If you took the entire Trinity roster including all classes and took removed every fourth player. Would your team have beat St X in the championship?

 

The numbers matter. And there is a BIG gap.

 

Depends on which players....that's a lackluster comparison, in that you are assuming all things are equal to our JC competition other than we have 25% - 40% more "available" players. That's obviously not the case in that our staff's ability far exceeds the ability of that of any other staff in the county.

I think that some of the difference is attributable to the sentiment expressed in the proverbial coaching query: "How bad do you want it?".......Referring not only to players but to the support afforded by tradition, community, family expectations and "all those who have played here before." Look at schools such as Mayfield and Highlands.

There is a philosophical trend going through certain academic circles that believes that smaller schools tend to do better academically. Kids "fit" in better; parents get more involved in the schools; better decisions are made due to the decision makers being closer to the situation as a result of less levels of beauracracy; etc. I generally support that philosophy. At the private schools, due to the composition and nature of the education, you don't run into the problems that large student bodies have at public schools.

 

Having said that, there is no reason why there couldn't be one Boone County high school with school split amongst the four campuses of Ryle, Boone County, Conner and Cooper and only one football team combining the athletes of all four campuses. One big downside is it limits the playing opportunities for the kids; a beef that I occasionally hear from parents and fans at the large Cinti private schools. I'm told the Cinti St. X's coach got irate phone calls from some parents the week after they won state because more seniors did not get in the state game.

 

:thumb: This is why schools like Hanover, Rose-Hulman, etc. are all very good academic schools, and why schools like UK/UC/UL aren't quite to that level. The sheer volume of students is extroidinary. I can remember one of my son's friends saying that the only person he ever talked to in one class was a TA.

 

I really do like your idea of one campus and 4 schools, but I question the motives for doing such a thing. Other than improving athletics, what would be the motivating factor to make such a change. And more importantly, would that devolve into which county has the largest population?

:thumb: This is why schools like Hanover, Rose-Hulman, etc. are all very good academic schools, and why schools like UK/UC/UL aren't quite to that level. The sheer volume of students is extroidinary. I can remember one of my son's friends saying that the only person he ever talked to in one class was a TA.

 

I really do like your idea of one campus and 4 schools, but I question the motives for doing such a thing. Other than improving athletics, what would be the motivating factor to make such a change. And more importantly, would that devolve into which county has the largest population?

 

 

Actually, I can think of several advantages.

 

Imagine that Freshman and Sophomore years, you attend school at one of the 4 exclusively. In the Junior and Senior years, you are able to take, say, Marine Biology at Campus A on Tuesdays & Thursdays, and you'd take Intro to Underwater Basketweaving at Campus B on Mondays and Wednesdays.

 

The point is that it could open up a way for more, and more diverse, course offerings for students. One issue I see with several smaller schools, is that each school has to offer essentially the same as the other, unless you have a magnet program like JCPS. But in the way that Leatherneck describes, it could be one school, 4 convenient campuses. You begin your Frosh year at the one closest to your house, and it remains your "home school". Then, once you reach upper classman stage, you can (if you meet behaviorial, academic criteria) take advantage of course offerings at other campuses.

 

BTW...when I was at Holy Rosary, we shared classes with DeSales, and it essentially worked just as described above.

When I was in high school there were "shared" classes as well, with some of our seniors gon to Assumption and Sacred Heart, and vice versa.

I think that some of the difference is attributable to the sentiment expressed in the proverbial coaching query: "How bad do you want it?".......Referring not only to players but to the support afforded by tradition, community, family expectations and "all those who have played here before." Look at schools such as Mayfield and Highlands.

I'm of the understanding that Highlands, Mayfield, Danville and the like have superior talent and have produced many next level players in respect to their classmates. Star power is NOT the reason X and T are dominating 6A. Depth and seniority play a much bigger role in T and X's dominance. Having equitable numbers would even out this advantage. No one has provided anything to make me think differently so far.

^ So you guys have superior talent, and we have more numbers. What you want is superior talent AND the numbers. That sounds about right.

