Diogenes

And, whatever happened to that kid?

Special teams improvement and quarterback productivity are key to a good season for the 2007 Tigers. The 2006 team played to its ability, but the overall talent was not there. The seniors were 6-4 as freshmen and 9-3 last year. As freshmen, two of their losses were lopsided-Male and Trinity. Those teams were their only losses in 2006, and the talent disparity was too great to overcome. As to chemistry, this is an area that is difficult to quantify. Who knows the "chemistry" of any 2007 team yet.

Offcentre67 I like your avatar, but permit one correction: Re: Kentucky's only NCAA National Champions in Football! The Hilltoppers of Western Kentucky University won the 2002 National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I-AA Football Championship 34 to 14! Perhaps Centre and WKU are Kentucky's only 2 NCAA National Champions in Football!

theguru "What does St. Xavier need to do to improve in 2007?" Improved passing and pass defense, IMHO, could be the upgrades. A higher pass completion percentage would complement and take pressure off the running game. theguru "What do they need to keep doing to be successful?" Large offensive lines and powerful running attacks have been a hallmark of Glaser football teams.

Guru:"What does St. Xavier need to do to improve in 2007? What do they need to keep doing to be successful? Remember, please be constructive."

Xtiger69 was accurate. The crowd was not a sellout, but it was large by high school standards. The facility is absolutely top notch.

You are correct regarding Male. I started to note this in my post, but since the thread was about Ryle thought it better not to. However, now that the issue is raised, I would posit that Male is the lone exception to the rule regarding numbers. To that extent, thank goodness for X and T that Male does not have 1500 boys or X and T would have a difficult chore. And imagine if Male had the same proportion more boys than X or T currently has over Male- say 2700 or 2800 boys-the task would be almost impossible for X and T, who already are rough parity with Male over the past years in terms of scores of games. As has been noted in many areas of life, size matters! BTW, I do not mean to diminish the importance of coaching, hard work, big hearts, etc. I merely point out, as have many, that the two big Catholic powers have no monopoly on smart coaches or hardworking kids. But Catholic, or private, football is extremely dominant only in 4A. Only there have the two dominant powers such a numbers advantage. Without a huge numbers advantage, for the most part, X and T would enjoy the success of Cov Cath, Holy Cross or DeSales.

Excellent thread with a lot of good ideas about building a program. Sportsfan41, however, has a valid point. X and T have about 1500 boys. Even if Ryle works as "smart" and as "hard" as these schools, they still have one boy for every two at X and T. Put another way, if 1 out of 10 boys are superior athletes, and 1 out of 100 are fantastic athletes, in any given season X and T have 150 superior athletes to Ryle's 75, and X and T have 15 fantastic athletes to Ryle's 7 or 8. The numbers gap is a lot to overcome, and history validates it. Over the years I have come to believe that this is the reason for the dearth of state champions from Northern Kentucky in 4A. After all, Northern Kentucky is dominant in 1A, 2A, and 3A.

Not sure. Most dissension I read on this board comes from 4A football dominance.

He was a horse, and more importantly, a fine young man. Good luck to Adam at the next step in his education.

Ballard wins 62-50.

Why do you say that? What makes the X stadium better? Do others agree?

Based upon conversations at the Swim Team banquet last evening, I posit that the Tigers will add to their already impressive streak next year. Marty and Mike O'Toole run a classy and impressive program that is a credit to the outstanding tradition of St. Xavier high school. It is said that it is hard to be humble when you are good, but the O'Toole's are living proof that it can be done. On a parallel note, it was interesting to learn last night that Marty O'Toole outswam an Olympic gold medal winner every time they competed but then followed the path of the Xaverian Brothers rather than the path to Olympic gold. Finally, for anyone in the know, has the St. Xavier swim team won more state titles than any other school in Jefferson County's total state titles in all sports?

It surprised me when Tayshaun McBroom signed with West Georgia out of college. Watching him in high school, I thought that he would be a high D1 prospect (UK or UL at least). Was anyone else surprised?

This awesome collection of talent is in keeping with the history of Male football. There is a recent thread titled "Make up your high school's greatest football team ever" that shows down through the years Male has had as good, if not better football talent than any school in Kentucky. If there is ever a thread titled "The greatest collection of talent ever on one football team in Kentucky high school football" this group may be at the top.

Coach Glaser graduated from St. X in 1970. He was a lineman on the undefeated 1969 State Champion team. As was astutely mentioned earlier by Luck, Coach Brown knows football and takes a true interest in kids. One of these days, either in person or by PM, I will share some Coach Brown sideline sayings. I can not put them on this board.

Update Re: The "Legendary" Coach Jamie Brown: As reported in an earlier thread on a different topic, the "Legendary" Coach Brown has joined the staff at Michigan as a Graduate Assistant. Currently he is handling the kicking game for the Wolverines. He mentioned that he was grateful to all the St. X and Fern Creek people (He coached at Fern Creek for 2 years also) that helped him achieve his goal. He also wanted to let everyone know that he will always have a great respect for football in Jefferson County and all the players and coaches who work hard and do things right. The "Legendary" Jamie Brown is certainly one of the coaches who always worked hard and did things right. Best of luck to Jamie and the Wolverines' kicking game.

