Having 500 boys to choose from and having an established football program with a tradition of excellence in place might be a good place to start looking to discover why they have been able to succeed without a middle-school program.

 

I would venture to agree that they get most of their experienced players from the NKYFL, primarily the Bengal Tigers and Fort Mitchell Spartans, with some spillover from the Dixie Youth Raiders and perhaps the Erlanger Lions.

 

Brossart has one NKYFL possibility and that would be from the Red Devils program, where I hope our coaches have been knocking down their doors. However, the Red Devils graduate players to NCC and Campbell County, leaving little left over for the "come lately" Mustangs. While the top flight players are going to continue to gravitate to the established programs, any experienced players that we could secure from their program would be a plus.

 

I said in a previous post, the Brossart athlete pool is already stretched thin with soccer and basketball claiming the majority of the school's primary player base, therefore necessitating a middle-school team/program as a must, whereas it might not be such a high priority at a school such as CovCath.

 

Just wonderin why these kids don't play muti sport, a lot of smaller schools have to rely on there kids to play different sport.

Competing for kids within your own feeder schools are nothing new. Dixie, SK and Scott do it every year.

Edited November 3, 200817 yr by Eagle2013

The feeder system will help, but won't guarentee that the kids will go to Brossart. My guess is that if the parent feels that their child has a better chance at another school, they will still move them. In some ways, the feeder process was what helped Brossart cultivate Basekeball. During the days of the CC AAU program that was sponsored by the Varsity head coach at CCHS, many of those same players who played in that program went to Brossart.

The feeder system will help, but won't guarentee that the kids will go to Brossart. My guess is that if the parent feels that their child has a better chance at another school, they will still move them. In some ways, the feeder process was what helped Brossart cultivate Basekeball. During the days of the CC AAU program that was sponsored by the Varsity head coach at CCHS, many of those same players who played in that program went to Brossart.

 

Correct, but it may help that the kids that end up at BBHS will have some football experience; as opposed to the "newbies" they've gotten their first few years?? There's always going to be a NCC contingent in the feeders, especially at St. Joes-CS and especially with the NCC "football families".

 

As far as basketball goes, the emergence of BB as a hoops power in NKY, to my recollection, began about ten years ago with the arrival of a group from Sts. Peter & Paul including a kid named Nathan Seiter, along with the hiring of a coach named Willie Schlarmann? Not sure how much influence the CC-AAU program had, but I actually remember they lost some kids to CC from that program, especially in the '06 class--Something about them not wanting to "Break up the Dynasty"?? Can't quite remember how that "Dynasty" worked out??

Just wonderin why these kids don't play muti sport, a lot of smaller schools have to rely on there kids to play different sport.

Many of them do - basketball and baseball, or soccer and baseball. Some Soccer/Basketball/Baseball.

 

Since there is not football in our feeders, these kids have grown up as basketball, baseball, and soccer players. Basketball/Baseball. or even just basketball players are not going to sacrafice themselves with football practice beginning in mid-July, then a ten game/eleven week (minimum) season, getting to basketball practice in mid-November perhaps busted up, just to see if they can help out the fledgling football program. The soccer players are committed to futbol in the fall - not football.

 

When Brossart started football, one of the assurances was that football would not cannibalize its other existing sports. Having basketball players commit to football would put a major dent in the very successful basketball program as we now know it. Do we discourage basketball players from playing football? No. Greg Stortz, our starting center last year played football, and Freshman Spencer Brown, our present starting quarterback, also has a bright future on the hardwood, but you can't ask guys who have played basketball all of their lives to convert to football at this stage of their careers - ain't going to happen!

I didn't know that Brossart had soccer. It is very hard for a 1A school to be competitive in football and soccer. I think every 1A school that I know that has football and soccer, the football team has suffered badly.

 

Good luck to Bassart, but it will be an up hill battle.

In my opinion Brossart made a mistake by starting a football program, when you have established programs in your area who compete for playoff spots and state titles every year you are not going to compete witht that. Take Holy Cross, they struggled for a very long time to compete and they have had a few good years but on a consistant basis they will not compete with Beechwood, NewCath, CovCath and others. I believe it will take Brossart twice as long to get there as it did for Holy Cross I just hope they have deep pockets to keep a program going is not cheap, I wish them luck.

In my opinion Brossart made a mistake by starting a football program, when you have established programs in your area who compete for playoff spots and state titles every year you are not going to compete witht that. Take Holy Cross, they struggled for a very long time to compete and they have had a few good years but on a consistant basis they will not compete with Beechwood, NewCath, CovCath and others. I believe it will take Brossart twice as long to get there as it did for Holy Cross I just hope they have deep pockets to keep a program going is not cheap, I wish them luck.

 

I wouldn't argue with them starting football in general, but would question the timing and the virtually instant move to varsity/district play, obviously before they were ready? Their first flirtation with football I believe was around the late 1990's-2000 timeframe, and that would seem to have been a much better time to start a program IMO?

