Harding has interest in joining Federal

By Joe Scalzo

Massillon is also expected to apply for membership and the league would like to add four to six schools for 2011-2012.

Federal League officials are considering expanding the eight-team conference and Warren Harding is interested.

“We’re interested in anything at this point,” said Harding athletic director Paul Trina, whose school will leave the Steel Valley Conference at the end of the school year. “We’re independent and that’s not a good place to be.

“We’re exploring all possibilities to see if it’s a good fit for our students.”

The Federal League sent out a press release late Wednesday night announcing it would solicit letters of interest over the next two months. Massillon is also expected to apply for membership and the league would like to add four to six schools for the 2011-12 school year.

“We’re kind of testing the waters,” said Federal League commissioner Joe Eaton, who said the league opted to open the process to all schools rather than target specific schools. “Basically we’re putting it out there to see if there is interest in the Federal League.”

The conference last expanded in 2003, when Boardman and Fitch left the Steel Valley Conference to join the Stark County-based Federal. Those two schools would like to relieve some of their traveling burden — most league schools are at least an hour away by bus — and Harding could be a welcome addition.

“I think so,” said Fitch athletic director Rob Conklin. “They have a lot to offer the Federal League, not just [Boardman and Fitch].

“They’re a Division I school, they have successful programs and they have all the necessary programs. That’s some of the criteria the conference is looking at.”

Seven of the eight Federal League schools compete in Division I in all sports — Uniontown Lake is Div. II in football but Div. I in most other sports — and seven of the eight schools offer 21 sports. Fitch is the exception with 19, since it does not offer swimming and diving. Harding does have swimming and diving.

Harding earlier applied to the 10-team Lake Erie League, which has four Division I football schools and six Div. II schools. The Raiders need seven yes votes but only got five; the four Div. I schools all voted yes. One of the league’s schools, Shaker Heights, was on Harding’s football schedule while another, Mentor, played SVC member Cardinal Mooney.

“We’ve been active trying to find a league,” said Trina, who added that Harding’s interest in the Federal League only preliminary at this point. “We’ll be part of the application process and see what happens.”

Boardman athletic director Dave Smercansky was cautiously optimistic about the league’s announcement.

“We’re always interested in expanding,” said Smercansky. “Obviously, the goal in mind is for expansion that would be advantageous to the whole league, particularly Boardman and Fitch to help compensate for the amount of mileage we have to endure over the course of a school year.”

Schools have until April 1 to apply. The league will examine those letters and send out official letters of application to qualifying schools around April 6. Schools would then be invited to interview on June 15-16.

The league’s stakeholders meeting is Aug. 9 and Eaton said league members are hoping to vote on expansion on that date.

“We’ll see who applies,” said Eaton. “Hopefully we can find something that is geographically beneficial to each school.”

Although the Federal League is a good fit for Boardman and Fitch from a program standpoint, travel has always been a problem. When gas prices rose above $4 per gallon over the past year, it created an “economic nightmare,” Conklin said.

“We obviously have to do a great deal of traveling, but until recently it wasn’t that big of a deal,” he said. “If we could lure some teams that might be closer to us, like a Harding, that would help. Maybe we could form an east and west division so we’re not driving week in and week out.”

Schools such as Cuyahoga Falls and Stow-Munroe Falls have expressed interest in the past but are not expected to apply since they recently joined the three-tiered, 18-team Northeast Ohio Conference.

Besides Harding, no Mahoning Valley schools are expected to apply. Independents, or soon-to-be independents, such as Chaney, East, Ursuline and Cardinal Mooney either do not have the requisite size or number of programs.

The Federal League is not expecting to lose any members and Smercansky said Boardman and Fitch aren’t going anywhere.

“Definitely not,” he said. “There’s nowhere for us to go and we’re definitely not going to be independent.”

Schools interested in joining the Federal League should send letters of interest to Eaton at 1411 Butler Circle SE, North Canton, OH, 44720. All questions can be directed to Eaton at 330-497-7869 or at eaton_joe@hotmail.com.

scalzo@vindy.com