The Juneau prep football landscape may look much different next year.
Juneau School District Superintendent Mark Miller announced Thursday the district will submit a formal request to the Alaska School Activities Association to consolidate football and football cheer at Juneau-Douglas High School next year.
The proposal also initially included a request to allow Thunder Mountain High School students to participate in hockey, which has historically only has been offered at JDHS. The district later in the day changed course on that, saying due to a reclassification of high school hockey under consideration by ASAA, the proposed change could have an adverse effect on the program.
“The decision has been two years in the making, taking into consideration important issues such as player safety and development, season cost, program debt and repayment progress,” Miller said in a prepared statement.
Both the high school football programs have struggled to cover their season costs over the past two seasons.
The Crimson Bears started this past season $5,689 in debt. The Falcons owed a lot more money; according to the district press release, TMHS was just over $100,000 in debt at the start of the season, thanks in part to back-to-back appearances at the state playoffs in Anchorage and Palmer, respectively.
Both Miller and JSD Director of Student Services Bridget Weiss acknowledged the laudable job Thunder Mountain has done in establishing and growing its football program over the better part of a decade. Thunder Mountain High School opened in 2008, and its football team was created the fall of 2009. TMHS went undefeated in the Southeast Conference this year and finished the season 6-2. Last year, the team was 6-3.
“We get that there is some real serious emotion and ownership that has been built up over the last 10 years over at TM,” Miller said. “They have worked so hard to fundraise, to build a team from scratch that really started with playing JV and building up and having a couple of rough seasons and then the last two making the playoffs.”
While JDHS has a richer football tradition than their crosstown rival, TMHS, with its larger student body, has been able to field a bigger football team in recent years. JDHS won the state championship in 2005 and 2007, and was runner-up in 2003, 2008 and 2013. This season, JDHS did not fare as well, with their 3-4 record; last year, JDHS went 3-5.
“When we balanced it out really, financial stability was really the tipping point,” Miller said.
The district expects a decision back from ASAA sometime in the month of November.
If approved, the district would still have to reapply for consolidation on a yearly basis.
• Contact sports reporter Nolin Ainsworth at 523-2272 or nolin.ainsworth@juneauempire.com.