 

Your contention that having to compete for players with "established programs...who compete for playoffs spots and state titles" would hold true for NCC, and they will always have issues with that fact. However, their other main rival for players is Campbell County, and in the earlier timeframe their program was in a total shambles, and back then a start-up 1-A program may have been a much more attractive option than a 4-A doormat?? Obviously we will never know what might have happened had they started a team back then, but a ton of athletic talent went through Brossart and their feeders from the late '90's--'07; and I'm guessing many might have found their way onto the football field.

 

Regarding Holy Cross, I believe that they have experienced significant growth at the school since starting football; and while their on-the-field success has been spotty, I'd guess they'd proclaim the entire project an overall success. Growing basically an inner city Catholic HS in today's climate is no small feat!!

I think if you'd check with the BB powers-to-be, football is more a move to posture for the future; than an attempt to field an immediate contender? It will take time, and certain decisions (in hindsight) may have set the program back a few years; but I think in the end the decision to offer football will be a positive for the school--Just my opinion!!

I didn't know that Brossart had soccer. It is very hard for a 1A school to be competitive in football and soccer. I think every 1A school that I know that has football and soccer, the football team has suffered badly.

 

Good luck to Bassart, but it will be an up hill battle.

 

Yes, in the past Brossart has had a fairly good soccer team. Hopefully in the future their football team turns out to be a decent team. Goodluck Brossart

242, I agree 100% with you as do most in our camp.

 

Had we to do it over again, we would have probably stayed JV for another season or two until we could get a Junior High team/program in place and infuse our roster with some experienced players, or at very least played an independent schedule of varsity football (i.e. Walton-Verona).

 

With the re-alignment of districts taking place last year we were forced into making a hasty decision, which for better or worse we decided to give a go. Again hindsight being 20/20 if we had it to do over again, we probably (certainly) wouldn't have gone that route. However, you can't just jump in and out of district play on an annual basis or whenever it befits you. A commitment is a commitment. We are in the process of revaming the non-district part of our schedule to provide these guys some teams of their own caliber with which to compete. At the moment we are a very young junior varsity caliber football team with few varsity level players.

 

We've learned that football isn't basketball, cross-country, fast-pitch softball, soccer, track, golf, bowling or any of the other sports where we have enjoyed so much success. Football is hard. It takes lots of guys with varying skill levels and degrees of talent. We have learned that experience is invaluable and proper technique is essential. The good news is that freshmen become sophomores and sophomores become juniors etc., etc..

 

Twenty-two present 8th Graders from our district feeder grade schools showed an interest in becoming Brossart football players at our recent Open House. However, without a Junior High team in place, we are, as Coach Reinhart has been quoted as saying, "a house without a foundation."

 

I also agree that our football program is a critical stage, but we have enthusiastic coaches who believe in the day when Brossart will play on the grandest stages but fully realize that it is going to be a long hard journey to get there.

 

In our 385 (9-12) student enrollment, with over half being girls, our male athlete population is stretched pretty thin as it is, with Golf, Cross-Country, Soccer, and Basketball competing for athletes in the fall and winter. Take the top athletes from our soccer and basketball teams and I think you would find a whole different Brossart football team. However, those guys are already spoken for, and our five feeder schools provide grade school soccer and basketball programs, (even Cross-Country (2 of them),) but no football, so the typical Brossart football athlete is presently a student who has no association with either of those sports, and join the football program as 1st year football players. Until we start our Junior High team we will always be rebuilding with 1st year football players who will be asked to compete against other schools, many where football is their primary sport. We are also in a Catch 22 for good homegrown football players - We can't attract them because we are not competitive, and we're not competitive because we can't attract quality experienced football players.

 

Brossart is starting wrestling this winter. We will be the only Cathloic high school in the diocese to offer it. It will certainly benefit the football program in the long run and give some of our non-basketball athletes an opportunity to compete and mature during the off-season. Coach Reinhart and his staff will also have the benefit of spring practices and experience in a passing league, with a full year in the weight-room between this season and next. None of this took place during the previous off-season.

 

Hopefully, it will all pay off.

 

You and 242 have put a lot of thought into the current football situation at Brossart. Sound thinking folks like yourselves will prevail and a remedy will materialize down the road. It's been said that hard working men and women can accomplish anything together.

 

The quick fix that would jump start not only the football program but other sports programs at Brossart would be a "top notch" sports complex. Kind of like Field of Dreams scenario. Easier said then done. But with the land available in the Alexandria area it can be accomplished! Hopefully, some day you will be playing your home games at home!

 

Good luck to you and to your program.

You and 242 have put a lot of thought into the current football situation at Brossart. Sound thinking folks like yourselves will prevail and a remedy will materialize down the road. It's been said that hard working men and women can accomplish anything together.

 

The quick fix that would jump start not only the football program but other sports programs at Brossart would be a "top notch" sports complex. Kind of like Field of Dreams scenario. Easier said then done. But with the land available in the Alexandria area it can be accomplished! Hopefully, some day you will be playing your home games at home!

 

Good luck to you and to your program.

 

When's the last time you have been to southern Campbell???

The one problem is teams committing to their JV schedule. I know this year at NCC very few JV games were played since teams were constantly cancelling on them. So while I do think that Brossart is probably playing on a level they aren't ready for yet, it is hard to say if they'd get much accomplished on a JV level.

It's my understanding that the new sports complex is at least 10 years off