Vanlue decided not to renew Coach Cooper's contract after only 1 year. Unfortunately, the article does not state why, but it was a shock to the superintendent.
Looks like Vanlue football is once again not sure of it's future. Will this be year that the program folds?
Cooper said he had 19 boys sign up to play next season, but with a handful of returnees that may be transferring out of the district, that number could easily drop to 13 or 14 when the pads are handed out this summer.
BVC Bylaw 33 states that conference schools are required to notify the BVC president and executive secretary in writing no later than six months before the start of the first day of practice if the school will not be able to begin and or complete a full varsity season in the sports of football, volleyball or boys and girls basketball.
If a school can't complete the season, it will owe a penalty fee to each BVC school that was scheduled to host the school that could not field a team. The penalty fee owed would be calculated by the home school's treasurer and will be the average amount from the three most recent home gate receipts with the school that was unable to field a team. If a school failed to pay the penalty fee within three months, the school could face dismissal from the BVC.
Cutting through the jargon and legalise, if Vanlue committed to play football and was forced to cancel a road game against another conference school, Vanlue would have to pay a fine to replace that school's lost revenue because of the cancelled game.
A school could likely survive canceling one scheduled game, but if a school were forced to cancel multiple games, that would be disastrous for any small-school athletic department.
