Saginaw High, Arthur Hill hope to form varsity football co-op before 2023-24 merger – mlive.com

With voters approval and the bond process set in motion, the Saginaw Public Schools athletic department is ready to plan for a new athletic landscape for the 2023-24 school year.

But Saginaw athletic director Mit Foley says the district does not want to wait until 2023 before making some changes.

If the Michigan High School Athletic Association grants a waiver, the Saginaw High and Arthur Hill varsity football teams will merge to form a co-op program for the 2021-22 season.

Weve already begun the process, Foley said. Were already co-oping baseball, bowling, cross country, golf, softball, tennis and wrestling. We did a co-op for the JV football team for the 2020 school year.

Were trying to ascend back to exceptional levels for our athletic programs. We want to make sure we have the numbers. Were trying to build our programs. We want our kids to be safe when theyre out there playing. A lot of the numbers were not where we wanted to them to be. We want to be competitive. We want to give our kids every conceivable opportunity to compete. Thats why were accelerating this.

There are some roadblocks to approval. The MHSAA allows co-ops with few restrictions for every sport but basketball and football. The association does not allow co-ops for varsity football and basketball if the combined enrollment of the schools eclipses 1,000 students.

In the current count, Arthur Hill has 757 students with Saginaw High adding 456 for a total of 1,213. The next count date is Feb. 10, 2021.

But the potential merger has some extenuating circumstances that could help its case. The Saginaw Valley League, which includes Saginaw High and Arthur Hill, unanimously approved the co-op and sent a letter to the MHSAA in support of the merger.

Also, the planned, eventual merger of the teams in 2023 could also help convince the MHSAA executive council to grant a waiver for 2021, as could the inability for either school to field competitive teams in their current situations.

In the past 10 years, Arthur Hill is 11-77, including three winless seasons. The Lumberjacks have not had a winning season since 2008. In the past 10 years, Saginaw High is 19-69, with two winless seasons. The Trojans last winning season came in 2003.

Our goal is to get the co-op approved for next year, even though when you get to football and basketball and you get to enrollment over 1,000, they generally dont approve, Foley said. Were hopeful that theyll look at it in the light that we werent competitive and that the SVL voted unanimously and wrote a letter of support for our co-op.

Saginaw Public Schools director of facilities Tim Furtaw said that little construction or physical work will begin for the next six to eight months.

At this point, with the bond just passing, were in the planning stages, Furtaw said. In the first six to eight months, we will be planning, finalizing the designs and things like that so blueprints can be drawn up. There will be six to eight months of planning before any shovel goes in the dirt.

We expect to be able to move kids within the buildings for the remodels that will take place at Saginaw High and Arthur Hill. As far as the new high school being built, we anticipate there will be room for the students at SASA.

Plans are to build a new high school for Arthur Hill and Saginaw High students at the current Saginaw Arts & Sciences Academy campus at 1903 Niagara. The plans include a new football stadium and gymnasium.

The current Arthur Hill campus at 3115 Mackinaw will house a new school for SASA and for Handley Elementary, with Arthur Hill Memorial Stadium remodeled for soccer and lacrosse.

Memorial Stadium will be restored, Furtaw said. It will be converted for use for SASA, so it will more than likely be a soccer field and lacrosse field but it will be restored.

The plans call to convert Saginaw High, 3100 Webber, into a middle school.

The facilities will be converted over to middle-school usage, Furtaw said. The bleachers at the football field need to be replaced or torn down and set up for middle-school size. Plans are to refurbish a couple of the ballfields. Were still in the planning stages, but it will probably include demolishing some of the high school.

Foley said there have been no decisions made as far as colors, coaches and names for the new school and teams.

The basketball teams will remain separate until the 2023-24 school year, although this season will create some challenges for fans because of COVID-19 restrictions. Foley said the district installed Pixellot cameras in the Saginaw High and Arthur Hill gyms, giving fans the ability to stream the games live on the National Federation of High Schools network.

Plans are for the completion of the new buildings and fields when students report for the 2023-24 school year.

The goal will be that all students move at the same time, Furtaw said. It will be a day for every Saginaw supporter and resident to come out and cheer.

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Saginaw High, Arthur Hill hope to form varsity football co-op before 2023-24 merger - mlive.com