1. Fewer good players needed to have a solid program.

2. Long tradition of many publics on having good basketball programs

3. With many parents, basketball is still king and they often push the younger athletes towards that sport

4. This is still a basketball first state in the eyes of many

5. Several of the better athletes do not play football at many public schools so they can play year round hoops. Sometimes by choice, sometimes by parents urging and sometimes by the few basketball coaches who don't want their star hoops players to play football. Football coaches do not have that luxury, especially in many rural areas.

6. I still know several mommies in rural KY who will not let their kids play little league football as they believe it is too hard on the body, but will let them play hoops on concrete all day long as they don't see it as a contact sport. Therefore, many never play football or begin to play way later and haven't developed the same skills they may have for hoops.

 

A few reasons I can come up with.

 

I believe that this is an excellent post.

 

To add to it, you can never really simplify this down to pinpoint it, but there are some definite root causes. Namely, Love and Money.

 

Money is certainly a key issue. It takes far more money to adequately fund a football program and yet the are instances all over the state where the Basketball budgets are Greater than or Equal too the Football budgets. Schools (Public Schools anyway) are restricted heavily on how the money can be divided up. In many cases it is not that the B-Ball budget is overly large but that the Football but is small.

 

Further, people go absolutely crazy for Basketball. It must have something to do with why Rupp got the Caddy and Bear got the watch.... or maybe it goes beyond that. Who knows. Every kid that is a good athlete that comes out of middle school playing multiple sports is convinced that he is going to wear the Big Blue (or Cardinal Red) and live the Round Ball dream. Sometimes this idea is perpetuated by Parents, sometimes by Coaches, sometimes by the kids themselves.

 

The trend that gets my attention is the dramatic improvement in football in this state across the board, public and private. And, looking at scholarship numbers, most of the best athletes are playing football. I see alot more positive about football programs, public and private, in this state than negative.

I agree 100% with this statement!:thumb:

Is that pretty normal? Only a few. Most of the rural schools I know have several.

I know Lexington Catholic had Justin Burke, Reid Brown and Cornell Burbage at least that were playing both football and basketball. I would say that is more than my old High School Lawrence Co (public school) had playing both so I think it's a pretty mute topic.

I think another factor that help Trinity, X, Highlands, Danville and other top football programs is the NUMBER OF COACHES.

 

I was talking to a former coach of two public schools in Louisville and he was amazed at how large the coaching staff was at schools like Trinity and Highlands. He added that he just could not get enough guys with good football experience to come out and help him.

 

He concluded that schools such as Trinity and Highlands tend to be so successful due to their players getting so much individual attention in practice and during the games whereas he had to do "group coaching" which is just not as effective when you can break a team down for more direct instruction ie off. line coach, def line coach, receivers coach, backs coach, line backers coach, def secondary coach, and the same group of coachers for the freshman team.

 

To a degree I see where he is coming from. Most of Trinity's assistant coaches are former players who went on to play at the Div II level and could not wait to come back and coach at Trinity. I assume the same exists at X, Highlands, Danville, Beechwood, etc.. Due to these schools' tradition, the former players want to stick with the program.

The second best team in 3A lost in the state title game.

You know better than to be that naive.

If my school had held a future NFL MVP under 100 yards in a game, I would be proud too! :thumb:

It certainly is a bright spot in many people's memories.

Is that pretty normal? Only a few. Most of the rural schools I know have several.

Generally it is very few, at least by the time that they are seniors.

I think another factor that help Trinity, X, Highlands, Danville and other top football programs is the NUMBER OF COACHES.

 

I was talking to a former coach of two public schools in Louisville and he was amazed at how large the coaching staff was at schools like Trinity and Highlands. He added that he just could not get enough guys with good football experience to come out and help him.

 

He concluded that schools such as Trinity and Highlands tend to be so successful due to their players getting so much individual attention in practice and during the games whereas he had to do "group coaching" which is just not as effective when you can break a team down for more direct instruction ie off. line coach, def line coach, receivers coach, backs coach, line backers coach, def secondary coach, and the same group of coachers for the freshman team.

