It is indeed a warning to the MSHSL
Posted on June 29th, 2009 – 2:19 PMBy John Millea
6:10 p.m. update…
The focus is sharpening a bit. After several more phone conversations with many people on the high school scene — including one administrator who is vacationing at Disney World (oops, sorry to bother you) – I do not believe that the nine Lake schools officially voted to withdraw from the conference … at least not yet. But today’s actions are clearly a threat that is being levied at the MSHSL if it does not change its stance on placing the four Classic Lake schools in the Lake.
It’s pretty simple. The Lake would have accepted two teams from the Classic Lake. They got all four and they are angry. Now they are threatening the MSHSL, saying in essence: “Give us all four and you’ll end up with another five-team conference.”
We shall see if either side backs down. The MSHSL can stand by its decision and the Lake can do nothing about it. Except, of course, the much-discussed Dakota County conference can be brought to life, with the probable addition of both Bloomington schools. Which would mean the five-team league (Eden Prairie, Edina, Hopkins, Minnetonka and Wayzata) would be a reality anyway.
Either way, at some point the Lake is likely to break apart, leaving Eden Prairie in a league with the four Classic Lake schools … any maybe nobody else.
I’ve got to concentrate on writing a story for tomorrow’s paper. More updates will follow here if anything major happens this evening.
5:15 p.m. update…
I just got off the phone with Bloomington Jefferson principal Steve Hill, who, as chairman of the executive committee of the Lake Conference, was in charge of today’s meeting. He denied that the nine Lake schools voted to withdraw from the league. He said the only official action taken was a vote against appealing the placement of the Classic Lake schools into the Lake.
He did say that discussions continued after the on-the-record portion of the meeting ended. From our chat, I believe that some in the Lake are so offended by the placement of four new schools that they are firing a shot across the bow of the MSHSL. Hill made it clear that he wants the MSHSL to change the decision to add four schools to the Lake.
During a presentation to the placement committee earlier this month, the Lake said it was willing to accept two teams from the Classic Lake. But they are not happy taking all four.
“If the high school league makes some kind of determination that all four schools would not go into the Lake Conference, that could change all this speculation,” Hill said. “If two went north (to the Northwest Suburban) and two went south (to the Lake), or one north and three south, a very likely outcome is that we would run it as is; the Lake Conference would become a little bigger and we would go with that for a number of years. I think the concept that we voted out Eden Prairie, that’s inncaurate.”
When I told Hill that Mike Grant is certainly under the impression that his school has been voted off the island (see Grant quotes below), Hill said, “I can’t speak for what anyone told Mike Grant.”
This is pretty good intrigue for the high school world.
3:40 update …
More details from today’s Lake Conference meeting:
–During the meeting, representatives from Eden Prairie made a motion to appeal the MSHSL decision that placed Edina, Hopkins, Minnetonka and Wayzata in the Lake. That motion was seconded and much discussion followed. Ultimately, that motion failed on a voice vote.
–Chaska and Chanhassen were not represented at the meeting, a sure sign that they are being fast-tracked into the Missota for 2010-11. Northfield superintendent Dr. Chris Richardson confirmed to me that the Missota has received their letter of application. He said, “From my personal perspective, I think they look at us and with the size of their schools, they’re going to fit very nicely with the other conference schools.”
–The Lake schools are expected to announce their impending withdrawal from the conference in August, and their departure would be effective in the fall of 2010. But when in August is key. The MSHSL board of directors will meet Aug. 11, and on the agenda is the placement of the four Classic Lake schools into the Lake in 2010. If the Lake announcement is made before Aug. 11, the board may not approve the Classic Lake placement. In other words, expect the Lake announcement to come no earlier than Aug. 12.
Here’s a quote from Hopkins athletic director Dan Johnson: “All we want is a schedule and a place to play.”
And this from MSHSL executive director Dave Stead: “There are so many unknowns we have to figure out what the potential scenarios are.”
“I’m surprised. I really am. I knew the potential for something like this was there, but I didn’t know it would be there this quickly.”
