RANDOLPH – The Highway 20 Hawks will be flying the coop – or the co-op nest at least – at the end of the 2023-24 season.
Randolph will be fielding its own high school boys and girls basketball teams next year after the Randolph Public Schools board unanimously voted at its board meeting on Jan. 15 not to continue its co-op with Osmond.
The two schools had joined for the co-op for the past two years under the team name Hawks.
Wausa and Osmond have agreed to a cooperative that includes football beginning the 2024-25 academic year, but basketball was not included.
With another unanimous vote of the Randolph board, Osmond and Randolph will also not be participating in a Junior High basketball co-op.
Randolph Athletic Director Brandi Bartels said the board had a difficult decision with risks contained within either choice and the board spent 45 minutes discussing the matter.
Board vice president Jim Scott said he went back and forth and finally listed out some pros and cons to help him make his final decision.
On the plus side, the Osmond-Randolph cooperative provided enough players for both JV and varsity games and enough coaches for both teams; players had to compete for a starter position; and overall it ran smoothly, especially at the Junior High level. He also didn’t see any favoritism like some have claimed, he said.
Making the cons list? The co-op did not develop its Junior Varsity like it was originally hoped, Scott said, with a handful of boys playing an entire JV game and an entire varsity game.
Practice and travel times were not ideal, and school pride and spirit decreased, Scott said.
Osmond’s focus on a partnership with Randolph diminished when a potential co-op between the two schools for high school football failed a vote last fall, Scott said.
Part of the breakdown came from some negative communications between students from both schools.
At that time, Osmond entered into a co-op agreement with Wausa, calling it more of a longterm partnership.
Osmond officials had said they would need to consult with Wausa before entering another high school basketball co-op agreement with Randolph.
“They made it clear again that they wanted to be with Wausa No. 1 and us No. 2,” Scott said. “Maybe we just need to move on.”
The board also discussed that basketball participation has decreased everywhere – not just in Randolph. Many schools Randolph’s size are also struggling for a full playing roster in basketball and many can’t play a full JV game due to low participation, Bartels said.
“The reality is there are a lot of teams that they’re taking freshmen, younger players, and putting them on a varsity team,” she said. “They don’t have the numbers to develop them on JV. That’s one of the things that has happened to the sport.”
Board member Lisa Linville said when she graduated from Randolph, there was about 40 students in her graduating class. Now, there are half as many students and many more sports and activities to be involved in.
Bartels agreed that about 92 percent of students in grades 7-12 participate in at least one activity.
It’s difficult to predict participation, she said. For example, in 2023, only one student participated in speech. This year, 13 students are interested in the activity.
“I don’t know what the magic bullet is that makes them decide,” Bartels said.
She said since both schools’ enrollment numbers feed into activity class distinction, the basketball co-op with Osmond had the Hawks and Lady Hawks competing at Class C2. On their own, Randolph would potentially face more evenly matched completion in Class D.
On the one hand, finding success on the court would be a boost, Bartels said. Although win or lose, activities and sports are a significant part of school and help students develop life skills beyond what they learn in the classroom.
Randolph Assistant Girls Basketball Coach Jordyn Anderson couldn’t attend the board meeting in person, but asked Bartels to read a letter to the board. She wrote that in her observation, chemistry and trust has increased among players over the Osmond-Randolph co-op’s two years.
“With the program nearing the end of its second season, I will admit that our record is not appealing to the eye. This is usually the case in programs that are in the beginning. Players and coaches are still getting to know strengths and weaknesses, however, over time I believe we have really begun to connect with each other,” she wrote.
