Searching for level playing field, Ogden High football opts for independence


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OGDEN — The Ogden football program was hoping a move down from Class 4A to 3AA in the latest realignment would level the playing field for their struggling football program.

Instead the Tigers were kept in 4A and Region 5 with powerhouse programs like Highland, Bountiful, and Woods Cross.

Rather than compete against those teams with double the participation and funding, the Odgen School District made a drastic decision to help rebuild the football program — the Tigers have opted for an independent schedule.

"We're in a new world," Ogden coach Kent Taylor said. "It's an interesting place."

That new world is independence, a world coach Taylor and his players don't want to be.

"We don't have the number of kids we should have, based on our enrollment," Taylor said. "It turns into a safety issue, when you are playing kids both ways Thursday night and then you need some of those guys to play substantial minutes on a Friday night. It makes things a little bit interesting, that's for sure."

Ogden has just 50 players in its program, a number more comparable to 3A and even some 2A schools. Such low participation prompted the school district to make this decision.

"Obviously, you want your kids to compete no matter where they are at," Taylor said. "But when the playing field isn't that level, it crushes spirits. As a coach, that's really hard to deal with. Too hard to deal with, in some cases."

A lack of participation isn't the only issue affecting Ogden football. Economics play a huge role. Poverty affects many players on the team, and a lack of funding from the school district and community support also play a role in the struggle.

The city of Ogden doesn't even fund a little league program.

"The city needs to step in. I know they have a lot on their plate, but if you want to be success and have good high school teams, you need feeders," Taylor said. "Little league is where it starts."

Utah High School Activities Association executive director Rob Cuff said balancing the economic factors of high school factor is "a fine line that needs to be balanced on the district level."

"Some districts are stronger than others, so that becomes a very difficult thing," he said. "This gives (Ogden) a chance to increase their number of participants. Perhaps more will come out if they are successful. And then in two or three years, maybe they are ready to participate on a region level."

The UHSAA has studied various models to take socioeconomics and past success into consideration in realignment. But those measures didn't pass in the latest round.

"If you don't look at enrollment, and you have a big school that is struggle, then when they win the first thing people say is they are a bigger school and should be in a bigger classification," Cuff said.

Still, basing realignment solely on enrollment is a mistake, Taylor said.

"Let's not just sit on enrollment and hope that is the fix-all, because it's not," he said. "I know they have a hard job. They already had a vote where they were going to use different criteria to make their regions. But it broke down."

Cuff said the UHSAA is already studying additional plans for the next round of realignment in 2017. Until then, there is only one thing the Tigers can do to improve their situation — win.

"I think if we start winning and start showing the school and kids that don't want to come out here and play because we aren't winning right now," Ogden quarterback Matt Richardson said, "then they'll come out and will want to be a part of that."

Contributing: Matt Glade

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