I would agree, but couldn't that apply to just about any school? Even open enrollment schools. Most open enrollment schools have a limit of what they can accept as well. And they don't qualify who gets in based on football talent. There are way more out of district kids at HHS that don't play football than do. And there are more out of district kids that may not even play any sport. And HHS is full each year. They only have enough spots for a few out of district kids in each class. And I can assure you that Football skills/talent is not on the top of the criteria list. In fact, it's not on there at all. Whether you get in or not has just about everything to do with academic patterns and behavior. So a football kid that wants to come there is competing against the brainiac, the band guy, the art student, the drama student, and all the other sports kids.

 

Open Enrollment may have some advantages over the Boone Co schools, but not really as much as everyone wants to lead on to. It may mean a couple players a year. Do you think those couple players would be the difference in the gap between Boone Co schools and the Louisville schools.

 

Growth brings opportunity and that Union district and the Independence district is full of opportunity!

 

Did Scott Draud make a difference for HHS basketball, Did Derek Smith and Jared Lorenzen make a difference for HHS football and basketball, just to name a few. Star players that go to a good team/program can make a big difference and elevate that program to a different level. If Donte Hendrix was at Ryle this year their team would be significantly better and that is just one player from Cooper. I would ask why dont the other Louisville 6A/5A schools ever win a state title in football such as Ballard, Doss, Butler, PRP, Seneca, Southern, Valley etc., most dont even field a competitive team. Probably tough to keep a star player at these schools when you have 3 powerhouses in a city that a player can go to if they choose.

Edited September 13, 201610 yr by Northside

Did Scott Draud make a difference for HHS basketball, Did Derek Smith and Jared Lorenzen make a difference for HHS football and basketball, just to name a few. Star players that go to a good team/program can make a big difference and elevate that program to a different level. If Donte Hendrix was at Ryle this year their team would be significantly better and that is just one player from Cooper. I would ask why dont the other Louisville 6A schools ever win a state title in football such as Ballard, Doss, Butler, PRP, Seneca, Southern, Valley etc., most dont even field a competitive team. Probably tough to keep a star player at these schools when you have 3 powerhouses in a city that a player can go to if they choose.

 

Excellent!! Perfect explanation of how this has been working for years. Back to the topic, I think Ryle has to get through districts and region before consideration of State title.

Too many High Schools in each County

Lack of State Championships or playoff runs

JUCO type facilities

Staff longevity

 

 

Male has one of worst football facilities in the state. Crabgrass and dirt when its dry. Crabgrass and mud when it is wet. Better not try to play in turf shoes if it has rained in last week.

Did Scott Draud make a difference for HHS basketball, Did Derek Smith and Jared Lorenzen make a difference for HHS football and basketball, just to name a few. Star players that go to a good team/program can make a big difference and elevate that program to a different level. If Donte Hendrix was at Ryle this year their team would be significantly better and that is just one player from Cooper. I would ask why dont the other Louisville 6A/5A schools ever win a state title in football such as Ballard, Doss, Butler, PRP, Seneca, Southern, Valley etc., most dont even field a competitive team. Probably tough to keep a star player at these schools when you have 3 powerhouses in a city that a player can go to if they choose.

 

:deadhorse:

Did Scott Draud make a difference for HHS basketball, Did Derek Smith and Jared Lorenzen make a difference for HHS football and basketball, just to name a few. Star players that go to a good team/program can make a big difference and elevate that program to a different level. If Donte Hendrix was at Ryle this year their team would be significantly better and that is just one player from Cooper. I would ask why dont the other Louisville 6A/5A schools ever win a state title in football such as Ballard, Doss, Butler, PRP, Seneca, Southern, Valley etc., most dont even field a competitive team. Probably tough to keep a star player at these schools when you have 3 powerhouses in a city that a player can go to if they choose.

 

I didn't say they don't. I said getting a few isn't going to close the gap between Louisville and other nky schools. You have a Tanner Morgan that came back as a star. It made Ryle very good, but still not on the level of those teams.

