The Ideal SEOAL

[friday_nite_fan]

1987chieftains-Don't you think someone was just making fun with posting the small D-VI Schools in the SEOAL?

I kind of just didn't like his name and I had never heard of him so that's why I gave him the insight to the truth.

I DEFINITELY dont like yer name you snotnosed little punk. It must be nice for Logan to be a great big fish in a teenyweeny pond. I bet they wouldnt have as much to brag about if they got in a league of schools their size. Which they should but wont because like some of my animals they are egg layers.....TAKE THAT!

I bet everyone is laughing at you Yoder because you just showed your intelligence. Westbrook isn't a Logan fan, he's from Marietta!!!

[Farmer Yoder]

Read my post. I never said he was from Logan. I said it must be nice to be Logan. Being from Marietta isnt any better. Great Big School = Mediocre sports. Scedule teams from Cleveland that are your size and see how you do. Being the one big school in our rural corner of the state is NOTHING to brag about for Logan OR Marietta...

[westbrook18]

Instead of guessing that Marietta is the only division 2 football team in southeastern ohio, you should get your facts straight buddy. I would pick Marietta or Logan over Waterford any day. Do you guys even have a football team?

[westbrook18]

Also, why would we have to go to Cleveland to schedule teams that are our size? That would be the dumbest idea that any athletic director ever came up with. But then again, you've shown your intelligence level, why should I expect any good ideas from you?

[91blue14]

all you can do as a player is play your schedule that is put before you. then see how the chips fall for playoff time if that is important

[westbrook18]

There are reasons as to why we don't schedule too many teams outside of southeastern ohio. I believe that Portsmouth is the farthest away from Marietta but we played there last year so next year it'll be their turn. The reason why we are in the SEOAL is because we believe that due to our size it is the nearest league that fits us the best. Why would you look for other leagues with schools your size that are farther away and you'd constantly have to travel to in all sports? Also, the teams that are our size in southeastern Ohio are likely to be the teams we could potentially face in the playoffs.

[kuruguru]

1. Jackson
2. Gallipolis
3. Meigs
4. Vinton County
5. Warren
6. Athens
7. Marietta
8. Logan
9. Ironton
10. Portsmouth

[Apophis]

Ironton
Coal Grove
Fairland
Portsmouth
South Point
Rock Hill
Minford
Wheelersburg
Valley
West

All of these schools are close to one another and about the same size.

[1987chieftains]

My idea is:

Waterford
Trimble
South Gallia
Hannan
Miller
Southern

Kick the rest out!

This is the ideal SEOAL topic, not how to downgrade the SEOAL. Maybe they could be in the SEOAL but schedule our JV teams.

THESE TEAMS WOULD GET CRUSHED YEAR IN & YEAR OUT BY ALMOST EVERY TEAM IN THE SEOAL! THAT WHY ATHENS LEFT FOR THE TVC. THEY COULDN'T TAKE THE WEEKLY BEATINGS ANY LONGER, IT WAS KILLING THERE PROGRAM.

AAAAHHHHH???????? I posted this not to down grade or dog ANY SCHOOL/PROGRAM!!!! MY POINT WAS THAT THE LEVEL OF PLAY, ATHELETES AND PLAYER SIZE IS MUCH DIFFERENT! IT HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH SCHOOL SIZE, D2, D4, D78, BLUH,BLUH STUFF SOME CRY ABOUT ALL THE TIME. The level of play!!! Thats why I used Athens as an ex-sample. They where D2 and are D3 now (i think). There football program has fallen so hard over the last 15/20 yrs that the only thing they could do was leave the bigger or EQUAL size schools in the SEOAL for the SMALLER schools of the TVC. and if I'm not mis-taken they are the biggest schools in the TVC. Does that make them the football studs of the TVC??? NO!! B/c they do have the atheletes. They all play futbol or soccer.

