If you want to play another sport other than football, wrestling, powerlifting, basketball or baseball do not have major conflicts with football. However, if you do play another sport and football is your main sport, you must also fulfill your lifting requirements each week. Not all football players play second sports but they do maintain weight lifting schedules.

 

:confused: I dare not tell the other coach for the sport that you are playing that his sport is not your "main sport", or you will find that Football becomes your ONLY sport....

:confused: I dare not tell the other coach for the sport that you are playing that his sport is not your "main sport", or you will find that Football becomes your ONLY sport....

 

 

For better or for worse every sport kind of plays second fiddle to football in the school's culture. It is just part of our mindset.

First of all, who determines whether or not football is a student's "main sport?" Or is football always the main sport?

 

Still, that doesn't answer my question, which is how many of the key football players participate in other sports.

 

 

That really depends on the player and the years we are talking about. I know in the case of the 2003 football team most of Trinity's football starters were also impact players for the basketball squad that made Trinity's only trip to the Sweet 16. Among those players were Brian Brohm and Blake Nix. How often that is the case, I do not know for sure.

 

I am not close enough to the program to give you an accurate answer other than knowing that many of them do play other sports. Is it a majority? I don't believe so, but many of the best players are multi-sport athletes.

In Cincinnati, the situation is similar except there are 4 big Catholic schools (Elder, St. X, Moeller and LaSalle). In Cleveland you have St. Ignatius, St. Edward and several others. These schools are probably just a hair better than Louisville Trinity and St. X (I know, I know ...Trinity beat Cinti. St. X this year. CSX was 4-6 this year and T beat them 17-6...think about that). I don't think there has been complaining in Ohio because there always seems to be a public school rival that is equal or better. In Cincinnati in the past it was Princeton vs Moeller. More recently it has been Colerain. There are other very good public school teams across the state Ohio that are very competitive with the private schools. In three of the big school title games in this decade, there wasn't even a private school in the title game.

 

So maybe the problem isn't T and X. Maybe the problem is the public schools need to step it up. Male has been there. There really is no reason why there shouldn't be public schools in the state and especially in Louisville, Lexington and N. Ky competing with T and X. Public schools need to get their act together, get the coaches and the facilities and the support necessary to compete. It can be done.

 

This isn't as easy as you make it sound, when you have rich alumni pumping in thousands of dollars to Tand X's athletic programs, and most of the public schools supporting their sports programs from the sales of however many hamburgers and hot dogs that they sell!!! Also, for example, in Boone Co. you have 4 6A schools in the same county spreading out all the good athletes who otherwise would have stayed together! Trinity has two thousand of the top boy athletes in their area to choose from, for example Conner is left with approx. 700 boys after possibly losing some good athletes to Cooper or Ryle because of re-districting!:irked:

This isn't as easy as you make it sound, when you have rich alumni pumping in thousands of dollars to Tand X's athletic programs, and most of the public schools supporting their sports programs from the sales of however many hamburgers and hot dogs that they sell!!! Also, for example, in Boone Co. you have 4 6A schools in the same county spreading out all the good athletes who otherwise would have stayed together! Trinity has two thousand of the top boy athletes in their area to choose from, for example Conner is left with approx. 700 boys after possibly losing some good athletes to Cooper or Ryle because of re-districting!:irked:

 

Trinity enrollment 1361. St. X 1450.

Trinity enrollment 1361. St. X 1450.

 

Still double of Conner and from the whole county (counties) not just part. If you combined all the good players together from Boone County Schools (Ryle, Boone, and Conner) not to mention the ones lost to Cov. Cath. then you might see Trinity, St. X quality depth.

Central the past two years appears better than Male , Manual , Ballard & Eastern. These four schools (not really Ballard) have only whined about things and not gotten better.

That is ignorant statement in many regards. First of all Central's record vs teams mentioned in the last two years is 1-3. Central has also had a very strong streak of talent run through its program recently, which makes a difference. Three or four D-1 prospects have come out of Central, about as many as have come out of the the four four you mentioned combined.