3:30 P.M. UPDATE…
Reaction from Eden Prairie athletic director/football coach Mike Grant: ”It’s the end of the Lake and it’s a sad day. That’s what everybody wanted. Nobody wanted to play us.”
“I don’t think they’re going to allow five schools in a conference again. Everybody will appeal and be placed. You know that’s going to happen.”
“It is what it is. I imagine we’ll still be playing. We have to play some games. Somebody has to play us.”
“They had this planned from day one. It was a given.”
ORIGINAL POST …
Lake Conference administrators met today, and the presumed purpose of the meeting was to decide whether to appeal last week’s decision by the MSHSL to add four Classic Lake Conference schools to the Lake lineup, beginning with the 2010-11 school year. As things turned out, the Lake went much, much further than that.
Because of the decisions made today, here’s what the landscape could look like in the fall of 2010 …
–Eden Prairie, Edina, Hopkins, Minnetonka and Wayzata will be in one five-team conference;
–Apple Valley, Eagan, Eastview, Rosemount, Lakeville North, Lakeville South, Burnsville, Bloomington Kennedy and Bloomington Jefferson will be in another conference;
–Chaska and Chanhassen will be new members of the Missota Conference.
I’m working on more details and will post further updates.
John Millea is on Twitter at www.twitter.com/stribjohn
79 Responses to "It is indeed a warning to the MSHSL"
never a dull moment when MSHL is involved in anything. Do they have the authority to overrule or veto the decision of the members? or is this now the “final” face of the old “Classic Lake Conference”?
The headline here has it all wrong. This is all to avoid being with Hopkins and Tonka, not EP or the other two schools.
Wow.
John: I think it would be interesting if you could come up with the school district population base and enrollments for each of these schools. It is interesting that the Lakeville, Bloomington and Eagan schools (and I think some of the others) are districts which divided themselves to have multiple schools while EP, Edina, Hopkins, Minnetonka and Wayzata seem to have stayed within municipal and school boundaries. How do they compare in size?
Makes sense.
Those five schools keep cannibalizing other districts for students and athletes anyway. Together in the same conference, they can come to a friendly accord. Students within those districts can be easily shuffled around if the coaches come to an agreement. Give Hopkins all the good basketball players, Eden Prairie all the football players, Edina the Tennis players, Minnetonka the baseball players, and Wayzata all the female athletes.
Ha! Those private snooty schools don’t have a chance, now!
1st - former Lake Conf. foes are wimps but if you had to take 5 powerhouses and put them against each other, these are the 5 schools that come to mind if you’re looking at consistency across all boys and girls sports. My only concern is that often times the 5 top 12 teams will be in the Lake Conference but only 1 will make State. There should be some rule that the top X seeds gets an at will bid or something.
So the Cake Eater conference is finally realized.
Next thing you know, Lunds will re open an Eden Prairie location.
Enrollments (9-12) - data from mshsl.org, in descending order:
Eden Prairie: 3099
Wayzata: 3043
Burnsville: 2984
Minnetonka: 2698
Hopkins: 2470
Eagan: 2351
Eastview: 2211
Apple Valley: 2180
Rosemount: 1978
Bloomington Jefferson: 1676
Lakeville North: 1674
Lakeville South: 1670
Bloomington Kennedy: 1483
Numbers have Chaska at 2426; not sure if that’s changed with, Chanhassen opening.
Hastings should join that conference with the Dakota schools, and join the lake to form a ten-team conference.
So Wayzata, Hopkins, Minnetonka, and Edina kick out Armstrong because a 5-school conference has “scheduling problems” only to be in a new 5-school conference?
I say even out the conference and add Holy Angels since the Missota will be adding two after losing one (Hutchinson). They would be geographically and competitivly comparable with Eden Prairie, Edina, Hopkins, Minnetonka and Wayzata.
Put Holy Angels, Benilde, Blake, Breck, Totino, Cretin and Hill Murray in a conference.
