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Coaches react to change

BY ANDREW HORSCHAK

ahorschak@kenoshanews.com

Here is the reaction of some local high school basketball coaches to the WIAA’s decision to add a fifth division, effective next school year:

Damon James,Bradford boys coach:

“I’m a little curious about the decision, I guess. I would like to have seen the WIAA get a vote from every school instead of just certain guys on a panel. From our level, I don’t feel like we were well represented. I thought the four-division model was fine. ... I know some of the schools are jumping up and down because they’re going down a division.

“When I looked at how our sectional plays out now, it got a little bit tougher. Hey, there’s nothing we can do now. We just have to play ball.”

Greg Leech,St. Joseph boys coach:

“I am not exactly sure why we need five divisions in the state of Wisconsin. I know this has been talked about for some time, as to how to handle the private schools. I tend to believe this decision was based on a couple of private schools that have dominated the WIAA State Tournament at Division-3 in recent times. I have news for everyone: Those programs will still compete for championships. I hope this decision was made with all schools in mind, not just a few.”

Brent Mansky,Central boys coach:

“I’m surprised by the 10-0 vote. ... I knew we were going to be the one that was going to be affected the most by this whole thing. We were just playing wait and see because it’s become so controversial and polarized. We’re kind of indifferent. We’ve been scheduling Division-1 teams in our non-conference as much as we can to try to build ourselves up. Being one of the smaller Division-1 schools, it did make it challenging at times. Our philosophy is we’re going to play whoever they want us to play. We’re going to see a lot of the same teams that we would normally see. It’s just that now we’re going to be the bigger school.”

Paul Strutz,Shoreland boys coach:

“I’m sure big schools are a little frustrated by it. Schools like us and Racine Lutheran and Christian Life — is it to our benefit? It might be. If so, then we’re in favor of it. It makes for a lot of conversation and it keeps high school basketball in the forefront.You still have to play. That’s the thing. ”