[wrestler87]

Read my post. I never said he was from Logan. I said it must be nice to be Logan. Being from Marietta isnt any better. Great Big School = Mediocre sports. Scedule teams from Cleveland that are your size and see how you do. Being the one big school in our rural corner of the state is NOTHING to brag about for Logan OR Marietta...

Very stupid post.
In several sports Logan AND Marietta consistantly do better than teams from Cleveland, Cincinnatti and Toledo. Just look at how far we go in the playoffs of various sports. Not just football, but all boys and girl's sports.
Programs which are more densely populated, geographically, tend to do better anyways. Rides to practice and friends playing the sport are nearby, as well as the basic time factor. Our "Old Man's Cave" type-players are sometimes lost just for those reasons. If say, Trimble were to drive that far they would have to have players drive from Nelsonville, Corning or Chauncey(?) to get them to practice.
Meigs would have kids driving from well beyond the river.
Last, Our SEOAL Div. 2 teams are NOT out of place: Logan 2, Marietta 2, Jackson 2, Zanesville 2 Chillicothe LARGE 3. What makes this a D-3 or 4 league farmer? How many of each of those are there? Especially when 2 of them just joined! (And 1 is already leaving) They knew what was coming.
Continue playing those bigger teams. YOU don't have a choice. Then again, your league is what it is too. Take that how you like. I used to play in the OLD TVC, and it was much different in those days. The "Hocking" didn't even exist. I'm glad I'm too old to have had to compete at that level. My college days may never have existed.

[YOU'RE TIGER BAIT]

Jackson
Chillicothe
Gallia
Burg
Waverly
Logan
Portsmouth West
Ironton
Nelsonville
Portsmouth

I believe that would be a fun time to watch

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- THIS SOUNDS REAL GOOD AS WELL.

[YOU'RE TIGER BAIT]

Ironton
Coal Grove
Fairland
Portsmouth
South Point
Rock Hill
Minford
Wheelersburg
Valley
West

All of these schools are close to one another and about the same size.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ THIS AIN'T HAPPNIN, FORGET IT.

[hsfbfan]

RIP SEOAL Truly and end of an era.

[Crazy Legs]

I agree, but now the only thing that makes sense is to create a SOC III and make sure your non conference schedule is strong. I think you can have bulit in rivials and give you more scheduling options......SEOAL is gone for at least five years then it will come back with new schools again and so on and so on..... (this is just my guess?)

[noreply66]

If this SEOAL came to an end and a new one came about I would like to see.

Athens
Gallipolis
Jackson
Meigs
Nelson/York
Vinton Cty
Wellston

[91blue14]

logan,
gahs,
jackson

[theassassin]

maybe already been mentioned but what is wrong with the remaining teams staying in a 6 team league?
chilli
gallia
jackson
logan
marietta
warren

[NYBuckeye96]

If this SEOAL came to an end and a new one came about I would like to see.

Athens
Gallipolis
Jackson
Meigs
Nelson/York
Vinton Cty
Wellston

Interesting fact on your list.......if you traded out Vinton County for Logan, that was the SEOAL in 1967, and if you eliminate consolidations, that was the SEOAL for the previous 30 plus years before that.

[NYBuckeye96]

So here is a thought - when the SEOAL is down to six schools - other than Chillicothe - the five other SEOAL schools are surrounded by TVC schools. Maybe when the SEOAL expanded, it went about expansion the wrong way. Instead of spreading out over the entire southeastern quadrant of Ohio, maybe a more logical move would have been to keep the same geographic lines of the SEOAL, but expand by merging with the TVC. The fact of the matter is except for Chillicothe, the SEOAL schools are surrounded by the TVC schools. Create three or four divisions - depending on how many schools you wanted in a division - and there you have it.

For size differences, no school in one division would have to play a school in another division unless they wanted to (like the TVC OHIO and HOCKING are now). However, a cooperation for non-league games could exist between schools if they so chose to do this in order to fill schedules or for potentially large gates. (ex. NY vs. Jackson as a non-league game). In sports with a one day tournament to determine a champion - such as wrestling - you could either have separate division champions OR you could have one grand champion - whatever the majority of the schools wanted.