Looks like Bloomington is screwing this all up. Not big enough to compete w the Super schools, getting the travel shaft having to constantly go south of the river.
Smarty - I do like the idea of having Hastings join the conference with the other Dakota County teams, if the two Bloomington schools weren’t in it you could call it the “Dakota Confernce” I could see them moving to it. To me it seems silly to have them travel all the way to Forest Lake for a conference game.
Sammford - Add Saint Thomas to the Private school conference
Why not put jefferson or burnsville in with the “big 5″ so there’s one conference with 6 teams and another with 8. I don’t get the 9 and 5, unless theres another team out there thats going to join the ep/tonka conference.
Jon, how does kennedy’s enrollment compare to that with teams in the missota? I always found kennedy to be an odd duck in the lake.
As you can see from the enrollment numbers, if Lakeville hadn’t created another high school, it would be the largest school in the Conference. Fortunately, for the students’ sake, the decision was made. Now, the number of high school kids who can play varsity sports in the Conference doubled. It’s good to see EP leave the Conference.
Yes, the private schools should be in their own conference. They recruit heavily, and simply aren’t on the same playing field as the other schools. It’s a shame.
Wayzata is not a geographical school district. It includes most of the city of Wayzata, 1/2 of the city of Plymouth and a sliver of southern maple grove. The logical rivalry is Maple Grove or Armstrong. Armstrong however is the older section of Plymouth for the most part. The part that doesn’t have new development or a big tax base.
Based on enrollment there’s no way Wayzata could split into a “North” / “South”.
what we end up with here is a conference of powerhouses that will beat each other up and drive open enrollees to other schools.
Jtrain - making state is based on section tournaments, which don’t align with the conferences, so this won’t affect that.
I don’t get why Wayzata couldn’t split into two high schools. It’s a painful process, but ultimately, the board has to figure out a line that splits the district into two areas. Lakeville’s district also goes beyond its city limits.
It would be nice to have Farmington and Hastings in the conference and to get rid of the two Bloomington schools. I do not understand why they did not agree to it when they were offered the chance
Rob -
You’re right but they do use the conf. record for seedings and home field in the sectionals… All of a sudden you could end up with a nice stadium such as wayzata’s empty on on a lot of friday nights in Oct / Nov. since they’d be 2-3 or 3 - 2 in conf. at best vs. St. Cloud who may be 5-1 or 4-1…
Dave
based on John’s last post (3:30) it sounds like this was the plan all along by some of the Lake schools to get out of playing EP every year. I agree with Mike G. that MSHL won’t allow a 5 team conference. They’ll place 3 teams into it to make it an 8 or place the 5 teams into other conferences.
There are 900 kids in Wayzata’s graduating class and less than 600 in it’s kindergarden class. Wayzata won’t need to close a second HS in 10 years.
Interesting comments from Grant, but he assumes that football is the only sport that matters. It’s not like E.P. dominates in everything.
EP’s Mr. Grant can check his ego at the door…
Everyone should stop and realize this is as much a decision about finances as it is about winning or losing. Who has the money to constantly pay for a bus from Lakeville South to Wayzata or Hopkins? And what about Rosemount to Wayzata? Hastings should join the Dakota schools and make a 10 member conference with fewer transportation costs. Makes sense to me. Yes, EP, Hopkins, and Wayzata can join with other schools in their area. Chaska and Chanhassen are right to go to the M. Makes perfect ECONOMICAL sense.
Correct, but the concern was about teams’ abilities to make state, not which “nice stadium” is or isn’t getting used.
Numerous teams from this new super conference could still very easily make state and play each other in the state tournaments.
I think it would be great if Hopkins somehow got accepted in the Northwest Suburban, which would leave four teams without a conference. Then the MSHSL could once again place the four teams without a conference (EP, Tonka, Edina and Wayzata) into the new conference with the schools that withdrew from the Lake today. And round, and round we go!
nice stadium not being used = bad economics. nice stadium being used = good economics.
