Is a Harding-Bassick Co-op in the Works?
November 16, 2008 in Uncategorized Posts by timparry
By Tim Parry
The rumor of the week may not be a rumor after all. According to sources, the FCIAC is looking into merging the Harding and Bassick football teams into a co-op program, which would begin play in the 2009 season. The sources tell me these talks have been ongoing talks.
The reasoning is simple: It would create an even number of teams in the league, and help two programs in one city that have declining participation rates. This would solve the scheduling issues that were created when Fairfield split into Warde and Ludlowe, should eliminate the playoff point scenario for the FCIAC championship game, and in theory would replace two struggling teams with one that may be more competitive.
Here’s the pros and cons:
Pros:
- Smaller operational budget: Bridgeport is in a serious financial mess, its schools are underfunded, and it needs to find a way to either cut spending or infuse revenue. A budget cut would make sense – merge two teams that are struggling to get numbers into one program.
- More potential talent: Could you picture Jonathan Berrios handing the ball off to Jacquii Tuck next season? In theory, bringing the two programs together would make for a very competitive team.
- Even number of teams: Could the FCIAC go back to its East-West alignment and declare each division champ a title game participant?
Cons:
- Transportation costs: Will the cost to bus students on a daily basis from one school to the other (my guess is Harding would be the home field and practice facitity since Bassick has neither) justify a merge in programs? Will it cost the City of Bridgeport more in insurance fees, equipment, etc. to field one team out of the two schools than it would to shuttle kids back and forth? It would be unfair to say that Bassick is the offensive school and Harding is the defensive school, because then you really cut out…
- Team unity: If I am in eighth grade and live in Bridgeport, and I know I have open enrollment to my advantage, and I want to play football, would I want to play with people I don’t see in the lunch room, or try and get into Central Magnet and play for the Hilltoppers? That’s the story I’ve heard from Fairfield co-op hockey players.
- Participation rates: When Andrew Warde and Roger Ludlowe merged and did a co-op for football in 1986 to transition into a single program, most of the Ludlowe kids gave the sport up. The irony was you had Warde’s coaching staff and Warde’s players playing its home games at Ludlowe. So who is to say that the kids from one school wouldn’t want to play if the other school’s staff gets the job?
- Offseason conditioning: Do you keep the weight rooms at both schools open? Do you tell the kids they have to find a gym to work out in? How does a coaching staff keep tabs on everyone once the season is over?
- Program sizes: Both schools may actually have too many players in its individual programs to qualify for a co-op under CIAC rules.
What do you think? Would this be a good or bad thing for the FCIAC?
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I am a bassick high school player and i just wanna let the fciac know that bassick is coming out fired up this season and were taking down anyone in our way and its starting with the new cannan rams. (just ask johnathan law who took a loss from us 25 to 7)
it will proably be good but on the other my teammates dont not want to co-op beacause we enjoy playing bassick
Agree that it’s the greatest rivalry in the FCIAC (especially since it started way before either team was in the FCIAC).
Too bad it’s not Wednesday night. I’d have loved to see it. But Darien-New Canaan is a can’t-miss this year.
whatever, as long as on Thanksgiving Day the paper reads Central versus Harding…i really dont want to read anything like Central vs. Harding/Bassick because as small as it seems you’ve just changed history by doing so. there is more history than any team in the fciac can dream of having versus another team. sometimes records dont mean everything. you want to see bad blood, come on down to hedges on thursday and watch this game people….central versus harding. thats the way its been since forever, thats the way it should stay….besides, harding HAS been competitive in the fciac before, why the outpoor of sentiment now?? what they need is a good coach like when damon lewis had them boys playing hard not new players, THATS A SCAPE GOAT!!!
While those in Bridgeport might not agree, this might the one proposal that is workable. Yes, there are a bunch of logistical issues that would need to be worked out, but I don’t think there is any way to make a 19 team schedule work, especially with the length of a football season. I doubt there is any other team looking to leave their league and join the FCIAC, and I also doubt there is a current school looking to leave the league — so the number 19 is simply not going to change. If the CIAC would be willing to make some concessions to their cooperative team policy, and this merger were to be allowed, it certainly would allow the league to return to an East/West format, and would still allow the Central-Harding Thanksgiving rivalry to remain somewhat intact. Finally, as mentioned in the article, it would allow both Bassick and Harding to merge their athletes — perhaps this would finally allow these players to experience a level of success on the field….and I guess the bottom line is: isn’t it supposed to be about the kids?