Hazel Park could leave the OAA.

Written Saturday October 1st at 11:00 PM

The OAA could be losing a member very soon,

Hazel Park an enrollment of 856 students is strongly considering leaving the Oakland Activities Association (OAA), Ferndale another smaller OAA school (674 students) is staying with the league for now.

The biggest reason why Hazel Park is considering leaving is because of football and enrollment.

According to their Athletic Director Dave Mulyart, in an interview with Mick McCabe of the Detroit Free Press, the reason Hazel Park is considering leaving is because of football and the recent division alignment with Troy (2092), Bloomfield Hills (1831), and Rochester (1632) all entering the Blue, something Mulyart argues is not fair to the smaller schools, many of whom have smaller enrollments.

“It’s the disparity between school sizes. It’s a much better fit for us with other conferences. In football, we can’t go up against a Troy or a Bloomfield and Rochester and expect to have a level playing field when they have three times the amount of students than us” Mulyart said in the interview.

With the OAA schedule set the way it is, smaller schools like Hazel Park, Ferndale, and Pontiac are required to only play one of the teams who came down to the Blue to give the smaller schools the chance to compete. 

The Vikings play Rochester week eight at home. Still Mulyart has concerns about the OAA and the direction it is going when it comes to the future of the smaller OAA Schools. It’s rival, Ferndale played undefeated Bloomfield Hills very tough at Bloomfield Hills, only losing 23-20 three weeks ago.

Hazel Park got a big win over an big enrollment school in Royal Oak when they beat the Ravens 19-14 two weeks ago but the Vikings are still up at arms about the league. “I appreciate everything that our football committee has done for the OAA. They are very professional people and they have been around for a while but the decision to bring those three teams down to the Blue division merely because their programs haven’t been successful is unfair.”

Hazel Park currently stands at 2-4, 2-2 in the Blue but has a road contest with Ferndale before hosting Rochester and finishing the season at Flat Rock.

Despite Hazel Park’s setbacks in football, going 1-29 before this season and currently 3-33 since 2012. The Vikings have been very successful in other programs especially Boys Basketball and Wrestling. Before moving back to the Blue last season, Hazel Park was up in the White, wrestling teams like Lake Orion, Southfield Arts and Tech, West Bloomfield, Troy, and Avondale. Their Boys Basketball team moved two divisions from the Gold to the White and has scheduled a tough non-conference schedule playing powerhouses Clarkston, North Farmington, and Toledo Scott. Mulyart has said that he is not discouraging the other programs from being competitive but that the school district is trying to look for other options at the moment

He did also say that he was open to staying in the OAA but admitted that other conferences have contacted them about joining their conference.“There are some conferences that have contacted us and we’ll look to see what is best fit for us. That’s not saying we’re not going to stay in the OAA, we’re just exploring other options to see what might be a better fit for us.”

One other school that has considered leaving the OAA is Ferndale. They are the smallest school in the league but Ferndale Athletic Director Shawn Butler has recently confirmed to McCabe that they are not going to the leave the league for now. “No, we’re not switching this year. We were investigating it. Most of my coaches were neutral on it.”

Butler said that the competition would not have been any different as it is in the OAA at the moment but did say that travel would be an issue.“In terms of the competition, it wouldn’t have been much different other than the exception of football. The drive time for too many sports would have increased.”

Ferndale would like to see another league form, a league with several of their closer neighbors but admitted that it would take some convincing for them to do so.“We’re always open. I still would love to get something along our area and our size. We have enough schools but there is not enough interest from the other schools to leave their league.”

Ant’s Take.

It is not surprising that Hazel Park and Ferndale are both considering leaving the league. They both are the smallest enrolled schools. It truly sounds like that the Vikings are upset because Troy, Bloomfield Hills, and Rochester are in the Blue. I do understand their frustration because they are bigger schools and that they should not be in that division. 

The only school I think who is really taking advantage is Bloomfield Hills, despite Ferndale giving them a game, Bloomfield Hills has beaten every team by double figures and is undefeated at 6-0 5-0 in the Blue. Had they been in the Red or the White, this doesn’t happen. It’s not like the smaller schools can’t be competitive with the three bigger schools. Troy recently lost to Royal Oak and could lose to Berkley on Friday while Avondale almost beat Rochester. Troy also at present is 2-4 2-2 in the Blue while Rochester is 3-3 2-2 in the Blue. Both teams might not make the playoffs also the fact that Hazel Park is only playing one of those teams (Rochester) is not going to hurt them, not by any team.

I give Ferndale a lot of credit for playing the schedule they have. They gave Bloomfield Hills their toughest game and they were competitive with their arch-rival Berkley. Ferndale also beat Avondale and Pontiac (two schools with higher enrollments.) To their credit, the Eagles have not backed down from playing these bigger schools and haven’t complained about it either. It also helps that Ferndale merged their program with Ferndale University under the MHSAA Co-Op program and they are also open enrollment.

Stay tuned to OAA Now for updates on this developing story.