Steve - yes - it is about economics. But if it were all about that (Economics) then Wayzata would be in a conference with Rockford, MG, Minnetonka, Armstrong, Rogers, Hopkins, and Orono.
At the end of the day, it’s as much about ego as econ.
Makes sense to me that the four schools looking for a home should be in the NW Suburban rather than trying to find room for them in the Lake. Were they denied membership in that conference?
Wayzata has a building that is only 10 years old and built to accomodate 3,200 plus students. Why would they want to spend the money to build a second school only to appease those people who want to see the so-called “Super Schools” split apart. Yes. it is about economics…to a point.
NW suburban doesn’t want Way, EP, Tonka or Hopkins. To my knowledge they haven’t applied, because they know the answer would be “NO!” Again, it’s back to the EGO of the AD’s / Coaches who’s job / salary / bosters depend on them winning the conf every other year.
I don’t think EP or Wayzata need to split. That is their own school board’s decision. So they a HUGE. Anyone who has had to deal with them on an athletic field has learned to adjust. This shouldn’t be about them splitting. It is about where they should be in order to make sense athletically, artistically, (don’t forget about each schools great arts programs), and financially.
bosters = Boosters. getting late in the day.
What a soap opera….Possible new names for the new conferences? How about:
ALL MY CHILDREN
GUIDING LIGHT
AS THE WORLD TURNS
Dave- this has nothing to do with what I was saying. JTrain had concern that only one team out of this potential superconference would be able to make state, which isn’t the case. I don’t care about the economics of using wayzata’s stadium. I’m sure they’ll be fine either way.
And by the way, there are other sports this affects.
rob -
I got the point you were making. You’re right - more than one team from the super conference would make the playoffs. Wayzata will not be fine (nor will the local businesses and catering etc… that get income from the stadium) if it sits empty on Friday nights. We can debate ad naseum the economic impact of a stadium, but as someone who lives by it, I can tell you directly there is a big difference in the local eateries, bars, etc.. on a game night vs a non-game night.
Personally - I could care less which conference these 4 teams end up in. Like I said - EGO not ECONOMICS is driving this…
Steve - How does it make economical sense for Chaska/Chan to travel to Red Wing, Northfield or Farmington? The trip to Rosemount was long enough. Two schools within 1 mile of each other both making these trips……
Steve - Bingo - Wayzata won’t build a new Elementary School to replace one or two of their 50 year old elem. schools…You’re right - No way they will build a new HS. People calling for them to split need to get over it. Ain’t going to happen.
How sad is this..AD’s/Coaches salaries and boosters are ALL putting the WIN before the students. I realize how hard it is to send your school week after week to other schools to get beaten by their open enrollment and transfer students, but come on now does anyone ever ask the athletics what they would like to see happen?
Yay, my former school(but barely beloved) Eagan Wildcats can now go 0-8 in conference football rather than 0-9!!! Woo-hoo!!!
Another ten years and it will change again. I remember not that long ago Eden Prairie couldn’t field a decent team in anything and Richfield was the largest school in the state, and all three (!) Bloomington schools were competitive.
oh you have to love the fear of the classic lake schools. A large enrollment helps some programs, but it sure hasn’t helped Burnsville win any football games. Hopkins can only put 5 players on the basketball court at a time, the other 2500 do have to ride the bench,…and so on. It would certainly be nice if a couple of the larger schools from the lake would step up and play with the heavy hitters.
Most of the kids who attend Minnetonka don’t live in the city of Minnetonka. Actually more kids from Minnetonka live in the Hopkins school district and a few in the Wayzata.
This is all about the former Lake conf schools not wanting real competition and nothing to do with the cost of bus trips.
Hey guys, the Lake Conference is just following a great tradition in sports over the years…remember the kid down the street who didn’t get his way? He TOOK HIS BALL AND WENT HOME!
Mega schools made their own bed, now they can sleep in it. If Minnesota has only 4 of them, why is it the fault of the others? Mike Grant and the EP school board can travel to Chicago to schedule games. Whoops, the MSHSL prohibited out-of-state travel. Too bad.
Does Mike Grant really believe the world revolves around him? No one wanted to play us? Edina Hockey? Hopkins basketball?
Somone needs to tell Grant that there are other sports besides football played in the conference.
To all those wishing for a split: This matter about whether to split was decided in Eden Prairie about 20 years ago, long before Mike Grant was coaching the football team. The answer then was no by the district. Don’t forget that Chaska and Lakeville split while their districts are still growing. Ep and Wayzata are gradually going to see their enrollment shrink over the next few years. If those schools were going to split, it would have had to have been done years ago when they were still growing. It would make no sense now for EP and Wayzata to open a second school, only to have it close in 10-15 years.
Minneapolis Southwest, Washburn and South would love to join the Lake!
By the way, there are more than just those five “mega” schools. How come nobody is calling out Burnsville, Coon Rapids, Champlin Park, Stillwater, or White Bear to name a few? They all have enrollment between 2500-3000, the same levels as the mega five schools.
This makes the most sense. These teams compete evenly right now in most sports. State champions in football, basketball, and just about everything else. No-one I know of is leaving these large school sports programs for smaller schools. Just the opposite; the best players want to play against the best.
I understand the issues at hand with the talent pools of the mega-schools and the smaller schools, but why is Edina thrown into this mix?? Edina is well under 2000 enrollment as far as I know, and while I know that they compete well in several sports, they are not recruiting, stay well within their borders, and they are a similar size to the Bloomington schools… Is this still “Cake Eater” hate, or are their other reasons why schools don’t feel that they can compete on a level playing field with Edina?? I went to Edina, played athletics, and missed out on a State Championship because of a private school that recruited athletes (2nd place is still a pretty great feeling) and then turned around and watched my classmates who I grew up with go and win a State Hockey Trophy a week later with one transfer student from AZ who’s father got relocated, lived in the district and played 3rd or 4th line… It bothers me a lot when people assume that all the schools that are winning State are recruiting… I know that happens, but it didn’t while I was there… As far as snobbiness goes, that’s an epidemic that embarasses me and it seems to be getting worse. I wish they could bring in some of the entitled little punks I went to school with now that they’ve turned 30 and they are useless and do a scared straight for the UGG boots in July crowd…
Sorry for the tangent…
Edina and Hopkins both had two high schools , and demographics changed, enrollment dropped and they both closed them in the 80s. Same thing happened in Roseville and White Bear. Eden Prairie and Wayzata are pretty much fully developed with nowhere to grow, so building another school now doesn’t make sense.
The real issue is what to do with the Bloomington schools. Kennedy were my daughters will attend have in the past have difficult time obtaining reaching a .500 season in any sport. The reason being the small enrollment and the other being talented players attending other school. Holy Angels for one, but others going across town to Jefferson. The Bloomington School District will not let Kennedy join a different conference. The realistic conferece alignment is to take Kennedy, Jefferson and join Richfield Classic Suburban Conference. If that does not work there always a chance they could join the Minneapolis City Conference. Oh boy, the Bloomington West Siders would love that.
The megaschools don’t simply refer to enrollment numbers. The elephant in the room that no one is talking about is money. It’s no secret that Edina, Eden Prairie, Wayzata, Minnetonka is where the money is and it’s what provides them the best opportunities to compete at the highest levels. I’m not saying that everyone in these cities is rich and I’m not saying there isn’t money in other cities either, but let’s not pretend.
They have more money, more resources, better facilities, better equipment and are able to start their kids with the best training at the earliest of ages. Other communities (not just schools) are not able to compete at this level; individuals can, but not the collective communities. Eagan as an example is a perfectly fine community that may find themselves with enough talent together at the same time, to catch lightning in a bottle and make a run at something. But over the course of 10 years, the coolective group of kids in the community are not going to have the same opportunity as those from Edina, EP, etc.
Which leads to the exceptional talent from the average communities leaving for the better opportunities. The rich get richer…
This is why no one feels sorry for the megaschools.
