norwich Free Academy, St. Bernard, Stonington, Waterford and Wheeler - must assess what is best for their programs.
"It seems like its become an everyone-looking-after-themselves situation right now, which is kind of disappointing," NFA AD Gary Makowicki said. "We have a (scheduling) meeting next week, and I'm going to wait until that meetnig and see what people have to say and start reaching out from there."
Friese said, "Speaking as the principal of Stonington, this could be a game changer. We'll have to think long and hard about our direction and how we move forward."
Some of the 11 have talked with other leagues in the past. East Lyme met with represenatives of the SCC last month, and SCC commissioner Al Carbone said Thursday that Bacon, East Lyme, Fitch, Ledyard, New London, NFA and Waterford had discussions with his conference in 2014.
"Let's just say this - we were in discussions with them last May," SCC commissioner Al Carbone said, "and part of the discussion was them having their own division, playing each other, and then fill in games with like opponents. I think it's something we'd have to have a discussion about (again)."
Logistics and enrollment would make both the CCC and SCC a viable options for NFA. Road trips to RHAM, Glastonbury, East Hartford or Manchester wouldn't be much more taxing than some trips to ECC schools. Those are also four large schools, and NFA is one of the state's biggest.
"There's advantages to both," Makowicki said. "I think we'd certainly like to maintain our local rivalries. I think, in a lot of ways, there's upside to that. I just don't know how many there are, if it's viable, and if there's enough (schools) to hang in there (together).
"That number makes a big difference. If there's eight or nine (schools), you can fill out a schedule pretty well. If there's only five, you really can't survive on your own (as an SCC division)."
Travel would be a huge issue for Ledyard, which uses its pay-to-play system to fund the trips.
"We would be open to competing with any league throughout the state," Buonocore said. "We cannot be traveling to Wallingford and Milford and New Haven 50 percent of the time out of our regular-season schedule. We could do it two or three times.
"We'd have to stay with a group of local schools to be in the SCC so that our travel budget is not so expensive. It's not as simple as people think that you can up-and-go to a different league."
n.griffen@theday.com
Twitter: @MetalNED
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