Big Central Conference member schools all agree, reject Immaculata’s push to join league, 59-0

In a vote taken earlier than expected, the 59 schools that make up the Big Central Conference have officially rejected a bid by Immaculata to join the seven-year-old league, voting unanimously to reject the Spartans’ application.

The vote took place electronically throughout the day Monday, rather than in person, due to the widespread geographic nature of the league, according to its president, Scott Miller, the Director of Athletics at member school Brearley up in Kenilworth.

Earlier this fall, the Big Central leadership voted 6-0 to allow the decision to go to a full membership. League President Scott Miller said at the time, it was not a vote on the merits of Immaculata’s application, but a decision to let the full conference membership have its say.

Monday, that decision came back as a resounding “no.”

Immaculata was one of the original members of the conference, founded as a merger between the Greater Middlesex Conference and the Mid-State 37 Conference, the second of those being a mix of schools from Union, Somerset, Hunterdon and Warren Counties. Its creation was intended to ease scheduling issues, particularly among smaller schools. The Mid-State had very few, and the GMC had a previous scheduling agreement with the Shore Conference that was nearing its completion, and wasn’t likely to be renewed.

Immaculata upped its game this winter when it parted ways with Mike Columbo and hired alum Dallas Whitaker as head coach and Jeff Vanderbeek as the “Program Director,” making a big splash in the high school football world, aiming to be more like a North Jersey power along the lines of a Bergen Catholic or Don Bosco Prep.

Miller says while he “wishes them the best of luck,” he believes – among other reasons – there was a feeling among the league schools that the Spartans’ aspirations didn’t really mesh with the league, nor its two non-public schools, St. Joseph of Metuchen and St. Thomas Aquinas.

Click below to hear Big Central Conference President Scott Miller talk with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko about Monday’s vote to reject Immaculata’s application to join the league: