Sports
OAA Votes to Move Royal Oak Football to Blue Division
Switch out of powerhouse Red division could help in the Ravens' rebuilding efforts after just one win in four seasons. Principals still must sign off on the plan.
football could be moving down from the Oakland Activities Association Red division to the Blue division for the next two years, OAA officials confirmed today.
The plan was voted on Wednesday by OAA committee members, said Mike Jolly, chairman of the OAA football committee. However, it's not a done deal.
"The move is not official and it still has to go to a vote with principals and some schools have the opportunity to appeal," ROHS Athletic Director Brian Gordon said. "... The principals' meeting should be in the next week or so."
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The Ravens – this season under new head coach Jeff Hill and were winless the previous three seasons.
"Nobody wants to move, but Royal Oak has not been competitive the last four years," Jolly said. "In order for them to be competitive, the committee as well as the athletic directors felt they needed to be in a different division."
Coach Hill declined to comment on the news. Calls to school Principal Michael Greening were not immediately returned.
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The Oakland Activities Association is comprised of three divisions – Red, Blue and White — and places schools based on enrollment. The OAA Red division member schools have the highest enrollments and the division has the aura of being the most "prestigious" of the three divisions. Over the years, Royal Oak's student population has fallen to 1,596 and is at the bottom of the current Red division. Other Red division schools' populations range from Clarkston with 2,751 students to Pontiac's 1,721.
North Farmington, with 1,411 students, would replace Royal Oak in the Red division.
Royal Oak would join Blue division schools including Auburn Hills Avondale (1,093), Berkley (1,290), Birmingham Groves (1,335), Birmingham Seaholm (1,297), Bloomfield Andover (1,025), Bloomfield Lahser (981), Ferndale (904) and Hazel Park (951).
Other proposed moves include Stoney Creek going from White to Red for the next two seasons. With Bloomfield schools combining in 2013, two one-year moves were also put in place.
"All sports at all schools go through the same thing," Royal Oak's Gordon said. "Every two years we realign. There is a formula that is used — strength of schedule, population of the building and professional judgement.
"Professional judgement is a blanket term that to me comes down to doing what's right for kids and what's right for programs."
