Diogenes

Congratulations. As a former BGPer used to call him, *The Legendary Coach Brown.

H posted: For the record, the only advantages I have claimed that the large privates have are: 1) 6A enrollment playing against 4A competition 2) Exemption from Title IX requirements 3) No enrollment boundaries of any kind 4) Autonomous school-based decision making. If any of these are advantages Male has over all the other public schools, I'd like you to point them out for me. 1) I agree. This is the main advantage, IMHO. Although, isn't Male also larger than many 4A's? (but still the male enrollment is smaller than X or T's) 2) Where is this an advantage in football? 3) It would be interesting to test this "advantage". We hear it constantly. Does anyone know how many starters X and T had who lived outside of Jefferson County last year? Could any X and T people clear up this issue? Also, I understand that public school students can cross county lines to attend a public school, but then they must pay a small tuition. If this is true, has or does Male have any out of county players? 4) Is this correct? X has never been under the control of the Archdiocese, but at least until a couple of years ago, I understood that all other Catholic High Schools in Jefferson County were.

Alabama...You posted "And it doesn't matter how hard you practice....When you play against the private schools your playing against allstar teams." I noted that "X has never had a Mr. Football." You replied "Alabama has never had a Heisman award winner. And we have done OK. Its a team game." That was my point. Male, with superior talent most years, does not dominate X. The main area the playing field is tilted toward privates is 4A, and that is due to the numbers disparity with X and T. Guru has posted this truism a number of times: "you can't self impose restrictions on your own school district and then complain that others won't do the same. " I have yet to read a response to this by the group that denounces schools that accept enrollments from other counties. I have found your posts thoughtful in the past. How would you respond to Guru's point?

For many years Male could accept students county wide while their public bretheren in Jefferson County were restricted to a feeder area. Male dominated their public peers. Did this raise your hackles? Or do you complain only when X and T have a larger area? BTW, as earlier stated, public students can cross county lines, but they must pay a nominal tuition. In the case of X and T out of county students have to pay about $8200 yearly. Finally, as to all-star teams, X has never had a Mr. Football. Has Male?

CentreRocks Trinity is 25-2 in the playoffs since 2000 with 4 titles. Is anyone better? Several of us have posted laudatory comments about Coach Smith at Boyle. Were his accomplishments greater than Glaser's or Beatty's? After all, his school does not have a huge enrollment disparity, as do T or X, he never had a Brohm (T), he doen't have a bevy of 300 pound O linemen (X), and nobody argues that Boyle has the easiest road to the finals year in and year out.

Please explain. Aside from X and T, both of whom have large enrollment disparities, what about the current playoff system has permitted the "rich to stay richer." I am not necessarily disagreeing with you, but would be interested in learning the specifics of your hypothesis.

You have a lot to be proud of. I attended the BG-X game last season. An X player, after the game, told me that BG was one of the hardest hitting and classiest teams he had seen. I look forward to the rematch with BG. I do not know future plans, but I would not mind opening every season with your school. Aside from the weather, it was a wonderful evening. The setting, at WKU, was ideal. The stadium accommodates a large crowd, and is on a campus I have long felt is one of the most attractive anywhere.

LSURock and I agree on this point! I like Manual Stadium and will miss it greatly. Saw my first high school game there in October, 1959. Also, I saw my first St. X-Trinity game there in 1964. (Yes, for you younger guys the game has not always been at Papa Johns). I am not aware of anything X's stadium will have that Trinity's stadium does not have. I feel certain there will be some differences, but the stadium does not make the program. I attended the first game played at Trinity's new stadium, and I really felt the stadium was first-class. X has a storied program, and has never had its own stadium. T has a storied program, and has had its own stadium for as long as I can remember. Surely fans of both schools can agree with LSURock's final paragraph. Back to the thread: Are the accomplishments of the other "winningest" schools listed above more outstanding than the accomplishments of X and T because of the enrollment disparity these two enjoy over all other schools? Any thoughts?

BTW, how about Coach Smith at Boyle County? They are the winningest program, and Smith did it without the huge enrollment advantage X and T have over their opponents. Maybe Glaser, Beatty and the rest are scrapping for second best (or third if Yeagle is included).Should the "winningest record since...” be weighted against X and T because of their huge enrollment advantage? Does this diminish their accomplishments? After all, the others achieved their records against similarly situated schools.

Pull your claws in, T fans. (Pardon the pun ). No one is criticizing Coach Beatty. His record speaks for itself. Go back and reread the inception of this minor brouhaha. LSURock noted that Beatty must be a heck of a coach. I agreed. The thread is "Winningest teams in Kentucky since 2000". I merely noted, in keeping with the thread topic, that Glaser also must be a good coach-he has a similar W-L record. And, he accomplished his record without the services of the greatest player ever to play high school football in Kentucky. When others praise their school or another school, it is not a slur on T. As I have stated before, some of us should take a page from Copernicus. The universe does not revolve around our school. Since 2000, T has done Xcellently, and X has done quite well also. There is another thread running currently running showing that since 1990, X has done Xcellently, and T has done quite well also. As to Glaser's eventual retirement, I believe X will have to face it in about 11 years. When it occurs, X should carry on well, similar to T and their four coaching changes since about the mid 1990's.

