St. Cloud School Board Approves Apollo, Tech Football Co-op

(KNSI) – Apollo and Tech will field one football team under the St. Cloud Crush banner after the St. Cloud school board unanimously approved a recommendation from district administrators Wednesday night.

The co-op starts with the 2027-28 school year and will last at least two years. Board member Heather Weems said some in the community had questioned whether money was behind the move.

“I think it’s important to mention this is not a financial decision. It has never been discussed in this board or with you all as leadership as a financial decision. We have two fantastic facilities. That’s actually one of the sad parts about this.”

Weems said the decision comes back to participation. Numbers the athletic directors presented, updated this week, show just under 50 high school players at Apollo and 52 at Tech. Those rosters include some registered players who don’t regularly show up for practices or games. Tech loses 10 seniors after this season, with a small junior class moving up behind them. Middle school numbers are also thin, with 16 eighth graders and 25 seventh graders, and the athletic directors said players traditionally drop off between seventh and ninth grade.

Athletic directors said thin rosters mean fewer games and less playing time for younger players, and other area schools are already scrambling to fill lower-level schedules.

Families have also asked whether combining football could lead the district to combine its two high schools. Superintendent Laurie Putnam addressed that directly. “I think it’s really important, A, to say absolutely not. We have two vibrant high school communities that are thriving. And while this is a hard decision, football is certainly not the determining factor of do we have one school or two.”

Putnam said Tech is nearing its 1,600-student capacity and its site has room for only one more wing, so a single high school would require a referendum to build a new school for 3,000 students.

The plan now goes to the Minnesota State High School League. Combined enrollment would place the Crush in Class 5A, but the district will petition to play in 4A. Apollo Activities Director Carl Heine said the district has won similar appeals for girls soccer, girls basketball and dance, but can’t guarantee the outcome.

Hiring a head coach comes first, with the job open to district staff and outside candidates. Parents at Monday’s meetings asked the district to release a timeline for that search. A new Crush advisory committee will work out practice sites, transportation and youth programs. Both stadiums will stay in use for soccer, lacrosse and other teams, and players’ records will be recognized at their home schools.

Athletic directors said the district reviews co-op participation every year and would bring separate teams back to the board if numbers grow.

The board created the Crush in 2021. Roughly 20 sports now compete under the brand, and football was one of the last major programs still fielding separate teams.

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