Don HorkeyHere’s a story you read first in this column way back on Dec. 26 that found new life a month ago, causing all kinds of anxiety in the normally placid offices of the Catholic League.
The Bulldogs of Detroit Loyola were still basking in the limelight of finally, on the third try, beating the Yoopers from Ishpeming for the state Division 7 football championship. They also won their fifth consecutive CHSL Prep Bowl title.
So dominant has Loyola been on the gridiron in both the CHSL and MHSAA — a 59-4 record the last five seasons — the CHSL decided the Bulldogs should move up to the Central Division, one of the state’s premier football leagues and home of two other 2014 state champs — Warren De La Salle in Division 2 and Orchard Lake St. Mary’s in Division 3.
Loyola’s athletic director Paul D’Luge begged off. “With only 138 boys, it’s not good for us,” he said.
He accepted a compromise offered by CHSL director Vic Michaels: open the season against St. Mary’s (550 students) on Aug. 29 as part of the Detroit Sports Commission Prep Football Classic and De La Salle (800 students) on Oct. 2, both contests on Wayne State University’s turf.
That decision didn’t sit too well with coach John Callahan, a native Californian who coached in Iowa and elsewhere in the Metro Detroit area, including Pontiac Notre Dame Prep, before landing at Loyola six years ago.
The Bulldogs have primitive practice conditions, an area the size of half a football field. Watch out for the manhole and the fence. It’s a muddy mess after a hard rain.
Loyola’s varsity roster usually numbers around 30 compared to the more-or-less 70 boys on the St. Mary’s and De La Salle’s squads. Callahan said, “I’ll play them, if a week before the game, they practice on a parking lot with (the same number of players as on Loyola’s squad). I just want us to be on an even field.”
Callahan’s closing thought to me was “I’m loyal to the Catholic League, but I’m loyal to my players first.”
Most of the reaction I came across was amusement at Callahan’s proposal.
Evidently, the coach was serious. The issue was revived April 13 in Dave Goricki’s Prep Insider column in The Detroit News.
In a segment headlined, “Catholic League Chaos,” Callahan told Goricki that Loyola would take on St. Mary’s, but it wouldn’t play De La Salle even if it meant a forfeit or being banned from playing in the Prep Bowl.
Mick McCabe of the Detroit Free Press opined that Callahan “declared war” on the Catholic League.
“I’m doing what’s best for our school and definitely my players ... it’s about kids and I don’t want them hurt,” Callahan said.
Well, there was neither chaos nor war. Michaels deliberated the situation with the league’s executive committee (comprised of principals and athletic directors), which, in turn, referred the matter for review to the superintendent of archdiocesan Catholic schools, Brian M. Dougherty, Ph.D.
On April 24, he issued a 112-word statement that (a) reaffirmed “the 2015 schedule will stand and Loyola will play De La Salle” and (b) that “we (will) all work together to address the unique challenge the League faces in creating equitable schedules each year that reflect the capabilities and successes of its teams.”
Both Michaels and Fr. Mark Leudtke, SJ, president of Loyola, had no further comment, although Michaels did offer, “It was all a non-story.”
As for Callahan, who was in the midst of taking an inventory of the Bulldogs’ football equipment when I reached him, said, “I was just voicing my concerns. We’ll move on. I’ll do what I’m told.”
Don Horkey may be reached at [email protected]
