Remember last March, when there appeared to be a good chance a hint of sanity would finally come to Public League basketball for 2011-12?
So much for that . . .
Robert Coleman, the czar of PL sports, announced yesterday that only two of last season's 68 teams have vanished - Horace Furness and W.B. Saul.
Coleman said Furness has entered into a cooperative sponsorship with Southern. It's hoped, he added, one between Saul and Roxborough will be finalized shortly.
Multiple sources last winter claimed Coleman was looking to reduce the number of teams to 50. Though he did not confirm that number then, Coleman did not dispute it while saying, "I will be meeting with the higher-ups in the school district and we'll come up with a plan that's just and right. The whole district will be pulling its belt tighter. Not just sports."
Yesterday, he said, "Some principals have provided resistance to the idea [of dropping basketball]. In time, they might migrate to it. This is part of a 3-year plan.
"Change is always hard for some people to approve."
Depending on enrollments, schools have been asked to drop one to three teams while maintaining gender equality. Coleman was unsure whether baseball has been axed by any schools.
Football this season lost Thomas FitzSimons, which was scheduled to combine with Roberts Vaux, but that was due to a player shortage.