For division breakdown - you could go strictly on size of school OR you could have some politics involved and try to have natural rivals in the same division - whichever the majority of schools wanted. (ex. should NY football be in the big school division for stronger competition or should NY be in a division with similar sized schools).

The TVC has 13 schools and the SEOAL would seem to be on its way to 6 (at most). If the two merged into one mega conference, that would be 19 schools all within a reasonable driving distance and divisions could be formed based on the best interests of each member school.

You would also have a rare opportunity to have a league that represented every size school possible in this part of the state - even if they were in different divisions and didn't play each other. The league would be strong based both on size AND geographic proximity to other member schools.

For those who argue that 4 TVC schools left the SEOAL because they couldn't compete.........remember - there would be seperate divisions within this new league and teams in one division would not have to play teams in another division unless they wanted to. (Athens vs. Logan wouldn't happen unless both schools wanted it, for example - and it would be a non-league game). Or, Logan would never have to play any of the smaller schools if it didnt want to - and could schedule larger schools in the Columbus area as non-league games.

I think if the SEOAL is to ever expand again, this is the only way to do it. Spreading out over hundreds of miles did not work. The only thing that would work is to add local teams and the only way to get everyone on board is to have divisions that would keep all schools as competitive as possible in their own respective division within the league and not forcing schools in one division to play schools in another division if they chose not to play them.

[noreply66]

So here is a thought - when the SEOAL is down to six schools - other than Chillicothe - the five other SEOAL schools are surrounded by TVC schools. Maybe when the SEOAL expanded, it went about expansion the wrong way. Instead of spreading out over the entire southeastern quadrant of Ohio, maybe a more logical move would have been to keep the same geographic lines of the SEOAL, but expand by merging with the TVC. The fact of the matter is except for Chillicothe, the SEOAL schools are surrounded by the TVC schools. Create three or four divisions - depending on how many schools you wanted in a division - and there you have it.

For size differences, no school in one division would have to play a school in another division unless they wanted to (like the TVC OHIO and HOCKING are now). However, a cooperation for non-league games could exist between schools if they so chose to do this in order to fill schedules or for potentially large gates. (ex. NY vs. Jackson as a non-league game). In sports with a one day tournament to determine a champion - such as wrestling - you could either have separate division champions OR you could have one grand champion - whatever the majority of the schools wanted.

For division breakdown - you could go strictly on size of school OR you could have some politics involved and try to have natural rivals in the same division - whichever the majority of schools wanted. (ex. should NY football be in the big school division for stronger competition or should NY be in a division with similar sized schools).

The TVC has 13 schools and the SEOAL would seem to be on its way to 6 (at most). If the two merged into one mega conference, that would be 19 schools all within a reasonable driving distance and divisions could be formed based on the best interests of each member school.

You would also have a rare opportunity to have a league that represented every size school possible in this part of the state - even if they were in different divisions and didn't play each other. The league would be strong based both on size AND geographic proximity to other member schools.

For those who argue that 4 TVC schools left the SEOAL because they couldn't compete.........remember - there would be seperate divisions within this new league and teams in one division would not have to play teams in another division unless they wanted to. (Athens vs. Logan wouldn't happen unless both schools wanted it, for example - and it would be a non-league game). Or, Logan would never have to play any of the smaller schools if it didnt want to - and could schedule larger schools in the Columbus area as non-league games.

I think if the SEOAL is to ever expand again, this is the only way to do it. Spreading out over hundreds of miles did not work. The only thing that would work is to add local teams and the only way to get everyone on board is to have divisions that would keep all schools as competitive as possible in their own respective division within the league and not forcing schools in one division to play schools in another division if they chose not to play them.

All great points

I too would like to see somethng like that.But wouldn't you have the problem with the size of Logan.

Travel cost is getting out of hand and it would be wise to cut the travel time down.
Some SEOAL teams would probably want to go to the TVC, but would any of the TVC want to come to the SEOAL.

So with that you idea does sound good