The possible closing of sports in San Jose’s East Side Union
High School District is likely to affect neighboring districts,
including Morgan Hill Unified
Nick Alfano never saw this coming.
The Morgan Hill resident coached Santa Teresa’s football team to a 10-1 record and an outright Santa Teresa Division championship last fall, a year after the Saints finished 5-5. Alfano was named a 2008-09 CIF-Central Coast Section Honor Coach. His team, which returns 19 varsity players, was awarded an invite to the Mount Hamilton Division superclass.
“It was a great year; a very special one for this program and our kids,” he said Monday.
So no, Alfano could have never predicted what has become of prep sports in the East Side Union High School District. Santa Teresa is one of 11 schools in the district — Northern California’s largest — whose sports will have to be self-funded or scrapped in light of the state budget crisis, as announced in December by Superintendant Bob Nunez. Those schools are Blossom Valley Athletic League members, most notably prep juggernaut Oak Grove.
Several events to raise the needed $2 million in “self funds” have been organized, including Sunday’s Save Our Sports Run at Mount Pleasant High School.
But $2 million is $2 million. And this is a recession.
“We’re just trying to stay positive,” Alfano said. “We’re hoping something — anything — happens to where we don’t need to get rid of our sports.
“Coaches can float to different jobs. It’s the kids who are missing out. I want to look my players in the face and tell them we’re going to play with the best next year.”
They still might, but perhaps not in a Saints uniform.
The biggest question becomes: Where will the East Side athletes play next year — particularly those living between ESUHSD and Morgan Hill Unified School District? According to the CIF-CCS bylaws, transfer students can play for different schools if they are residentially eligible; a fact that is sure to shake a few depth charts.
The matter has opened up a “can of worms in Morgan Hill,” as Sobrato football coach Nick Borello put it.
“We’re mainly concerned with our schedules,” Borello said. “But you have to wonder where all those kids are going to go. What team will they play for?”
Rumors about a potential pipeline of transfers heading to Morgan Hill have found their way to the desk of Live Oak Athletic Director Mark Cummins.
“People have talked about a flood of kids heading this way, but it’s all rumors,” said Cummins, who is in his 23rd year coaching Live Oak’s baseball team. “We’re hoping it doesn’t come to that. We’re hoping something will happen soon. Right now, everyone is in the dark.”
Alfano said the school district could announce if prep sports are going to be cut by the end of this month.
First-year CIF-Central Coast Section Assistant Commissioner Steve Filios said he has never seen anything like this in his 30-plus years of coaching.
“I wish we had a solution for those schools,” said Filios, who used to coach basketball at St. Francis. “Everyone’s just taking it one day at a time. We can’t speculate, but we’re not putting our heads in the sand either.”
Should the unthinkable happen, the three-division BVAL will likely be down-sized, forcing fall teams to reschedule for next year. The Mount Hamilton Division will lose Santa Teresa, Oak Grove and Piedmont Hills and pick up the next best remaining teams in the Santa Teresa.
“It makes our schedule easier, but you don’t wish this on anybody,” Live Oak football coach Jon Michael Porras said. “Everyone deserves the right to play sports. It’s really sad.”
