Where does Morris football go from here?

With New Jersey Commissioner of Education David Hespe overruling the overwhelming majority of the state's athletic directors, where does Morris County football go from here?

It goes on to the North Jersey Football Super Conference, as planned.

It starts in early September, at a high school field near you.

"As far as I know, we are going on with the super conference," Madison Athletic Director Sean Dowling said Tuesday.

The NJFSC merged schools from the Northwest Jersey Athletic Conference, as well as conferences from Bergen, Essex, Passaic and Hudson counties, with the idea that more schools would equal more opportunities for the elite non-public football schools. The NJFSC completely separates public and non-public schools and divides the public schools by group size and geography.

Dowling and the ADs who voted for the separation of public and non-public schools for football wanted a complete and total separation for the entire state, which he believes would have made for more equitable scheduling for all of the state's non-public schools.

But Hespe, in a memo sent to the NJSIAA Monday, disagreed with the football proposal and said it "will take away the NJSIAA's ability to develop full schedules for non-elite non-public schools that are appropriately matched with public schools in their region."

Hespe also said that "excluding these non-public schools without a compelling rationale deprives them and the state of the benefits of diverse interscholastic athletic competition and equal athletic opportunity, and subjects these non-public schools to increased burdens in their attempt to provide for full schedules."

So we are back to square one.

"I'm not happy, but not surprised," Dowling said. "He took the easy way out. I'm disappointed with the vote, but he's made his decision."

Now that it appears that complete separation of public and non-public schools is over -- despite a vote of 215-128 -- Dowling believes it is time for the state to begin peeling the onion when it comes to the practices of certain parochial schools. He'd like the NJSIAA in Robbinsville to get its hands dirty. He'd also like politicians who've made a lot of noise in other high school sports-related matters to step up to the plate and look into what he feels are more important matters.

Dowling would love to hear former New Jersey Gov. Richard Codey and South Jersey Assemblyman John Burzichelli -- both of whom have been outspoken in other matters related to high school athletics -- step into the forefront and demand action taken on parochial schools who may cross the line in the areas of recruitment, scholarships, accepting transfers, etc.

"Gov. Codey is worried about eighth-graders redshirting, and that's not really an issue," Dowling said. "Burzichelli got his thing and now everyone can afford to go watch a state football playoff game.

"What they need to do know is to find ways for the NJSIAA to police transfers. The NJSIAA is solvent again, but they are understaffed and to investigate something like transfers would be overwhelming. But we voted to take steps to fix this. The NJSIAA is us, my associates, and two-thirds of the state believe this is an issue.

"This is still not fixed. It is still an issue. I'd like to see an effort made to go in and fix this. The problem is just not going away. Maybe we need people like Gov. Cody and Burzichelli to step up."

Even though he disagreed with the ADs' vote, Hespe realizes there is a problem. The non-public schools at the heart of the matter -- Paramus Catholic, Don Bosco, Bergen Catholic, DePaul, etc. -- thoroughly destroy the public schools almost every time they take the field. Hespe sees that. But then he also sees the financial hardships those and other schools encounter and class time lost when freshman and junior varsity teams at non-public schools are forced to go on long road trips.

There is a sliver of hope that this matter can be resolved, however. Hespe said that he believes the situation regarding ultra-powerful Catholic football schools needs to be addressed by the NJSIAA "as soon as practical."

Does that mean looking into who the athletes are and how they arrive at some of those non-public schools? And does the NJSIAA want to open up a can of worms? Will Hespe hold the NJSIAA's feet to the fire? Will he give the organization one month? Three months? Is this the last we hear from him?

And does the NJSIAA have the manpower to look into the infractions? Does it have the money?

More importantly, does it have the stomach?

Remember, the public vs. non-public problem has grown completely out of control while the NJSIAA has sat idly by.