The Chillicothe Cavaliers are officially interested in moving to the 24 member Mid State League from the Southeast Ohio Athletic League. Principal Jeff Fisher and Athletic Director Mike McCorkle made thier pitch Tuesday expressing an official inquiry to apply for membership into the MSL.

Fisher cited a recent Columbus Dispatch article which alleges six schools are part of a mass exodus from the MSL to form a Licking County League.

What's Chillicothe's interest? Since joining the SEOAL in 2006 Chillicothe and its members have seen a strong 10 team league dwindle to just six schools. It began as early as 2007 with charter member Athens, followed by Zanesville, Ironton and most recently Marietta.

The SEOAL heads into the 2011-12 seasons with Chillicothe, Gallia Academy, Jackson, Logan, Portsmouth and Warren.

The rise in gas prices is a leading factor as to why the Cavs are looking to switch leagues.

Fisher told WBEX Wednesday, "We feel Chillicothe and the community will be a welcome addition to any league... we offer strong student athletes, both academically and athletically, strong coaches, families and fan support." Fisher added "We're want to give our students the best opportunities to showcase their talents as well as give them a good competition level. The SEOAL has provided that to us, but you're talking about lengthy drives."

Transportation costs are a big concern for McCorkle's athletic budget. A trip to Marietta on a football Friday can "cost more than $1,000". While Marietta will no longer be a regular trip for the Cavaliers after this season, Warren (also in Washington County) is nearly as far. Add in bus trips for other sports and the expenses start to add up. "It makes sense to keep your options open (in the current budget climate facing the school system) and the fact the Mid State League will be losing some teams and will be facing realignment, it's an option we have to explore. We have to do what's best for our students, our district and community."

Not only the cost, but McCorkle says it's a time factor. "We have kids getting home around midnight on a school night and are expected in class the next morning."

Obviously as Cavs fans learned in 2004 Chillicothe would be leaving the Ohio Capital Conference it's not an overnight process.

"It's a 'feeler' process." said Fisher. "The Mid State League could be losing these schools, it's not official yet... but if they do (leave) there's potential there for us."

The Dispatch article mentions Granville, Heath, Newark Catholic, Licking Valley, Lakewood, Licking Heights and Millersport as suitors for a possible re-birth of the Licking County League.

The MSL consists of three divisions; Ohio (Granville, Licking Valley, Bexley, Newark Catholic, Columbus Academy, Lakewood, Whitehall and Heath) Buckeye (Teays Valley, Logan Elm, Bloom Carroll, Fairfield Union, Amanda Clearcreek, Circleville, Canal Winchester and Hamilton Township) and the Cardinal (Harvest Prep, West Jefferson, Liberty Union, Grandview, Berne Union, Fisher Catholic, Licking Heights and Millersport).

(The following article appeared in the Jackson Times-Journal, submitted for use by Clear Channel Chillicothe by Paul Boggs and Craig Dunn)

Travel, financial concerns not just limited to SEOAL
By CRAIG DUNN
For Times-Journal

LOGAN — It’s no secret the Southeastern Ohio Athletic League, made up primarily of the Southeast District’s larger schools too big for other conferences, is one of the most spread-out leagues in the state.

Travel is obviously a huge financial concern.

However, travel and athletic department financial issues are in no way limited to just the SEOAL.

When Marietta High School leaves the league at the end of next month (Marietta joins the East Central Ohio League next fall), the SEOAL borders will roughly be Logan (north), Chillicothe (west), Portsmouth (southwest), Gallipolis (south) and Warren (east), with Jackson the most centrally-located of the six schools.

Once Marietta departs, the shortest SEOAL trips will be 35 miles (Chillicothe-Jackson and Gallipolis-Jackson) and 45 to 50 miles (Chillicothe-Logan, Jackson-Logan, Chillicothe-Portsmouth and Jackson-Portsmouth).

The closest trips for Warren are roughly 55 miles to Logan and 60 miles to Gallipolis; the Warriors and Lady Warriors will also face the two longest trips (95 miles to Chillicothe and 110 miles to Portsmouth) after Marietta leaves.

Schools everywhere — not only in the SEOAL — are once again facing rising travel costs, and some pay-to-participate fees go toward that transportation.

