Will St. Bernard’s basketball renaissance make alumni take notice?

This is more than a sports story. This is about baby steps toward a proud school's rebirth, using athletics as a means to, if nothing else, awakens the echoes.

It's been a while since the word "undefeated" found a nesting place next to "St. Bernard" here in our corner of the world. In any sports. But here today, the boys' basketball team sits undefeated — six wins, no losses — which ought to seize the attention of anybody with an affinity for the School On The Hill.

And perhaps get 60 years' worth of alumni off their ascots. It's time. It's time for you to organize. It's time for the school and diocesan hierarchies to cooperate.

It's time for a collaborative movement that funds scholarships — not merely for but certainly to include athletics — to make St. Bernard a more affordable, realistic choice for secondary education around here.

Perhaps some of you aren't willing to make the leap between buildings. A good basketball team and the rebirth of a school. Maybe you believe the concepts are mutually exclusive or homage to the corrosive theory that athletics bear too much significance in any educational structure.

But then, look at it this way: The words "St. Bernard" appear more in the sports section than any other part of the newspaper. Community members visit school grounds more for athletics than any other curricular or extracurricular endeavors. Athletes, the most visible members of the school population, represent

the school in various, unique and relevant ways.

Basketball has become a beacon at St. Bernard because of Mark Jones, the coach, who for my money is the best coach in the Eastern Connecticut Conference. Surely, nobody has done more with less. I had the chance Tuesday night to sit behind the St. Bernard bench during our GameDay livestream at Stonington. I heard a lot of teaching and none of the gratuitous prattle heard behind other benches in other programs.

Put it this way: You'd want your kid to play for him. But it's not so easy at St. Bernard. Tuition costs ($13,500 per year) are an issue for many local families.

Two factors continue to imperil St. Bernard's viability: Our local economy has become more casino based in recent years, unlike 30 years ago when St. Bernard flourished with more Pfizer influence. Casino jobs just don't pay as much. And the public school systems surrounding St. Bernard are generally solid, thus making the tuition feel more of a luxury than a necessity. Why pay all that money when the local high school has a good reputation?

It's time to use basketball as an experiment. St. Bernard has this terrific coach. What happens if Jones, who can get players from surrounding towns, has some scholarship money to offer? What happens if he starts coaching better players and St. Bernard begins to win more games before gyms full of spectators?

This is what happens: Perceptions begin to change.

And suddenly, St. Bernard becomes a more realistic option for more families.

Again: There are decades' worth of alumni, many of which have an affinity for the school and the lessons it imparted. Heck, English/public speaking class with the great Art Lamoureux alone ought to be worth a donation. So can a few enterprising alums begin a scholarship donation drive to fund 10 a year? Fifteen? Twenty? If so, would the diocese acquiesce? Bill Conlin, the late sports columnist from Philadelphia, once wrote this line: "money's money and there's only one Mother Theresa." Translation: St. Bernard can't survive by letting kids in for nothing. That's why we're talking fully funded scholarships from alumni who have the means and motive.

It's work, sure. It'll be thankless at times. Perhaps controversial. But it sure beats lamenting what's become of St. Bernard and yearning for the good ol' days.

How about focusing on the good new days? It's possible. I don't believe The School On The Hill has lost its fastball. There's a basketball team up there worth watching. With a really good coach who could become the pied piper.

Seems there's enough here to ignite a conversation.

So let's have one. This is the opinion of Day sports columnist Mike DiMauro