I elaborated on Ram's post and broke it down more.

 

 

 

Very Very excellent post. And if you don't care I would to add a little bit. Based on your square miles figures, I took it another futher.

 

I calculated the number of schools per square mile. Ohio has a High School playing Football every 58 square miles whereas in Kentucky there is a High School playing Football every 198 square miles.

 

I bring this up because where I am from in Lawrence County where there is only one High School and some kids have to ride a bus over an Hour and half going and coming from school. That is 3 hours a day on a bus. I know there have been alot of kids that didn't play football ,or any other sport ,because of the hardship of getting a ride home if they stayed for practice. The school doesn't provide transportation to these students for any extra curricular activities or any sports that require staying after school hours.

I elaborated on Ram's post and broke it down more.

 

I understand what you are saying, and I agree that the distance traveled to school does affect some schools. Lawrence Co. would be a prime example for this argument one high school in, what I believe, is the second largest county (geographically) in the state. And I am sure there are other examples of this problem.

 

But, I don't think population is the reason. Lexington for example. I am not downplaying Lexington football, they have some good teams, and could beat many teams around the state, but if population was the reason, then the Lexington teams would beat every team in the state - except for the Louisville teams. Louisville has some of the most dominate teams in the state, but not all of the Louisville teams dominate all the teams they play form other counties. If population was the reason for success then all Louisville teams would totally dominate all the other teams from around the state.

 

Northern Kentucky has many very good football programs, but not all Northern Kentucky teams are dominate programs. But, if population was the reason for success, that basically all Northern Kentucky teams would be dominate.

 

Now, to cross reference basketball for a moment. Elliott Co has had recent success in basketball and will have a high level of success for at least several more years. I am not knocking Elliott Co. it is a very nice and beautiful county, but Elliott Co is very sparsely populated and in recent years have had the highest level of unemployment in Eastern Kentucky, and generally a physically poor county. But, they have placed more of a priority on basketball, they do not have a football program, so basketball is king. One high school in a poor county, but basketball is important to the people in Elliot Co and it is thriving and the people that I know from Elliott Co are excited about the basketball team.

 

Not to knock Lawrence Co I have a lot of respect for Lawrence Co football and they have a proud history. Lawrence Co is on the edge of a lot of success: they have made very nice improvement to their football facilities, they have an energetic coach who most people that I know loves. But, where Lawrence Co falls short is, they have a geographic problem, the school system needs to make a priority of football for it to take the next step. Why couldn't the school system make arrangements for transportation home for the football players after practice. Remember I said that for football to reach the level of success that Ohio has in football, the state, the schools, the fans, the parents, and the players have to make it a priority to build their football programs. Is this easy? Not always, but it can be. Have a coach, or multiple coaches become certified bus drivers. After practice the bus driver/coach could transport the players home who have a long trip from school to home. With multiple coaches becoming bus drivers it would not make one coach always getting home from practice late. And, with the coaches doing the driving there is no need for overtime for a normal bus driver, the only expense would be fuel and normal ware and tear on the buses. Is this harder on the coaching staff? Yes, but it is harder to make football a priority in the state, your county, and your school then it is to just maintain the status Que.

 

Do I say that Lawrence Co of any rural school will not have success if they do not do this? No, but success would come a lot easier if football is made more of a priority.

^I do think population has a part in the equation but not as big as

 

1-emphasis from community

2-priority from community and school administration

3-Money

4-Involvement from entire school and community IE= boosters

Just to name a few.

 

Now to continue Ram's point of view, I can name various schools in Ohio that aren't around a major metropolitan area that are extremely successful year in and year out. I know these communities very well and it is the amount of emphasis that is placed on football from a very early age and continuing on up to highschool.

^I do think population has a part in the equation but not as big as

 

1-emphasis from community

2-priority from community and school administration

3-Money

4-Involvement from entire school and community IE= boosters

Just to name a few.

 

Now to continue Ram's point of view, I can name various schools in Ohio that aren't around a major metropolitan area that are extremely successful year in and year out. I know these communities very well and it is the amount of emphasis that is placed on football from a very early age and continuing on up to highschool.

 

Exactly. Take Northern Kentucky as an example, not to toot their horn because they can do that plenty. But, to say that they have quality football because of population is disrespectful to them. They place a high priority on football, and since we are comparing Kentucky football to Ohio Football, maybe that is because they are so close to Cincinnati, Ohio. Northern Kentucky is a football hotbed. We have a thread about NKYFL were people are comparing different JFL teams. How many other areas know what other JFL teams are returning? Come on. I coach JFL, I can tell you what other teams are going to be like that my team plays, but not many HS football fans can. This website that we talk about HS football on is a product of a Northern Kentucky football player. Northern Kentucky has placed football as a priority, that is why they are successful, does population help? Of course. But, does the Northern Kentucky population make football a priority? No. The priority on football draws from the Northern Kentucky population. This is just one area of Kentucky, Anyone please contrast any other area.

 

Where I live, I am aware of Northern Kentucky football. Am I aware of Norther Kentucky basketball? No. I am sure they have some quality basketball teams, but I do not hear about their basketball programs, at all. But, I hear about their football all the time. Where is their priority?

I have a very close friend who lives in Canton, Ohio and is a Youth Minister to kids who mostly live in the Perry school district. They are completely insane for football there. Just down the road in Massilon they are even more insane. Anyone that wants ot know the difference between Kentucky and Ohio need only watch the documentary "Go Tigers!" I graduated high school from Raceland which is about as football crazy small school as you can get in NE Ky and the fanatics at Raceland don't even come close to those guys in Ohio.

 

I have a Brother-in-law who is an Ironton grad and just across the river from those of us in the Ashland Area is a school that is even more football nuts then we can fathom and downtown Russell sits a mere few hundred yards away.