 

But those example you give are a very few examples over a long period of time. 3 guys over 35 years in two different sports?? So it's not like opening up enrollment will have an immediate effect, a significant effect or even an effect at all. You guys in Boone act like it completely staps you. I already said its not ideal, but the fact that your growing faster than most regions in the state surely makes up for the few open enrollment kids others are getting.

 

And just because Hendrix could go to Ryle doesn't mean he would have! You act like that would be a given. If he wanted to go there so bad, couldn't he have just move a couple streets over??

 

And you ask why other schools don't win down there. Well there's other schools that don't win up here too! Boone Co doesn't have anyone leaving them and how good are they? Other schools up here have open enrollment and still struggle to be good or even consistent. (Scott, Dixie, Conner, Holmes, Camp Co., Lloyd, Newport, Bellevue, Dayton, Ludlow.) You can look at any region and ask why some win and some don't. Could keep going if you want me to. Why isn't Holmes good???

 

And we were also comparing growth (Union) to land locked open enrollment areas.

Good team, but not a contender against T or Male. Hope they prove me wrong.

I don't think Conner and Campbell County have open enrollment but I could be mistaken. I believe open enrollment is an advantage when it comes to depth. 5-6 kids can make a difference in NKY but not against Louisville teams.

 

 

I didn't say they don't. I said getting a few isn't going to close the gap between Louisville and other nky schools. You have a Tanner Morgan that came back as a star. It made Ryle very good, but still not on the level of those teams.

 

But those example you give are a very few examples over a long period of time. 3 guys over 35 years in two different sports?? So it's not like opening up enrollment will have an immediate effect, a significant effect or even an effect at all. You guys in Boone act like it completely staps you. I already said its not ideal, but the fact that your growing faster than most regions in the state surely makes up for the few open enrollment kids others are getting.

 

And just because Hendrix could go to Ryle doesn't mean he would have! You act like that would be a given. If he wanted to go there so bad, couldn't he have just move a couple streets over??

 

And you ask why other schools don't win down there. Well there's other schools that don't win up here too! Boone Co doesn't have anyone leaving them and how good are they? Other schools up here have open enrollment and still struggle to be good or even consistent. (Scott, Dixie, Conner, Holmes, Camp Co., Lloyd, Newport, Bellevue, Dayton, Ludlow.) You can look at any region and ask why some win and some don't. Could keep going if you want me to. Why isn't Holmes good???

 

And we were also comparing growth (Union) to land locked open enrollment areas.

I don't think Conner and Campbell County have open enrollment but I could be mistaken. I believe open enrollment is an advantage when it comes to depth. 5-6 kids can make a difference in NKY but not against Louisville teams.

 

You're right. Campbell does, but Conner doesn't. And I actually didn't mean to make the correlation to those as open enrollment schools. I just meant that there are several schools that do not maintain consistency in our area. I didn't word it very good.

So I look at Male. They are slightly larger than SK and slightly smaller than Ryle. Louisville has a lot of schools as well. And a lot of very competing choices for the best players.

 

All the others things you mentioned are controlled by the program. Level of developed talent, support, lack of playoff runs, staff longevity is all controlled by the program. Male earned the respect of people to have kids sent there. They just didn't wake up and said they wanted to be good in football. Same with Scott County. They both made a commitment to being good in football. You develop talent which develops success and success can bring more success.

 

I just don't get why all NKY big schools just play for second every year. They are big enough and should have enough kids to be competitive. If other public schools can do it (male, manual, SC), then so can SK. I would give the Boone co schools a slighter chance because their district handicaps them with not having open enrollment. But SK should be able to compete. There staff has been there a long time! So you could take that off the table for them.

 

My point is what one of the others was trying to make. If you keep saying you can't, you never will. Find a way! I have never in my life felt like I was playing any season for second place. And if someone told me we could never beat someone else, I made it my mission to prove them wrong!

 

To use Male is not an Apples to Apples comparison. True the size is comparable , but Male is a Traditional High School that gets kids from 3 separate areas of the city, not a defined school district. Their school population is similar to that Trinity and St. X, where kids come from all over the Jefferson County. While having a good program is significant in the success of the team,, talent is equally if not more important.

