Mac On Sports

The Illinois High School Association Board of Directors tackled, that’s an appropriate play on words as the football season winds down April 23/24 weekend, a number of issues.      Students also won’t have to mask any longer while they’re playing only when they’re on the sidelines, a three-year fee structure for member schools and a reduction…

    Meridian’s Graham Meisenhelter and Eisenhower’s RJ Walker have been named all-state by Class 1A and 3A Illinois Basketball Coaches Association’s coaches.      Meisenhelter and Walker led their respective Meridian and Eisenhower basketball teams last season.      MacArthur’s Brylan Phillips received special mention Class 3A. Warrensburg-Latham’s Jackson Cook was accorded Class 1A special…

Bret Bielema is walking the walk after he  talked the talk in his Dec. 19 introductory press conference as Lovie Smith’s successor.     At the time Bielema said he would reach out to all of the prep football coaches in the state after the previous staff ignored them, including Lovie not making an appearance at the Illinois Football…

       These are not the best of times for either Eisenhower athletics, District 61’s administration or the Board of Education. Cancellation of this spring’s Panthers football season is an embarrassment to the school, the district, the teachers association and the Decatur community.      And the shared responsibility for this starts with District 61’s remote learning policy…

       RMWP…an acronym for Real Men Wear Pink      Prep football fans in and around Decatur and Macon County are used to seeing men of all ages wearing pink on Fridays in October. But not last fall because the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in government officials cancelling all prep sports with their lockdown guidelines.      “Cancer never stops,”…

    Sangamon Valley has cancelled its first two games because of COVID issues with its football team.     In response to a question from the Decatur Tribune about their schedule for Friday night, Michael Lee, Sangamon Valley football head coach, advised, “A player tested positive last Thursday (March 11) and as a result all players had…

    Athletic Directors from the Central State 8 are meeting today (Wednesday) to discuss the latest directive from the Illinois Department of Public Health regarding its 20 percent of venue capacity for outdoor sports, including football.     The Central Illinois Conference AD’s are meeting Thursday to talk about the same issue.     The Sangamo…

   For the first time since 2005, Millikin’s Big Blue women are celebrating their College Conference of Illinois-Wisconsin basketball championship.     And as head coach Olivia Lett said during the celebration of the championship they’ll try not to think too much about what might have been since there is no NCAA Division III tournament…

    As soon as the Illinois High School Association announced Monday afternoon that outdoor athletic events, i.e. football and boys soccer, can be increased from a total of 50 spectators to 20 percent venue capacity, I wrote each of the 12 athletic directors the Decatur Tribune for response on how their respective schools plan to…

    Alan Huss, who assisted Jeremy Moore at Eisenhower from 2003 to 2005  and who coached Decatur Christian to the Christian Schools national tournament with an international roster, served as Creighton’s interim head coach last Saturday after the university suspended head coach Greg McDermott for his “plantation” analogy.     Creighton athletic director Bruce Rasmussen announced Thursday night (March…