Staudt: Change in success for Lansing Catholic
When Jim Ahern was named head football coach at Lansing Catholic High School seven years ago, the talk of an on campus stadium was merely in the talking stages. Catholic teams had played around the city for years most recently at Holt Junior High School, the Cougars’ home last season.
On Friday, Catholic becomes one of two reported Michigan high schools to play in a new stadium on its site — Grand Rapids West Catholic is the other. The Cougars host Waverly at 7 p.m., and the lights were tested this past week to make sure all is in readiness from the six months of busy construction.
I never thought I’d see the day Catholic football would have such a change in success — Ahern has crafted seven straight winning seasons and a 24-3 record the past two years combined. Compare that with 14 out of 17 losing seasons at the school between 1992 and 2008. The actual first game is set for Thursday night with Catholic’s junior varsity team hosting Corunna.
Two way star Tony Poljan is gone to Central Michigan University but the Cougars are excited about new quarterback Michael Lynn III, who transferred after starting at Sexton as a sophomore last fall.
NEW POLICY: The eight Ivy League football schools have adopted a no-hitting-in-practice policy beginning with this season. That’s nothing at Haslett where coach Charlie Otlewski initiated such a process five years ago and intensified it in the past three seasons. Otlewski, who begins his 23rd season this fall, decided he didn’t have enough players to get any beat up in practices. So Haslett does not have any full speed contact drills. Haslett has 37 players on its roster heading into this coming Thursday’s opener at home against Remus Chippewa Hills.
POLL UPDATE: When I rated the area teams last Sunday in my preseason poll, I may have overlooked Lansing Everett. The Vikings have four Holt transfers and three were all CAAC Blue division a year ago. The quarterback, Kenny Schmidt, started for the Rams as a sophomore. DeShaun Lowery is a transfer receiver. The two have been teammates since fourth grade.
START FOR ALLEN: Former Haslett High School basketball star Brandon Allen is getting quite a start to his college career at Western Michigan. Allen is on the traveling squad for a four-game, 10-day trip to Europe and the Broncos depart Sunday night. Western will play games in Amsterdam, Ghent, Belgium, Deauville and Paris in France. The team will also visit Normandy’s beaches. Allen hopes he’ll get some playing time of course when the regular season begins as a freshman for coach Steve Hawkins.
PRO ALUMS PRACTICE: Michigan State hockey fans can watch the Spartans’ pro alums practice this coming week in Munn Arena. The traditional get together to prepare for upcoming training camps is led by assistant coach Tom Newton. Torey Krug won’t participate this year because of a shoulder injury the Boston Bruins are watching closely. The group practices from 10 a.m. to noon each day and there is no admission charge to watch. The week ends with a golf outing this coming Friday similar to years past.
FROZEN FOUR BID: Michigan State hopes to be the host school for hockey’s Frozen Four at Detroit’s new Little Caesar’s Arena. Bids have been placed with the NCAA to host any year between 2019 and 2022. There is stiff competition from other cities and many college coaches like the site from this past April — Tampa.
NEW FORMAT: And wisely, the Big Ten is considering future format changes for its post season hockey tournament. Campus sites may be used, which would create best two out of three game series for opening round matchups. The current format is a single game knockout in an NHL arena and all we see in person and on television is thousands of empty seats. Campus sites would help create more interest for sure. And MSU coach Tom Anastos has no idea if an eighth team in the league will be added after Notre Dame joins in another year.
NEW LOOK: Michigan State’s athletic department will have a new look in a year — the 1855 Building is being constructed on the site of the old Michigan State Police headquarters, across the street from the Breslin Center. A number of MSU administrative staffers will move and their offices in Jenison Fieldhouse will be filled by other coaches. Jenison will get some office renovation to facilitate the changes.
NEW HOME FOR SMITH: It’s been 10 years since John L. Smith served as football coach at Michigan State and since then he has served as head coach at three other schools — Arkansas, Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado, and this year at Kentucky State. Smith inherits a team that went 3-7 last fall and his opener is at 11:45 a.m. on Sept. 3 against Charleston Southern. The school is located in Frankfort, and Smith is now 67 years old and took the job because it is close to Louisville where he called home for years before taking the Michigan State job.
TERRY STAYS WITH MSU: I think it’s quite a compliment to the Michigan State football program that Damian Terry has not transferred to another school where he can finally start. Terry says he loves MSU too much to transfer. And he’s not just another high school recruit either. The Erie, Pennsylvania, native was the top player in his state his senior year and likely could have started at many other schools. He’ll likely be the backup to Tyler O’Connor this fall once again. Terry is a fourth year junior who has played 15 games in his career but never started. He has completed 14 of 26 passes for 103 yards and he has run for 130 more.
BIG TEN GOLF: Illinois has won seven of the past eight Big Ten men’s golf championships and the Illini will have to travel to win the tournament next year, which will be played next April 28-30. The suite is the Baltimore Country Club, founded in 1898. It’s a two-year deal and it’s an obvious move to give Maryland some kind of conference activity in its own backyard.