Ashland

Agree. Need to eliminate 1 round for sure.

I'm basing splitting them on performance, but which class they go in is based on size.

Seeded 6 game tournament - they all play each other in regular season each year. Lowest team doesn't make tournament.

I'm advocating putting privates AND independents in their own class.

Just for you Pep Rocks! Here is a look at a 6 class system. 3 public classes. 3 private / independent classes. I'm sure I've made mistakes in terms of some small independent districts. I think this system solves a variety of problems (not sure how districts would work for the small / medium privates and independents. I'll let someone else figure that out.

Condense the Classes down to 3. Put the privates and independent districts into two separate classes. Big private (you're welcome for the name) Trinity / X /BG / Higlands / Lex Cath / Cov Cath / Owesnboro Small private: Everyone else

Don't know Foley, but when you hire a middle school coach, you get..... a middle school coach. Sends a strong "we don't care" message to your players and parents.

I don't know the guy, so I can't base my conlusion on his leadership abilities or other qualities. He was the OC. The OC's job is to score points. Over the course of his tenure, the did that, and they did it at a school where that isn't a given. If you have other information about why this is a good hire, please share it.

They've averaged close to 30 points a year during his OC tenure. Seems like a solid hire to me.

What was his role at South Oldham?

I just live in Ashland. My wife's family is from here.

Why is it a problem? Your sarcasm isn't really helping.

No when schools compete, what you get is a zero sum game in which some schools are the winners and some the losers (only speaking of academics), as opposed to a system in which all schools are good because the people who live in their districts are invested in their success.

Ability to allow non district students to attend without having to pay super high tuition (5k @ highlands as opposed to 13k at Trinity). Independents really have it better than privates. If there were a 6a independent school in a metropolitan area, I suspect they would do very well (in some ways Male acts as an independent)

I've never proposed that. X/T/BG/HIGHLANDS/Lex Cath / Cov Cath/ Owensboro should be grouped together. 6 team playoff (last place doesn't make it). Top two get a first round bye. Win 3 games to be the champ. Easy.

If you can honestly look the stat that privates and independents have won 2/3 of all championships since 2010 and not think these schools are at an obvious advantage, I think it's likely that your allegiance to Trinity is blinding you to the truth. Privates and independents should want to play schools that have their built in advantages and not feast on county schools that in the vast majority of cases have almost no chance to beat them, but clearly they do not.

Privates / Independents don't want to be separate because it's better for them if they are in with people that largely can't compete with them. Publics want to be separate because it's best for them to be playing against teams that, for the most part, abide within the same restrictions they do. I'm sure if I coached / played at a private / independent I wouldn't want to be separate either; in the short term it makes it harder to win, and in the long term, it likely decreases the appeal of playing at these schools.

I was looking at in state championship game or late in playoffs.

I know that some districts allow students to attend the school of their choice within a district and some districts have agreements with neighboring districts to allow students that are closer to one school or the other to attend that school, but are their public schools that let random students from other counties / districts come to their school? (legit asking)

I'm not saying it's a perfect solution, but I do think it's the only solution if we want a strong public school system. Without a strong public school system the marginalized members of society stay marginalized generation after generation.

I would argue the backbone of our country is a strong network of public schools which service students living in their districts. As soon as people are allowed by an open district / private school to bail out on their public schools, you open up a downward spiral. People with the means (money) leave the local pubic school because they think it's bad. That makes the school worse because its best students, most active parents, and most likely to donate parents are all gone. Then more students leave because the school is perceived is bad. Solution: The Finnish model - true local public schools - no exceptions. When good students and their wealthy parents are forced to attend their local, public school, they pour money and resources into making that school great; everyone benefits from this.

You act like schools that do this are the minority. They aren't. The schools that are different should be the ones on their own. I'm not saying privates or independents are doing anything wrong or illegal - just that they're inherently different.

More Stats: Only two public school teams have beaten an independent or a private in the state championship game since 2010. Belfry and Collins. Once each. Just so you can't say I'm manipulating the stats, other teams beat privates / independents on the way there but not many (Male, Boyle, Graves, maybe one or two others)

I'm pretty sure there are no privates or independents in 4A currently (could be an independent I'm not aware of) In 3a during that time there were a few independents but no privates. Independents were Tilghman and Etown. Etown during the time period was finally stopped from taking kids from the county schools (amazing that they weren't as good once they had to play with kids from their district). Tilghman made multiple state semifinals in that time. The point stands - privates and independents can do things publics can't - attract talent from outside their district boundaries. When they do this (not all do), they are difficult (mostly impossible) to beat for most (not all - Male / Central / Belfry) public schools.

See my post below.