Four of the current seven SEOAL schools currently charge some kind of participation fee for athletics (Jackson, Logan and Portsmouth don’t, but they’re all watching their dollars and are having to cut back their budgets):

• Chillicothe: $40 per year/per athlete
(According to Mike McCorkle, Chillicothe athletic director, the Chillicothe Board of Education is considering a proposal to raise its fee to $50 per person per sport beginning next year. Students who qualify for a free lunch and who are involved in marching band would pay $25, with a family cap of $200. Chillicothe is also looking at eliminating at least six paid assistant coaches).

• Gallia Academy: $90 fee per sport/per athlete. All travel costs come directly out of the athletic budget.

• Marietta: $30 per high school sport/per athlete and $20 per junior high sport/per athlete, with a $75 family cap per sport. Categorized as a “transportation fee.”

• Warren: $50 per year/per student; fee will jump to $100 per sport/per student with no cap if an operating levy fails on Tuesday. Categorized as an “athletics/transportation fee.”

While most schools in the southern part of the state do not yet have some form of pay-to-participate (none in Scioto County, for example), six of the 10 schools that will comprise the East Central Ohio Athletic League next fall do.

• Here are just a few examples of non-SEOAL schools which do have some sort of pay-to-participate fee:

• Athens: $25 travel fee per athlete per sport

• Canal Winchester: $140 per sport, which would raise to $600 per sport if a renewal levy does not pass on Tuesday

• Circleville: $25 fee per year

• Logan Elm: $100 per sport per athlete with a $200 cap

• Zane Trace: $75 per sport, capped at $150.

Many schools that do not currently have a pay-to-participate policy are mandating their athletic departments make varying degrees of budget cuts — anywhere from 10-to-50-percent.

If Tuesday’s levy issue fails at Warren, for example, WHS plans to cut 14 coaching positions at all levels to save more than $40,000… and that’s just cuts the school would make to the athletic department.

Warren principal Dan Leffingwell recently outlined how much revenue could be generated to offset athletics-related costs to the district.

Varying levels of pay-to-participate fees could generate between $31,000 and $190,000.

Leffingwell also notes numbers from an Ohio High School Athletic Association survey, to which 549 of 828 schools responded last August.

Of those 549 schools which responded, 229 (42-percent) have some sort of “pay-to-participate” requirement.

Of the 39 Southeast District schools (out of 70 total) which responded, only eight had a “pay-to-participate” requirement.

Statewide, participation fees range from $10 per player per sport to as much as $800 per player per sport, with the average being $141.75 per player per sport.

Funding for high school and junior high school athletics is a problem that isn’t going away soon.

But it’s obvious the mindset in approaching these financial problems is going to have to change.

Jackson High School athletic director Bob Kight offers a great example.
JHS often receives undue criticism for charging for parking at its campus, one of the best in Southeast Ohio, which opened a few years before Logan’s Shaw-Davidson campus.

However, the $2 per vehicle fee that Jackson charges for athletic events adds up — and plays a huge role in keeping Jackson from having to implement participation fees.

Jackson, like Logan, also hosts football playoff games as well as basketball, soccer and volleyball tournament contests… but the school’s location on top of a hill makes charging to park much easier than it is at LHS.

Kight notes that a fan attending a district basketball tournament contest at JHS once complained to him about the $2 parking fee.

“If you win, where will you play your regional game?” Kight asked the woman, knowing the answer was the Ohio University Convocation Center in Athens, which charges fans $5 per vehicle for parking.

“Yes, but that’s okay,” she responded. “That’s a college — this is a high school.”

* * *
Thanks to SEOAL athletic directors Joe Albrecht (Portsmouth), Rick Guimond (Marietta), Ron Janey (Logan), Bob Kight (Jackson), Mike McCorkle (Chillicothe), Fred Ruth (Warren) and Craig Wright (Gallia Academy), as well as Athens High School athletic director Chuck Robinson and Warren High School principal Dan Leffingwell, for their assistance in providing information for this story.

The old saying always ended with May flowers. However, the start of May reminds us of how April went. Rain forced more cancellations for the Baseball and Softball teams. Once again, the games was against Jackson. This is the 3rd time games with the Ironmen have been postponed. The teams will try again to get a game in with the Ironmen on Wednesday in Jackson and again on Friday in Chillicothe.

On Monday, Greg Phillips previewed the Softball tournament draw for the Cavs. Today, Marty Dunn talked about the Baseball tournament road for the Cavaliers. Click Here