In 2009, of the 27 state championship sports (not including adapted as they are a combination of multiple schools), 22 different schools won championships at the largest school division. That’s a lot of parity. Yes, Eden Prairie, Wayzata and Edina won multiple championships, but some schools win multiple every year (and some have a dynasty, as previously mentioned). Let’s try to keep schools placed geographically as well as by size, and let these rivalries continue to grow and develop. A state championship team does not occur over the course of a year, but of developing the area’s athletes over 10 years. Let’s make sure we have strong programs for the kids as they grow up, and we’ll see great competition year after year.
As a parent of a recently graduated Lake Conference athlete, (Bloomington), I am FOR breaking that conference up. Having to drive past several close by schools to get to Rosemount, Apple Valley, and the Lakeville schools makes no sense. If nothing else break it into a Lake North and a Lake South or something, with ten teams max in a conference. Anything more then 10 teams in a conference is too many in my opinion. And Mike Grant is an egomaniac. His dad would never have talked like that.
John, you do a great job of bringing us HS Sports. Did you jump the gun on this one a little. Seems like you stirred up some stuff that didn’t need it.
Lakefan
I need a geography lesson. What schools do you drive by when going from Bloomington to Burnsville or Apple Valley. Kennedy to Apple Valley is a 10 minute jump down Cedar Avenue.
Just off the top of my head, how about this for a new conference. It would certainly eliminate a lot of drive time for some of these schools:
Jefferson
Kennedy
Richfield
Holy Angels
St. Louis Park
Benilde
Armstrong
Cooper
Redhead, you raise a valid point. I’m convinced that people in the Lake want to issue a threat to the MSHSL, and it’s possible that they want me to be the conduit for that threat. The information from earlier in the day has changed, and I’m aware that emails and phone calls have been flying between Lake folks today. Could some of that be an attempt to steer this story? Perhaps.
John,
I’m with Redhead - I’m rather disappointed having read the original post earlier in the day, and now coming back to find out what really did or did not happen. Just because you can post/tweet/blog immediately doesn’t mean you should… If you did feel the need to post on the meeting, it would have been far better to have replaced everything from “As things turned out…” onward, and instead said “More information to come once details are confirmed.” It sounds like you were fed info from one source and didn’t confirm it - shame shame shame!
I like the idea of playing Minnetonka, Wayzata, Edina, and Hopkins. They are the only teams who can beat us in any of the sports that matter. Mike Grant is the best football coach this state has ever seen (besides his father). I would like to see them add a team or two to the league, but i doubt anyone will step up and try.
Thanks for the input, Matt. But understand the information was indeed confirmed by multiple sources earlier in the day. Somewhere along the way people started changing their tunes.
I am tremendously disappointed when something like this happens, because it reflects on my integrity as a journalist. But I wrote what I had confirmed as fact … only to see lots of backtracking later. And you’re right, in this age of instant blogging/Tweeting, these things happen quickly. Not long ago, this story wouldn’t have been known until the presses rolled (and all the switchbacks in the road would have been cleared up). But know that I will certainly take a lesson from this episode.
John- Great work today on letting us know what is going on in almost real time!!!
When do conferences start threatening the MSHSL? Keep the four Classic Lake schools together and let’s make it work for the families of the south & west metro.
Was Bud Grant as pompus and full of himself as Mike Grant? Arrogance has always been a trademark for Mike Grant along with his 90 assistant coaches. He is the Michelle Bachmann of the HS coaches.
John, correct me if I’m wrong, but does the real issue here seem to be nothing more than getting Eden Prairie and Wayzata into separate conferences? Seems plausible after you quoting the Lake official as saying they might accept 3 Classic Lake teams.
Dear Hector, when you win 6 of the last 12 big school state championships you GET to be arrogant.
Some of you need to relax and cut John Millea some slack here. It’s not like he’s reporting life or death here, it’s just high school athletic conferences.
John, I appreaciate you being the lone passionate high school sports reporter in the metro. Keep it up!!!