 

To a degree I see where he is coming from. Most of Trinity's assistant coaches are former players who went on to play at the Div II level and could not wait to come back and coach at Trinity. I assume the same exists at X, Highlands, Danville, Beechwood, etc.. Due to these schools' tradition, the former players want to stick with the program.

 

Excellent point Bert...when you have 17 coaches on staff it certainly helps dillute the player-to-coach ratio.

It certainly is a bright spot in many people's memories.

 

And it should be one of those memorable games you keep with you forever. I can remember every player who made it to the NFL I played against or ran against. On the rare occasion that my team or I got the better of them, I kept those memories stored away in a special place. I just hope that as I lose my memory, those things stick around! :thumb:

 

Life is a series of moments. Some more memorable than others!

I believe that this is an excellent post.

 

To add to it, you can never really simplify this down to pinpoint it, but there are some definite root causes. Namely, Love and Money.

 

Money is certainly a key issue. It takes far more money to adequately fund a football program and yet the are instances all over the state where the Basketball budgets are Greater than or Equal too the Football budgets. Schools (Public Schools anyway) are restricted heavily on how the money can be divided up. In many cases it is not that the B-Ball budget is overly large but that the Football but is small.

 

Further, people go absolutely crazy for Basketball. It must have something to do with why Rupp got the Caddy and Bear got the watch.... or maybe it goes beyond that. Who knows. Every kid that is a good athlete that comes out of middle school playing multiple sports is convinced that he is going to wear the Big Blue (or Cardinal Red) and live the Round Ball dream. Sometimes this idea is perpetuated by Parents, sometimes by Coaches, sometimes by the kids themselves.

 

You got it dude! :thumb:

Good example, Trinity folk get on here and "brag" about holding Shawn Alexander to under 100 yards during their state game. I believe it was the only game all year he was held to that number. Could Trinity have held Pistol Pete to under 40 points, I don't think so! Different game Basketball than Football. In football you can have several guys on the other teams best player but in basketball you can maybe double team for a while but not the whole game.

I would like to remind those who "brag" about Trinity holding Alexander to less than 100 yards that the year before, in 1993, when Male won the State Championship, they too, held Alexander to less than 100 yards in the Semi-Final matchup (Actually, the held him to less than 80 yards). So it isnt all about a Private school that accomplished this feat. Although I guess some could argue that Male is as close to Public "Private" school as you can get. Nevertheless, I find it ironic that the C-J never mentioned this fact in their write up.

^ for the record Pistol Pete never scored a single point against Trinity!

I would like to remind those who "brag" about Trinity holding Alexander to less than 100 yards that the year before, in 1993, when Male won the State Championship, they too, held Alexander to less than 100 yards in the Semi-Final matchup (Actually, the held him to less than 80 yards). So it isnt all about a Private school that accomplished this feat. Although I guess some could argue that Male is as close to Public "Private" school as you can get. Nevertheless, I find it ironic that the C-J never mentioned this fact in their write up.

Those in NKY would tell you that Highlands and Beechwood are very close.

Excellent point Bert...when you have 17 coaches on staff it certainly helps dillute the player-to-coach ratio.

 

I knew Trinity had numerous coaches, I didn't realize there are 17 coaches on Trinity's staff. Again, that supports this guys conclusion. I believe he said when he coached he had an Off and Def Coordinator and maybe a few more who filled in where they could.

 

In basketball, it seems like most teams have relatively the same number of coaches.

I guess the only way I can explain is make an analogy... A bad analogy, but another way to look at it...

 

If Murray State had Joe Montana at QB and played Texas in football, Texas would win 100/100 times.. could name the score, play the reserves, etc....

 

In basketball, if Murray State had Michael Jordan on their team, I would like my chances a lot more for the Racers to beat the Longhorns.

 

I am not saying everyone is as good as Michael Jordan, but it is nothing to have insanely good high school basketball talent and can ride this person as long as you want. In football, one cannot do that. There are other factors, but just another way to convey a point stressed already by some.