Notre Dame Comments Rekindle Crespi Feud : Rivalry: Celt athletic director says that Rooney’s words portray Crespi students as thugs.

The proposed resumption of the Crespi-Notre Dame rivalry hit a bump in the road Tuesday when Crespi High Athletic Director Paul Muff lashed out at Notre Dame’s Kevin Rooney, claiming that recent published comments by Rooney portray Crespi students as thugs.

Muff took offense at Rooney’s comments in a Times story last week regarding a releaguing proposal by the Catholic Athletic Assn. that would place Crespi and Notre Dame in a new, unnamed league.

The proposal would take effect for the two-year releaguing cycle beginning next fall. If it is approved by the Southern Section Council in January, Crespi and Notre Dame would resume a rivalry that was ended last year when Notre Dame called for a two-year cooling-off period, citing intolerable levels of vandalism among fans of the schools’ athletics teams.

Rooney, who said in the article that he welcomed the return of the 15-year rivalry, had called the cooling-off period a success. He was quoted as saying: “We certainly haven’t had the vandalism problems we had before, and it did calm things down.”

Muff objected to the vandalism comments and wrote a letter to Rooney, outlining his objections and calling for a meeting between officials of the schools.

“His comments imply that Crespi was totally responsible for any vandalism problems,” Muff said. “We’re not going to sit back and take comments that portray our kids as thugs.

“Those comments were the same ones that made us unhappy when they discontinued the rivalry. We respect their right to decide not to play us, but we don’t accept the reasons they’ve given for doing it.

“It’s not like we just sat around and cooled off, so to speak. We don’t need to play them in order to be successful. We’re not interested in playing any school solely on their terms.”

Notre Dame’s principal, Brother Stephen Walsh, refused comment, saying only that he would meet with Crespi officials.

Rooney also declined comment.

Muff said that Crespi is dissatisfied with the CAA’s releaguing proposal even though the Celts voted to support the measure at last week’s meeting. The proposal would dissolve the Del Rey League, ending Crespi’s 17-year association. Crespi and Notre Dame would join Alemany, Bishop Montgomery, Chaminade, St. Bernard and St. Paul in the new league.

Schools may appeal the proposal at a Dec. 5 releaguing meeting at the Southern Section offices. In addition, Crespi could secede from the CAA and play as a free-lance team, but Muff has rejected that alternative. He also said that Rooney’s comments have soured Crespi on the new league.

“We didn’t realize how important the Del Rey was to our students, parents and alumni,” he said. “It may be impossible to change the proposal, but we’re listening to people. We have until Dec. 5. and we’re waiting to see what happens.”