I’m no big Mike Grant fan, but how is that arrogant to say “nobody wants to play you” when literally every team in your conference is likely leaving? Come on, how is that not what’s happening
John -
You went with the facts as you had them and confirmed them with multiple sources. I’m sure there were a lot of emails, phone calls and buyers remorse going on. If it was a public meeting and they had a public vote - than that is a matter of record and you’re talking some pretty serious stuff if they change / alter the minutes of that meeting.
Bottom line on the conferences - why don’t they (MSHSL) just take all of the teams and divide by geography? Wayzata, Tonka, Armstrong, Cooper, MG, Orono, and Hopkins would make a nice quick travel league.
Just to put the topic of Wayzata splitting to bed… It’s so ridiculous that it will never see the light of day. Wayzata enrollment (actual kids in seats) is declining. The school board is scrambling to find new bodies. Plymouth is 85% developed. MG (the part in Wayzata District) is about 75% developed. They aren’t going to have unlimited kids forever.
I dont see the problem with teams playing each other during the regular season. They split all the powerful teams up pretty well come section time anyway. Having EP play Wayzata, Minnetonka, etc. just makes for more interesting regular season games.
john… As of right now, mobile.startribune.com still has only your orginal posting and none of the updates. You might want to communicate with whoever’s responsible over there to update the link.
There’s a lot of noise here from folks who have little knowledge of how the school-district boundary lines actually happen out here in the burbs. Like this statement:
“It’s a painful process, but ultimately, the board has to figure out a line that splits the district into two areas. Lakeville’s district also goes beyond its city limits.”
This is meaningless. Kids in eastern Minnetonka are in the Hopkins school district. Kids in northern Eden Prairie are in the Minnetonka school district. And kids in northeastern Chanhassen are in the Minnetonka school district. The vast majority of kids in the Wayzata school district do not live in Wayzata. The city boundaries nothing to do with the school-district lines.
As for being scared of the megaschools: that’s not the fault of the megaschools. Take the principal of Minnetonka HS, for example. Yes, Dave Adney is committed to athletics. He’s also as passionate about things like debate, speech, mock trial, et al. He’s as likely to be at the student film festival as a football game.
Millea is reporting accurately what he’s being told. He’s one of the best in the biz.
A new conference with only five teams is not the MSHSL’s problem - it’s the problem of the five schools who make up that conference. And any conference realignment that doesn’t put the mega schools (EP and Wayzata) together is foolish. Seems to me that’s why there was this secret committee that gathered the information and they decided, based on the data given, that the four Classic Lake schools fit best in the south. NOW, the Lake Conference wants to say, “well, we’ll take two or three, but not all four.”???? Why didn’t they just accept two or three when they applied in the first place? Talk about changing their tune! It’s no wonder the “sources” that Millea talked to today regarding the Lake Conference meeting are changing their stories - they’ve been disingenuous from the start.
If the Lake could have just taken Edina and Wayzata, this would be settled. They didn’t want Hopkins and Tonka and when they got all four it was over.
Chas,
I never mentioned Burnsville. And Kennedy to Apple Valley in 10 minutes? Not even at 2 AM. My point is, put conferences together based on proximity. Kennedy, Jefferson, Edina, Hopkins, EP, Tonka, Burnsville, AHA??? Football is just one sport. It’s one game a season, the kids will live. Eight teams, send Wayzata North somewhere.