 

Ram is right- the culture of football is extremely different. They start tackle JFL at age 6 and have two-a-days for third graders. For several weeks in August they practice elementary school kids 6 days a week for at least 3 hours a day until school starts. I am not "in" on the JFL scene around here but that seems far too excessive for 2nd and 3rd graders but to Ohioians it seems perfectly normal.

 

Like I alluded to in the Lawrence/Coal Grove predictions with these Ohio schools you never know. They can go 2-7 in Ohio and cross the river for one game and beat a good Kentucky school or completey ramshackle a West Virginia school.

 

It's just a different culture and attitude towards football. But, I while I love football, I am not sure that type of culture and fanaticism is always a good thing.

Good points by Ram.

 

 

NKY football is GREAT football. Drive out to the "sticks" in KY and you may or may not find a good football team. Drive out to the "sticks" in OHIO and there are great football programs everywhere. St. Mary's, Versailes, Jonathon Alder, Marion Local, Mechanicsburg, Valley View, Coldwater are just a few little "no name" schools relatively close to Cincinnati that many people dont talk a whole lot about. They are OUTSTANDING football programs.

I have a very close friend who lives in Canton, Ohio and is a Youth Minister to kids who mostly live in the Perry school district. They are completely insane for football there. Just down the road in Massilon they are even more insane. Anyone that wants ot know the difference between Kentucky and Ohio need only watch the documentary "Go Tigers!" I graduated high school from Raceland which is about as football crazy small school as you can get in NE Ky and the fanatics at Raceland don't even come close to those guys in Ohio.

 

It's just a different culture and attitude towards football. But, I while I love football, I am not sure that type of culture and fanaticism is always a good thing.

 

RR- you are correct and insane is a good adjective. It use to be any boys born in Massilon were given a tiger football as their first gift as being born. I'm not sure if thats still the practice.

 

Also to your 2nd point, I agree that it isn't always good either. I've seen multiple examples where it interferes with other school activities IE basketball.

Fellas it is a little of both. The fans/students/administration in Ohio does put a higher value on football that we do in Kentucky. I envy that. Also look at it this way. If they have roughly 3 times as many schools as we do then they will have 3 Trinity's, 3 Stx's, and 3 Males for every one of ours.

I have coached high school football in Ohio for 11 years and have watched Kentucky football for the past three years. The difference is that the Ohio players are born and raised around football being #1. MOST of the kids who play high school ball in Ohio, especially on a prestigious high school team, have played since they were 6. By the time they get into high school it is second nature they know the basics. So the level at which the game is taught in high school is at a more advanced level. For example in Kentucky you see a lot of schools play 1 or 2 coverages. In Ohio, you will go to a game and see even a small school team play several coverages and disguise coverages by rolling into another coverage at the snap, play Tampa 2 coverage, zone blitz, play split coverages (1/4-1/4-1/2), Man under etc. The reason it is taught at a more advanced level is because the kids play football from the age of six and football is King.

There are great athletes in Kentucky, just like Ohio, it is just taught on a different level.(The Learning Curve). :thumb:

Fellas it is a little of both. The fans/students/administration in Ohio does put a higher value on football that we do in Kentucky. I envy that. Also look at it this way. If they have roughly 3 times as many schools as we do then they will have 3 Trinity's, 3 Stx's, and 3 Males for every one of ours.

Welcome to BGP kypride and be sure to visit the New Member forum....

 

http://www.bluegrasspreps.com/forumd...aysprune=&f=34

 

Read the "Everything a Rookie" thread and it will answer, any questions.

Here are a few stats to go along with this thread.

 

Ohio has 58 schools ranked in the top 1000. KY has 17

That is by my counting and I could have missed a couple. Also these are only rankings by a formula which we all know it's not very accurate.

 

Here is the link. http://calpreps.com/2007/ratings/National_all.htm

Having grown up in the middle of Ohio, and playing on just about every level, I think the main advantage is the feeder systems almost all schools have established. While it's not true in every case, most kids at the High school level in Ohio have been using the same systems from Pop Warner through their career.

 

It's not because anyone cheats, the little leaguers coaching staffs all try to make things as compatible as possible with the HS programs.

 

I began using the same basic terminology, and playbook when I was 8 years old--albeit on a very dilluted level--as I used all through my career until I graduated. That's 9 years of running the same offense, and defense.

That may be an extreme case, but most Ohio kids have the same basic experience.

 

When you have that kind of mindset, and commitment for so many years, success is just a byproduct.

 

Kentucky has the same thing in place, but it's for basketball.

Having grown up in the middle of Ohio, and playing on just about every level, I think the main advantage is the feeder systems almost all schools have established. While it's not true in every case, most kids at the High school level in Ohio have been using the same systems from Pop Warner through their career.

 

It's not because anyone cheats, the little leaguers coaching staffs all try to make things as compatible as possible with the HS programs.

 

I began using the same basic terminology, and playbook when I was 8 years old--albeit on a very dilluted level--as I used all through my career until I graduated. That's 9 years of running the same offense, and defense.

That may be an extreme case, but most Ohio kids have the same basic experience.

 

When you have that kind of mindset, and commitment for so many years, success is just a byproduct.

 

Kentucky has the same thing in place, but it's for basketball.

 

I coached Little League football in Louisa for 2 years 11-12 yr olds, and I had went to (at the time) Coach Williams and Coach Ratliff to learn just basic stuff on offense and defense. I then took it back to the players and used the same thing. It worked, some of the guys I had on my team then was:

 

Dontae Wright

Michael West

TJ Caudill

Todd Issac

These are just some of the ones I had. These guys went on to outstanding High School careers for Lawrence County. Feeder programs also only work if the high school coaches do what they did for me. That was sit down or allow me to watch and learn during practices.