WORCESTER

No easy answers in Holy Name, St. Peter-Marian merger

Rich Garven
richard.garven@telegram.com
The merger of Worcester Catholic high schools St. Peter-Marian and Holy Name will upend traditional sports rivalries. [T&G File Photo/Steve Lanava]

WORCESTER - When the Diocese of Worcester announced in December it would merge Holy Name and St. Peter-Marian into a junior-senior high school, it set off a flurry of questions in Central Mass.

Chief among them: Which building would remain open when the 2020-21 school year commences in September, and which would be closed and sold? Then there are the life-altering decisions of which administrators, teachers and support personnel would be retained or let go.

The questions also extend to athletics, and the answers won’t just have an impact on the new merged school (Worcester Central Catholic? Worcester City Catholic?), but also other schools that Holy Name and SPM compete against in boys’ and girls’ sports.

Now, a month into the process, what is known beyond the expectation that by March a decision will be made on which building will house the merged school? 

“To be blatantly honest, transparent and open - nothing,” said Marcus Watson, whose SPM duties include interim athletic director, boys’ basketball coach and director of international students. “There are people doing things; we just don’t have information yet.”

“Nothing,” echoed Jim Manzello, who graduated from Holy Name in 1981 and is in his 34th year working at his alma mater, the last 31 as athletic director.

“I wish I had more to tell you. I know they are hoping for early March to make a decision and they’re hoping that will give everyone enough time to get everything squared away.”

Raymond Delisle, spokesman for the Diocese of Worcester, said much the same.

“There is a lot of stuff that they’re working on right now,” Delisle said of the Diocese, “but I would say it’s too early for me to give you any indication on those (athletic) types of things. They obviously all have to be addressed, especially considering you’re talking about two schools that used to compete against each another.

“So, we have to work on all of that, but that’s part of a lot of different things that have to be addressed that they’re working on.”

Once a decision is made, work will commence on a lengthy to-do list.

There will be uniforms to order, presuming Holy Name or St. Peter-Marian doesn’t keep its name, nickname and school colors if it’s selected to remain open. There will be coaches to hire - or not - which is going to lead to some very difficult decisions involving some very dedicated and talented individuals.

From a high-profile standpoint, the most prominent would be Watson and Holy Name counterpart Jason Chavoor in boys’ basketball and Ed Riley of SPM and Mike Coonan of Holy Name in baseball.

Whoever ends up in those positions - and perhaps it would be an outside hire - will inherit teams that, if they don't already, will have the potential to consistently compete statewide.

And what will become of the banners and trophies won by the Guardians and Naps? And their Halls of Fame?

SPM has a Hall of Fame devoted to athletics, while Holy Name has one that inducts prominent alumni. How will the selection process work going forward?

“I think alumni are important in this, as well,” Manzello said.

When it comes to scheduling, the sport that has opposing schools the most anxious is football. There are a limited number of Fridays and Saturdays in the fall and an eight-week window before the playoffs begin.

“It’s not like field hockey or soccer where you can fit that game in (any day in) September or October,” Worcester public schools AD Dave Shea said. “The only sport that puts a kink in the chain is football.”

Shea has been paying particular attention to the merger as Burncoat, North and South played both Holy Name and SPM last season in football. (Worcester Tech also played both schools, but only Holy Name was scheduled, with SPM being a late-season pairing of non-playoff teams.)

So Shea, a 1989 graduate of Holy Name, could be tasked with finding as many as two opponents for three schools and one for a fourth school, depending on how things play out. He’s exploring options, including possibly seeking out opponents in Eastern and Western Mass.

More clarity will come when the Central Mass. football scheduling committee meets in early February.

“We’re all hoping we can get an answer before March because it dictates which way we go,” Shea said.

The most prominent scheduling issue also involves football: Who will the merged school play on Thanksgiving?

History says St. John’s. Logic says Auburn.

SPM and St. John’s have met 95 times on Thanksgiving, their holiday rivalry dating to 1925. That makes it the oldest continuous Catholic school rivalry in the country.

But is it really a rivalry when one team thoroughly dominates the other? The Pioneers have won 16 of the last 17 meetings to extend their series lead to 59-30-6.

“We wish both communities well,” St. John’s AD Michael Mead said. “Both schools play us and we have rivalries with both schools. We’d love to be able to continue the rivalry with whatever school they decide to go with, especially in football and basketball and baseball and all that stuff.”

Per the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association, St. John’s enrollment for the current four-year alignment cycle that ends in 2020-21 is listed as 966 boys. The combined male enrollment of Holy Name (201) and SPM (219) comes in at 420.

The humongous disparity in enrollment, with St. John’s being nearly 4½ times larger than SPM, has undoubtedly been a factor in the lack of competitiveness on Thanksgiving over the past two decades.

Meanwhile, Holy Name and Auburn have played just five times on Thanksgiving, forming a holiday partnership in 2015. Auburn has won all five meetings, but is much closer in size, with 317 boys.

Auburn, which saw Oxford drop it as a Thanksgiving opponent after 42 years in 2013, clearly wants to continue its budding rivalry with Holy Name/SPM.

Most important, athletic director Brian Davis wants to make sure the Rockets have a game on Thanksgiving, because he still believes it’s a special day for the players, coaches, alumni, and fans.

“I understand with the merger, are they going to continue with the two schools playing St. John’s or are they going to think about playing us? said Davis, who has engaged in Thanksgiving discussions with Manzello and Watson.

“Like I said, we can’t let it drag on, in a sense, because I have to worry about our kids and our program and do what’s best for us just like they are. … We’re anticipating playing on Thanksgiving, with who I don’t know. Can Auburn wait until March? I don’t believe we can.”

So it’s waiting and wondering and, for those currently studying or working at Holy Name and St. Peter-Marian, angst and apprehension.

Where will the returning students attend school next fall? Who’ll be teaching and coaching them? Will a current varsity player be able to make the cut next year when there's expected to be a larger pool of players?

“I’m not going to sit here and lie and say it’s not on everyone’s mind,” said Watson, whose two sons graduated from SPM. “Kids are concerned. We have an administration that is really trying to do the best it can to give as much information, to be as transparent as possible to everyone involved.

“This is a time where hopefully, when all the dust settles, we’re in a better place and we provide the same quality education that we’ve been providing. That’s basically all I can say and know of.”

Contact Rich Garven at rgarven@telegram.com. Follow him on Twitter @RichGarvenTG.