I think it is much more difficult to win a title when you are only able to use the kids in a defined demographic area. I think that is the true disadvantage that the rest of the high schools in the state has against Trinity, St. X, and Male. It will take a situation like Scott County where there is just one high school in the entire county to be able to truly compete. I could be wrong but I think that is truly the reason you see the struggles at Highlands is because now they have closed enrollment. You have to live in the Highlands District to go there.

To use Male is not an Apples to Apples comparison. True the size is comparable , but Male is a Traditional High School that gets kids from 3 separate areas of the city, not a defined school district. Their school population is similar to that Trinity and St. X, where kids come from all over the Jefferson County. While having a good program is significant in the success of the team,, talent is equally if not more important.

I think it is much more difficult to win a title when you are only able to use the kids in a defined demographic area. I think that is the true disadvantage that the rest of the high schools in the state has against Trinity, St. X, and Male. It will take a situation like Scott County where there is just one high school in the entire county to be able to truly compete. I could be wrong but I think that is truly the reason you see the struggles at Highlands is because now they have closed enrollment. You have to live in the Highlands District to go there.

 

Can't SK get kids from all over Kenton county and beyond? Can any school other than Boone schools get kids from anywhere?

 

And yes, Male can get kids from all over Jefferson County. That's basically open enrollment. But they are also compete for those kids for the other schools in Louisville that are set up the same way, for example Manual. And then the competition for kids with all the very good private schools. So just because they can, doesn't mean they do.

 

And even with that said, they are still smaller than Ryle and only slightly bigger than SK. I know all those kids going to Male aren't football players. Do they get a couple out of it like other open enrollment schools, I'm sure. But I don't think they only except football players and their numbers include a ton of other kids that could care less about football. But again, even if Ryle did have open enrollement and got a couple kids, that doesn't close that gap.

 

Outside of Boone County, I am not aware of any other districts that don't have open enrollment. I'm sure there are some, but the vast majority of schools in KY have open enrollment which allows them to open the doors to anyone in the district or out of their district. So essentially, Male has no advantage over any of those schools that have open enrollment...which is the vast majority in the state. I can live in Ft Thomas right now and send my kid to just about any school I can think of, other than Boone County schools. And that's Boone's choice as a district. They control that. So if you feel it's a disadvantage (I do as well, but I say it's offset with community growth right now), then that needs to go to the Boone Co School board. Or you can just keep using it as a crutch.

 

And no, Highlands does not have closed enrollment any longer. That stopped two years ago (i think it was 2). And only about 3-5 percent of the kids that played at HHS were kids that lived outside of the city. They typically carry close to 90-100 kids each year, so that easy math tells you that only about 4-6 kids per year were from out of the city on average. That's in all grades...meaning that may maen that some of those were younger and probably not contributing all at the same time. Everyone thinks there is just this flood of kids that led to HHS' success. That's just a myth that everyone wants to believe. Were there some great impact players along the way, sure. But by no means did out of city kids even come close to driving the success over all the years.

I would love to see a list of schools in any class that has won a state title that wasn't a private, independent or open enrollment school. I would guess that list is very small.

I would love to see a list of schools in any class that has won a state title that wasn't a private, independent or open enrollment school. I would guess that list is very small.

 

Uh yea, because just about every school in the state falls into one of those categories!

So Conners state title in the early 80's is the only one in NKY?

So Conners state title in the early 80's is the only one in NKY?

 

I believe that was in old 3A not 4A. I don't think there has ever been a big school state champion in NKY.

I believe that was in old 3A not 4A. I don't think there has ever been a big school state champion in NKY.

 

True, that was my sophomore year and they upset us with Melvin Miles and the Shotwell boys. They went on to win 3A state. And I have no idea if Boone County was open enrollment back them or not. That was prior to Ryle and Cooper. Boone Co was the big public school and Conner was a little smaller. That was the season of 83 I believe.