North Hardin has surged to the lead! Perennially powerful Woodford County is a close second.

Re: Kenny Lehman-I should have also noted that he is in the CFL Hall of Fame.

Quite an honor for Donnie. The Naval Academy requires smarts as well as athletic ability.

For those wondering about the name of the school: Flaget High School was named after Benedict Joseph Flaget. He was the first Bishop of Bardstown (subsequently of Louisville). He was born at Contournat, near Billom, Auvergne, France, November 7, 1763 and died February 11, 1850, at Louisville. Bishop Flaget's great experience, absolute self-denial, and holy life gave him great influence in the councils of the Church and at Rome. He died peacefully at Louisville, sincerely mourned and remembered to this day. (Excerpted from the Catholic Encyclopedia).

As BuddyBW noted, there is a Flaget Hall at St. X, which is the newest academic building on X's campus, and there is also the Flaget Archives in the old Bell South building on X's campus. This is because Flaget and St. X were both founded by the Xaverian Brothers (The Congregation of the Brothers of Saint Francis Xavier). The Xaverian Brothers are an international congregation of Catholic Religious Brothers. Flaget and St. X, as can be imagined, had a hot rivalry in all sports, particularly football. (Understandably, it is difficult to imagine two Catholic boys schools having a heated rivalry in football. ) The game was played in the 60's on Sunday at 2:00 p.m. at the Fairgrounds, and for a while drew the largest annual crowd for a high school football game in Kentucky. To illustrate the importance of the game, in 1965 Flaget held a pep rally for the St. X game. The next week Flaget played for the 3A state title--and did not have a pep rally!

FLAGET HIGH SCHOOL 1942-1974 "Veritas et bona" Flaget High School was opened on October 21, 1942, to classes of seventy freshmen and fifty sophomores. Flaget's sports teams were highly competitive throughout the 1950s and 1960s, especially in football. Flaget also won state championships in basketball in 1960, and track in 1961, and its 1963 cross-country team won the Southern Interscholastic Championship. Flaget produced numerous state champions and All-State players in all sports. Among the best-known are former University of Louisville football coach Howard Schnellenberger and 1956 Heisman Trophy winner Paul Hornung. In the early 1970’s enrollment declined. Flaget won its last state championship in any sport, a tie for the football title, in 1971. In its last year of existence, 1973-74, Flaget admitted female students from Loretto High School, which had closed the previous year. The 1974 graduating class included sixty-five students, of whom eighteen were females. In all, more than 4,200 students graduated from Flaget High School in its thirty-two-year existence. Many graduates of Flaget were the first in their families to attend college. The success of Flaget is measured by its graduates, among which are scores of physicians, dentists, attorneys, engineers, businessmen, and educators at all levels. Partial reproduction of FLAGET HIGH SCHOOL A Brief History by C. Robert Ullrich, 1965. Reference: David N. Aspy and Paulie Miller, Burning Desire: A History of Flaget High School, 1942-1974, Louisville, Kentucky, 1991. FOOTBALL HIGHLIGHTS STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS (PLAYOFFS): 3 STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS (LITKENHAUS): 3- 49, 52, 58 OVERALL RECORD: 197-81-17 SELECTED RECORD VERSUS LOCAL TEAMS: St. X 17-9-1 Manual 17-8-1 Trinity 12-6 Male 12-12-3

One measure would be accomplishments in various powerlifting competitions, although all schools may not compete. I will start off with Joe Tronzo, St. X. I think he squatted 670 lbs. in high school, and he was a defensive stone wall on the football field. He is the strongest I have seen in Jefferson County.

Thanks, but I couldn't get in-I have a full set of teeth! Nick's college choice has been grist for speculation by a number of posters from Trinity, St. X and others. It makes sense that his mom or dad would have commented about where he is leaning at the recent Trinity football banquet.The reticence of Trinity posters to address this is puzzling. particularly when they rapturously go on about every belch, burp or dribble of gruel on the bib of a Trinity coach at the banquet. However, when a legitimate inquiry about what the young man's parents said at the banquet about his college choice is raised, the conversation is guarded more closely than Fort Knox gold. The overreaction by some of our BGP friends from Trinity seems odd. CentreRocks, my friend, as Freud said, "Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar." I took it that the poster that speculated on Georgia Tech as a school for Nick was aware that his pop is now working in Atlanta, and Nick may wish to walk on there. Some had felt, before Bobby left UL, that Nick would walk on at UL. If he could walk on at a top ranked program like UL surely he could do so at a lesser football light such as Georgia Tech. Just as Copernicus showed that the earth is not at the center (or Centre:D ) of the universe, neither is Trinity. Everyone is not out to get your favorite school. Relax.