There's no question kids love to play at nice facilities and yes you will see better atheletes migrate there over time. It's not an instantaneous thing, but I think you will see upward movement in programs that have really nice facilities.

Winning brings the kids.

 

I totally agree.

Unless you have a strong tradition and you win, facilities are a must to turn a program around. You have to get things that make the kids excited.

I assume you mean because our facilities stink? :banana:

 

And I guarantee you Beechwood's facilities are worse than Highlands. So, no, facilities IMO absolutely do not bring athletes. Winning brings athletes for sure over facilities. And we have a good case study right here in N. Ky. Scott has a new turf football field. Let's see what happens there over the next few years.

 

I do think there is another factor that is probably more important than facilities - academics. If a parent is going to pay tuition or move into a district, I don't think it is football alone. Both Beechwood and Highlands are consistently ranked in the top 5 high schools in the state. Laugh all you want, but I guarantee you that the academics are a big factor (along with winning of course) in bringing students to these schools. I can't speak for Highlands, but there are many tuition paying students at Beechwood that don't even play sports. They are there for arguably the #1 academic school in Kentucky.

Edited September 3, 201016 yr by Voice of Reason

Winning brings athletes which brings the funding for facilities.....In this day of "get it right now" kids want to be apart of a winner, right now!!

The focus seems to be strictly on football in this thread but I think you need to look at all sports.