2009 was quite an interesting year in northern Ohio for High School athletic conferences. The changes that took place required you to keep a scorecard. Many schools changed conferences and it caused some to find a new home, some who were not even looking to do so. During all of this shuffling one conference is now down to three members, the Greater Buckeye Conference. All three of the remaining schools during this time have tried to find a new conference to place their athletic programs. It has been a long road for all three and some major disappointments, not of there making.

These three schools Lima Senior, Findlay and Marion Harding all have a lot in common and have been associated over the years with each other. They are all schools much larger than the other schools in there area. The programs resemble each other and had they all been located near each other or located near a large metropolitan area they may not be facing these issues.

The GBC seems to have run out of options on possible expansion as many potential new members have all found new homes. There is still one option that might work depending on the focus of the conference. The long operating Northern Ohio League lost a bunch of schools over the past year and was down to only five members until they plucked GBC member Sandusky into the fold. The GBC did turn down Marion Harding, now the NOL has to decide if six member schools is enough. Waiting to long to decide on some type of deal with the three GBC schools could be a mistake. This would really limit the NOL expansion possibilities in the future as they are also limited on possible members to add.

At this point in time there are two realistic options the three GBC schools are looking at for the future. The GBC can continue as a three member conference and hope that some event will happen in the future to add new members. The way this past year went you never know when schools will decide to move to a new conference. It does allow for some scheduling issues, especially football. Other sports could lend to home and home series during the season. You will still be able to name all-conference teams and crown conference champions. The GBC could work out some agreements with area conferences as crossover games. This type of scheduling is done in Ohio and other parts of the country. I hope the GBC is reviewing all of the issues we are covering in this article.

The second option is playing as an independent and that could be the life of these three GBC members for a long time. This can be a nightmare for all three and most likely see a lot of long road trips, even more than in the past. The cost of travel will be expensive and many hours on the road for coaches and student-athletes. These schools are use to long trips, but would rather eliminate that problem, especially with gas prices and the economy. I am sure any school who has been an independent in the past will agree that this option is not something you will enjoy.

Why can’t these schools get into area conferences? One reason is the fact that all three are much larger than schools in there regions. Although numbers have gone down a little because of other avenues of education in their communities. This would include new Christian schools, home schooling, etc. It also can be pointed out that many “metro” type communities like these lose population to communities in the rural areas.

I will now be looking at Lima Senior and why they are not in the Western Buckeye League. I am a graduate of Celina, which was a founding member of the WBL. I lived there for 35 years and did local HS sports broadcasting on both Celina radio stations, so I can speak to this issue more than the other two GBC members. Several weeks ago I sent out an email to Superintendents, Principals and AD’s of all of the WBL members. There was only one response from an AD asking who I was and why I cared.

Below is what we asked these folks to answer for us.

One of the reasons we asked them to consider Lima Senior and not have football and boys basketball as part of the conference proposal is those two sports in the past had been considered stumbling blocks in WBL membership. Many schools had said they thought those two sports would have an unfair advantage. Plus we deleted football from this inquiry because of the scheduling issues of uneven conference membership. We were hoping that conference members would take time to consider the matter instead of just saying , “no we are happy the way things are going.” I have been told that in past from WBL schools.

Lima Senior is located right in the center of WBL and is scheduled in various sports by many of the members. Lima Senior is considered by many to be a “city” school, while the other schools have more of a “rural” atmosphere.

Although not in Lima three members are immediate neighbors Shawnee, Elida and Bath. The benefits to Lima Senior are in much shorter travel times, fuel expense and less time on buses for student-athletes. Lima Senior would also benefit with the scheduling side due to the WBL having 10 members.

For Lima Senior athletics this would be a perfect fit and end many long nights on the road to play a conference match-up. Financially Lima Senior would benefit from larger gates and less expenses from the shorter trips.

The downsize would be that both boys basketball and football would be independents.

I would have like to have heard reasons pro and con from the WBL folks about this issue. I was hoping they would handle this situation like they would any other educational situation that pops up over the years. I think if the WBL actually sat down and did a thorough review of a proposal like the one we sent them they might actually be surprised the answer they would find.

Solutions for Findlay and Marion Harding might also be found if approached in a manner of “making it work for both sides.” A conference affiliation for all GBC members in the future is important, but also this situation has impact on student-athletes. Let’s hope that someday soon these three schools find a conference home.

Have you as a conference done a self-inspection lately? We also asked the WBL the questions below -