As a former Lake Conference competitor, I am sad to see it die. I loved competing in Lake Conference b/c it was so competitive. Although having 14 schools in 1 conference is probably just too many, I think it would be great to have the 4 Classic Lake schools join the Lake and make a Mega conference w/ a majority of the top teams in the state in 1 conference. It is more fun to compete against the best and it brings every one competing to a higher level. I would also be okay with EP joining w/ the 4 classic lake schools b/c then all the Mega schools would be in one conference, although I think 5 isn’t enough schools for a conference. I would like to see those 4 classic lake schools join the current lake conference, which would make 14 teams w/ Chaska/Chanhassen leaving the conference. Bloomington seems to not quite fit in the lake conference in a lot of sports (particularly Kennedy), so maybe Bloomington would be better off moving to a smaller conference and then Lake would have 12 teams which would be a reasonable number and it would be even stronger than before. This is unlikely to actually happen, but I think it would be sweet if it did. I would rather place lower in the ultra competitive lake conference then blow away everyone year after year is a less competitive one. If the other schools really are just trying to boot EP from the conference, that is just dumb b/c EP is not unbeatable-EP only won like half the conference championships this yr which means the other schools won the other half. It’s sad they are fleeing good competition. Even the titles EP won, were close battles for the conference title in a lot of sports, and the winner may be different if the competitions were redone. Personally, I want to compete against the top teams, not avoid them
As far as complaining about Eden Prairie and Wayzata being too big and needing to split into two schools, that is completely irrelevant in regards to placing schools in conferences, b/c individual schools boards make those decisions, not the conferences or mshsl. The only people who think these schools need to split are the people who don’t live in these cities who are jealous of Eden Prairie’s success. While large enrollment numbers are an advantage to fielding competitive teams, the role this factor plays in being over emphasized. Burnsville has close to the same enrollment numbers as EP, but is not nearly as competitive as EP in the conference. Lakeville and Eastview are not as big as EP, but both are very competitive in the conference and state. I can remember unbeatable Marshal and Willmar boys cc teams in state competition a few yrs back-both much smaller w/ less money than the mega schools. The city schools are power houses in badminton against monster schools like EP and Burnsville. In girls alpine skiing, where money plays a huge role in success, EP girls’ team is terrible despite having a large student base to draw from and many wealthy families. Yes, money and large enrollment numbers increase chances of success for schools, but schools like EP, Tonka, Wayzata, Hopkins, Edina, etc. do not win year after year just b/c they have large schools and lots of money. They have established good programs and have students who work hard to succeed and communities that support these students.
Eden Prairie chose not to split a long time ago b/c they’ve seen what has happened to other schools who have split and then the population decreased and they had to close the 2nd school.
As a recent Eden Prairie grad, I can say I feel that most of the students at EPHS enjoy the unity of having one high school that is successful in many areas and likely would not be in favor of splitting. While having a large school makes it harder to make a varsity team at EP, there are still plenty of playing opportunities on all different levels in most sports. For example, Most team sports have 3-5 teams for each gender along with an extensive intramural program which many kids enjoy participating in, not to mention the numerous clubs at the HS and club sports programs outside the school. Most of the individual sports at EPHS do not make cuts. The football team does not make cuts. Mike Grant does a good job at giving all 100+ guys a chance to play. Often when EP is up by a lot, nearly every guy will get in for at least one play. The guys who don’t get to play a lot in varsity games get to play the JV games as well. We had 2 girls move here who went from being the top cc runners at their old school to middle JV on EP’s team. They have improved a lot since coming here and have run much faster on JV in EP than they probably ever would have run on their varsity team at their old school. The people who feel their kids don’t have a chance of making varsity in EP and have an issue w/ that either move or send their kids to private schools or open enroll in neighboring districts. The only people who complain about EP being too big and not having enough playing opportunities are the people who do not attend EP schools and are not affected by it anyways. While I agree Mike Grant cares more about football than the other sports, he still is a great guy and I wish people who do not even know him would stop hating on him.
Also, the argument about having to drive too far in the current Lake Conference is dumb. A 30 min drive once in a while to play the conference members on the other side of town isn’t a big deal.
Sorry, this turned into a long rant, but I just wanted to clear some stuff up about EP, since many people here who know nothing about EP are hating on the Eagles just b/c they are jealous EP wins a lot of stuff.
Here’s some food for thought:
1. I’m a member of the Lakeville School Board.
2. Without John Millea’s personal interest and persistence on this topic, I would have ZERO information on any of these issues.
3. We have over 2000-3000 students who would be impacted by this decision.
4. Our district has had three years of progressive cuts and fee increases.
5. The best solution for us - and all of our neighbors - is a South of the River conference.