 

I'll try not to be baited to much into the last statement, but you reveal a lot about yourself with it.

I have been saying this as well. Ballard, Male, Eastern, Fern Creek, Manual should all play X & T in Freshman and JV ball every year. It could only help develop talent.

How many don't? I think Eastern the only one who doesn't.

To my knowledge no one 'gives out' rings. Parents buy them or schools buy them. At at least a couple of hundred a pop its not cheap. But I guess a school could secure rings for something other than state.

 

KHSAA gives out $2 meddalions that can be bought off any internet trophy site for state. But you better not have more than 50 players on the team...

 

So, I guess a coach can't 'win' a ring anywhere then.

 

A persuasive man could get rings at any school if he could convince the supporters or the administration to foot the bill.

There isn't a coach in the state that could do that.

 

Again we can disagree. Just my opinion. If it ever happened that one of those coaches went to "insert public school here" and it didn't happen I am ok with eating crow.

That is ignorant statement in many regards. First of all Central's record vs teams mentioned in the last two years is 1-3. Central has also had a very strong streak of talent run through its program recently, which makes a difference. Three or four D-1 prospects have come out of Central, about as many as have come out of the the four four you mentioned combined.

 

I'll try not to be baited to much into the last statement, but you reveal a lot about yourself with it.

 

I think people have gotten a little carried away with Central winning titles in 3A. Its a great accomplishment and they deserve a ton of credit.

 

But, they haven't been playing at a high level long enough to supplant some of the 6A powers in Louisville. They scored a big win against Male this season.

 

But, its like you said, Central has had a nice wave of talent come through...and this year probably wasn't one of Male's strongest teams.

 

Again, give them credit for taking care of business in their class. But, winning a title in 3A doesn't make you better than a team that didn't win in 6A.

Again we can disagree. Just my opinion. If it ever happened that one of those coaches went to "insert public school here" and it didn't happen I am ok with eating crow.

 

No big deal...I think those guys are obviously great football coaches.

 

I'd say winning a title at 30% would be quite an accomplishment.

 

It would be an interesting exercise to go through the list and see which schools you think could reach that level. I definitely think they could improve a lot of schools...but look at all the 6A schools who could probably never get to a level where they could compete with Trinity and St. Xavier.

 

:thumb:

Periodically, I've been checking in on this thread to see where the debate is headed...and I've noticed something interesting...

 

...posters on both sides of the "issue" (and I think the issue is becoming more vague all the time on this thread) quite often seem to be locking in on one "reason" wy X & T are superior. Or at least, many seem to be intent on determining that one, magical reason that is putting them over the top. And - every time one legitimate point is made, someone immediately counters by giving legitimate reasons why that isn't "the" reason.

 

I'll repeat why I said in a previous post on this thread that I think needs to be repeated: There is no one reason. Dynasties are few and far between - public or private - because so many things have to come together for them to happen. Among the key ingredients - pretty much all of which have been mentioned by someone during this thread:

 

- numbers. Nobody can match X & T on this count, and to deny it is an advantage is to insult our intelligence. It's true in all sports, but in football - where the numbers needed to play are greater - it can especially be a factor. Still, a numerical advantage by itself does not explain X & T's dominance. I can remember when they had this advantage in the early to mid '80's and weren't the top dogs (i.e., 1984, when Oldham County, Shelby County, Christian County, Ballard, PRP, Southern, Lafayette, and Meade County were the top teams in 4A, then the largest class).

- Alumni support The support organization that is the X & T alumni is amazing. I'm not an X or T fan, but I really admire their alumni program, which does an unbelievable job of organizing the program, supporting it through volunteer work, etc. And through their alumni organization, it's easy for X & T to get tremendous facilities, radio airtime, and a lot of other things because their influence is felt throughout the region.

