Co-ops

they have been going on all over the midwest for years (Minnesota, North and South Dakota) as well. I have seen them work very well were the coaches did an outstanding job of merging the 2 or more communities and convinced the kids to play as a team.

I have also seen the 2 towns have 2 different opinions on the team name, school name, who should be coaching, how many kids from each town should be starting, etc...... I can think of a school that merged 3 districts and built a brand new school 15 years ago and they still don't get along!!! Mostly due to the communities not the kids.

The program I coach for has been co-oping since 1995. We have been moderately successful (made the playoffs 7 of those years).

It took a LONG time for the two communities to really put aside their differences and embrace the idea of the co-op. When I first started coaching here in 2001, there were still LOTS of people who claimed that the head coach favored one school's kids over the other school's kids. Parents complained about where practices were, complained if the uniforms had too much of one school's colors and not enough of the other schools colors - chickensh*t stuff like that.

We finally have got to the point where people are seeing the football team as a separate entity from the two schools - which is what the goal of a successful co-op should be.

Here's some things to consider to get the co-op off on the right foot:

• team colors - avoid using one of the school's colors or a mix of one color from each school. Pick a color scheme that is completely different from the two schools. This will help to foster the idea that the football team is a separate program and not simply an extension of the two schools.
  
• mascot - choose a mascot that is different from the mascots of the two schools. Fpr example, the two schools in our co-op are the "Cougars" and the "Wolves". The football team is the "Wildcats". You do this for pretty much the same reason as selecting a separate color scheme for the team.
  
• practices - it's a pain in the ass, but practice time HAS to be shared equally. Practice for the first half of the season at one school and then practice for the second half of the season at the other school
  
• games - if you have 4 home games, play two at each school. If you have five, play three at one school but remember the next time you have 5 home games to play three at the other school. Alternate playoff games.
  
• homecoming - just do one. Homecoming is a big enough pain in the butt without having to do it twice. We finally started doing that 2 years ago, but it was REALLY tough to convince parents and kids that 1 homecoming game was for the best.
  
• coaches - try to spread the coaches out. Don't have all of the coaches from 1 school be on the varsity staff and all of the coaches from the other school on the frosh-soph staff.
  

Also understand that the biggest problems for co-ops often come from parents, administrators, and school board members who think that, somehow, "their" kids are gettiung screwed. The kids themselves are almost NEVER a problem. They will, for the most part, be excited about it because the co-op will give them an opportunity to have success. For example, before we co-oped, the two schools had combined for a whopping 3 playoff appearances in 20 years. Now, we have made the playoffs 7 of the last 11.

Co-ops can be a great experience IF you can nurse it through those first few crucial years.

PA has co-ops played in one. They kind of share sports play football at one school with that schools logos and colors and play soccer at the other school with that schools colors and logos. You could also playh each other in other sports. I liked and wished all states did it to give chances for kids to play.

There are co-ops here in Wisconsin. Don't coach at one and haven't coached against one, but I did read a book titled First And Long about 2 schools from the Milwaukee area that formed a co-op. One was public, one private, one primarily white, the other primarily black. Interesting situation, and a very good book. I highly recommend it if you like books about high school football.