St. Joseph would be open to UIL move if bill becomes law

At some point soon, St. Joseph might not have to travel to Laredo or Victoria for district games.

Instead, how does Port Isabel sound? Or Zapata or Rio Hondo or La Feria?

For the Bloodhounds, it sounds pretty good.

Last week, the Texas Senate voted to allow private schools like St. Joseph into the University Interscholastic League in all sports except football and basketball. The vote, which passed 22-7, still has to go through the Texas House and then through Gov. Rick Perry.

But since the bill already made it past one branch of government, it’s already on the minds of several TAPPS schools, like St. Joseph.

"It would be something that we would be interested in pursuing," Bloodhounds Athletic Director Teddy Lopez said of joining the UIL. "Obviously it’s too premature to say ‘Yes,’ but we have a high level of interest in participating in UIL athletics."

The key reason why, Lopez says, is transportation.

St. Joseph spends more than $10,000 per year in transportation costs, bussing the Bloodhounds to Laredo, Victoria, San Antonio, Dallas and all around the state for district and regional events. If the school had most of its games in the Rio Grande Valley, that number would significantly decrease.

"Most of the time our closest district foe is Laredo, then you got Victoria and San Antonio," Lopez said. "It is a drive. Lately, with the economy and budget cuts, we’ve been having to drive up and back on the same day."

The Bloodhounds figure to wind up on the lower end of the Class 3A schools, since their enrollment is just more than 500 students. That could, hypothetically, put them in same district as Port Isabel.

However, the Tarpons can only go with the students that are zoned to them. They can’t offer financial assistance or enroll kids from outside of the area. St. Joseph, as a private school, can enroll students from McAllen or Weslaco or Harlingen. They don’t have to be from Brownsville.

"They don’t have to follow the same rules we do," Port Isabel athletic coordinator Monty Stumbaugh said. "We have to have kids that live in our district, anybody can go to private schools."

"It’s not a level playing field, I’m hoping that they don’t (join the UIL)," he added. "It’s not going against St. Joseph, it’s just not a fair deal."

That’s the general consensus among UIL coaches — the playing fields aren’t level, the rules aren’t the same, therefore, it’s simply not fair.

St. Joseph understands this. It has coaches that don’t teach at the school, it doesn’t have softball or girls soccer. It doesn’t do things that other UIL schools do.

"We’d have to do a lot of research," Lopez said. "Those are some of those questions."

St. Joseph is in the highest division for TAPPS — 5A. Enrollment wise, it’s on the lower end of those schools, as some are well past 1,000 kids. Others, like those in 1A, can have as few as one student.

Those schools, according to Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, would be the first to join the UIL. That would then presumably put St. Joseph toward the back of the pack of schools being allowed to join.

"I’m not exactly sure how this is going to happen," Lopez said. "So let’s see what happens in the House."

As for now, the Bloodhounds are committed to TAPPS for the 2011-12 school year, the second year of their two-year agreement. In 2012, the UIL will announce realignment for its schools for the following two school years.

There’s still plenty of things to figure out on both sides, not to mention the bill still making its way through the house and the governor’s office.

But, two private schools, Houston Strake Jesuit and Dallas Jesuit, are already full UIL participants. And this bill carefully dictates that football and basketball, the two most prestigious sports, aren’t part of the deal.

Yet, the bottom line, for now, is that St. Joseph is certainly an interested party. 

Todd Orodenker covers sports for Valley Freedom Newspapers. You can reach him at (956) 982-6663 or via e-mail at torodenker@brownsvilleherald.com.