- money. Goes hand-in-hand with the alumni, but the amount of money poured into the programs helps a lot. Sure, a tackling dummy is a tackling dummy, but the bottom line is that X & T can afford to have the finest facilities, equipment, and training that money can buy. Again, not a clincher, but it's another advantage few schools currently match.

- facilities & equipment See "money".

athletes - This is a category that X & T haven't always excelled in. But over the last 10 years, they've started getting some of the players who wind up at major Division 1 schools, kids like Brian Brohm at Trinity and Victor Anderson at X. The advantage some of the publics once had in this category is gone...

Tradition The hardest to get, because you have to BUILD it...but once a winning tradition is there, and emphasized to the incoming players, it becomes harder to bring the program down. It develops a belief system in itself that is difficult to beat down. The better players don't roam the halls in disinterest, they WANT to play...and all of the players develop a driving determination born of years of great play.

Luck Even the great programs need a dose of it every now and then. Bell County had to withstand a tipped pass in the EZ on a two-point conversion try at the end of the game to prevail, 15-13, in the 4A title game. But in a few years, all anyone will remember is that the Bobcats won another title in 2008, building on their tradition.

Coaching Coaches can't win games on the field, the players do, but they set the table. Could other coaches win at X & T? Certainly. Would Beatty and Glaser be as successful at other schools? Doubtful. But both are superb, smart coaches.

Assistant coaches Some schools have interested dads helping coach. Sometimes these are knowledgeable individuals who contribute big-time...other times, they're just the "best available" folks who can and are willing to help. X and T have coaching staffs that are truly top-notch; many no longer have kids in the program. Example: Trinity defensive coordinator Terry Bean was the Oldham County head coach in the early/mid 80's. He coached the Colonels to an 11-0 regular season mark in 1984 and the state's number 1 ranking. Now he leads a Trinity defense that is, if not the state's best, certainly one of the elite.

Ability to reach across district lines Forget for a moment the dreaded "R" word. I have an opinion on that, but it's too incendiary an issue to be discussed here, and one that we couldn't agree on, anyway. But X & T do have an advantage that no public school can match: They can legally admit kids to their school from across district boundary lines, because a lot of Catholic families want their kids to go to a Catholic school. 'Nuff said, because this can't be changed. It's what makes a private school different.

 

I'm sure I could think of more factors, given a little time.

 

Taken by themselves, NONE of the above factors will win a championship, but EACH is a positive factor towards creating a dynasty. In X & T's case, you can argue that they have managed to be at or near the top of the state in ALL of these categories...so it should surprise nobody that they are on top.

 

IMO, that sets a great standard and gives the rest of us something to shoot for. Instead of complaining about an unfair playing field, this should be motivating us to create competitive programs. You can't convince me that other 6A schools can't duplicate MOST of the factors I've listed above. No, they may not have as much money, and nobody has the numbers advantage, but I don't think you have to match X & T on everything to be competitive.

 

Every coach worth his salt has always told me the same thing year after year in interviews over the past 30+ years of broadcasting HS sports: "We can't worry about the other guy or what they do; we have to take care of what we do." Sounds like good advice to us all.

Still double of Conner and from the whole county (counties) not just part. If you combined all the good players together from Boone County Schools (Ryle, Boone, and Conner) not to mention the ones lost to Cov. Cath. then you might see Trinity, St. X quality depth.

 

The Boone COunty school system chose to build all of those schools. Thay have decided to keep their enrollments below a certaine level. That's their choice but you can't expect other schools to follow suit.

The Boone COunty school system chose to build all of those schools. Thay have decided to keep their enrollments below a certaine level. That's their choice but you can't expect other schools to follow suit.

 

Do you deal with public education?

 

I am sure there are a number of problems private schools have that public do not. A simple fact is that by law students have the right to a free and appropriate education. By this fact public schools must handle certain things privates do not. In a private if little jonny is a problem little jonny can be removed. Now imagine that on a whole other level due to numbers. They have their enrollment where it is due to giving students the best chance at a good education. When you work and deal with public education comments like that do not make sense at all.