In all honesty, Mayfield hasn't produced very many "next level" players ... best I can recall, their 1993 state championship team had one I-AA signee and I'm not sure the 1995 state champs had any that played at that level. The 2002 team had two, Derrick Parrott (a walk-on at Louisville that eventually played at Murray State) and Micah Jones (signed at Kentucky, but never played as far as I know).

Very well stated.

I'm all for more mid-size schools (800-1,500 enrollment) that give more kids the opportunity to play.

 

 

Understood and agreed with. Just stating that there was a way that you could have the perceived academic benefits of smaller "schools" by using the campus concept, but still have the big numbers for one football team IF you wanted to.

Understood and agreed with. Just stating that there was a way that you could have the perceived academic benefits of smaller "schools" by using the campus concept, but still have the big numbers for one football team IF you wanted to.

I know that New York City uses a similar concept with some of its schools, with several smaller "schools" operating at a single site that used to house a mammoth school.

It’s very interesting to look at number difference between St. X and Trinity and other schools in 6A. I thank RowdyRedRam for his calculations. But numbers can be used to support arguments in different ways. Interesting to see how the numbers in all of these schools have changed over time. St. X and Trinity have gown and some of the public schools have decreased significantly. Why did St. X and Trinity’s enrollments increase and the public schools’ decline? Some of the reasons in the public schools’ choices are discussed. Are St. X and Trinity to blame? I also find it interesting that some points were made that some student/athletes prefer smaller schools. In addition, how many people are complaining about the St. X basketball team (except that they shouldn’t have made the LIT field)?

 

The discussion starts off ”In order to eliminate the private schools dominance…” To me this discussion reminds me of the discussion I heard on the radio last night when the term “Evil Empire” was used. The term was used to describe programs like the Yankees in baseball, the New England Patriots in football, and Duke in college basketball. Some may like those teams, but others hate them because they win. I believe PRP baseball fits that mold as well. Much discussion seems to always find fault with teams that win rather than seeing what they do right and trying to emulate them.

 

“The point I want to make is not that we really need to consider consolidation, nor am I for the expulsion of X and T (I rather like competing against them), but rather to shine a brighter light on the issue of numerical dominance that is shared by Trinity and X. More and more I see this as the paramount reason why they have the stranglehold on the 6A title. More than assumed recruiting, coaching, or just plain trying harder. These schools do have a significant calculable advantage over the rest of the class.”

 

Numbers can make a considerable difference in football, but there are a lot of other factors that make St. X and Trinity very good in football besides numbers. But if numbers were the key reason that make a football team good, Butler would be a powerhouse. Their freshmen team started off very large in numbers. Who made the choices to change the enrollment numbers in the public schools over time? Why did St. X and Trinity’s enrollment increase over time?

Would this mean we would have to deal with people spelling it Malenuel all the time? :lol:

 

This could potentially become the greatest challenge to the English vocabulary in modern times.

^ So you guys have superior talent, and we have more numbers. What you want is superior talent AND the numbers. That sounds about right.

I don't want anything, I'm showing how unequal things are.

 

The discussion starts off ”In order to eliminate the private schools dominance…” To me this discussion reminds me of the discussion I heard on the radio last night when the term “Evil Empire” was used. The term was used to describe programs like the Yankees in baseball, the New England Patriots in football, and Duke in college basketball. Some may like those teams, but others hate them because they win. I believe PRP baseball fits that mold as well. Much discussion seems to always find fault with teams that win rather than seeing what they do right and trying to emulate them.

Emulating is exactly what being proposed. Emulating the numerical advantage that they have.

 

The only fault I have with them is how they so easily find fault with programs whom they have distinct advantages over.

:thumb: This is why schools like Hanover, Rose-Hulman, etc. are all very good academic schools, and why schools like UK/UC/UL aren't quite to that level. The sheer volume of students is extroidinary.

 

Not quite. Schools like Michigan, Penn St., Texas, Wisconsin, Purdue all have 40,000+ students and are known to be some of the best universities in the country, as well as some of the largest. Large schools do not necessiarly equal poor education levels and small schools don't always equate to a strong education.