Kudos to all teams listed. It takes a lot to stay on top for 16 years. Some schools may have had a super coach or player to inflate a record for a short period, but all of these schools have withstood the test of time. BTW, I was not aware that BG had been so outstanding for so long. And, to our Trinity friends, if you guys will quit beating us in state championship games, X may be able to gain on Danville.

He is, indeed. And how about Mike Glaser? Virtually the same W-L record with no Brohm!

I am unaware of the sanctioning process. I am aware that several individual national records have been set by the X-men in these competitions. The rationale for X lifting in the nationals was provided above by CharlieWeiss (see post above). It is not a matter of "the Tigers can't seem to win their own state but seem to dominate the rest of the country." Instead, "Most programs have dropped the "powerlifting" emphasis for more Olympic based or explosive lifts like Bench, Power Clean, and Parallel Squat." (See CW, above post). A few years ago X's first string wrestlers only wrestled in Indiana during regular season ( the second and third string wrestled in Kentucky). It wasn't because "the Tigers can't seem to win their own state but seem to dominate the rest of"...Indiana. They won state in Kentucky twice. By the way, they were often defeated in Indiana!

How will the Northern Kentucky squads stack up against X, T, PRP and Male? Is this the year that Northern Kentucky reaches the 4A finals? Year in and year out this area of the state has been somewhat dominant in 3A, 2A and 1A, but 4A dominance has eluded them. I realize that there have been previous posts on this topic, but I am curious as to how knowledgeable prognosticators in the northern area of the state view the competitiveness of this year’s teams. Aside from T, in Louisville, is there any team in the Eastern bracket that has a realistic shot at a 4A state championship this year?

LBC, this is an interesting topic, and one sure to be controversial. I have several friends who believe that the NCAA women’s basketball champion year in and year out would lose to the Kentucky high school boy’s basketball champion. They believe that the boys are too quick, too strong, and jump too high. As evidence, they cite the University of Tennessee women’s basketball team. This team has won a number of national championships, and is generally in the top five in the nation in women’s basketball. The team scrimmages against male students at the University of Tennessee who played high school basketball. None of these male students were good enough to make a college basketball team. Yet, it has been written that the males often win the scrimmages. Thus, the best women’s basketball team in the nation many years is unable to consistently beat a group of boys who are not good enough to play college basketball. Here, you are comparing high school girls with high school boys. Can you give specific examples? What high school boy’s basketball teams in Kentucky this year do you specifically believe the Lexington Catholic girls would defeat? Also, do you have the heights of the Lexington Catholic girl’s basketball starters? My friends would probably argue that the Lexington Catholic girls could not beat a good boys high school freshman team.

Houston had help from Mark Bell, who was a good player later at WKU. Considering the stakes, the caliber of opposition and the setting, it was the greatest performance I've seen in HS.

First, congratulations to Apollo. They came out of nowhere. Pre-tournament they weren't even on my radar and no one I knew felt they would even make it to the Sweet 16. You can't say enough about Jeffersontown. Five games in six days are impressive. They were so dominant that a lot of the games they played were somewhat lopsided. Thomas Coleman was a beast. Defensively, he was reminiscent of the Dewalt youngster who lead Warren Central to a title a couple of years ago. I attend the entire Saturday session every year. For shear excitement, in my opinion, it is "The Greatest Show in Hoops".

These things happen. Often Male, X, Manual and PRP will have by far the roughest District the state in football. When the winner staggers out of the district they are so worn down and beaten up it is hard to win it all. Just this past year Male, Manual and PRP could have complained about their seeding/bracket/district/region. They didn't.

Two-Pat McDonald is no longer on the team.

Well...of course it's not equal, but the inequality tilts toward X and T. Reread your post. X pays 10 varsity coaches. This money comes out of the pockets of individuals who attend X or are supporters of X. The government, including the same X people who pay for the coaches at X, pays for the four varsity coaches for the Jefferson County schools. Therefore, if you are a Jefferson County school, and you feel that this is not fair, dig into your individual pockets just like the people at X did. The only difference is you will only have to pay for six coaches, since the government has provided you with four coaches, and X had to pay for 10. Therefore, there is a disparity only because the people at X and T chose to take matters into their own hands rather than complain. You see, you really don't have to be a math guy to rectify this situation.

This is an X-cellent idea! Perhaps X supporters and graduates can initiate a drive for funds to build T a second campus, leaving a T1 andT2, each with about 700 students. Maybe then X could win a few more state championships in football! But seriously, what ultimately happened with the Public Schools in Jefferson County illustrates a maxim I believe in-be careful what you wish for. By the mid-1960s Jefferson County public schools were seriously overcrowded. I believe that Manual had and an enrollment of about 3000 in 1965. Contrast that with Flaget, which I believe had an enrollment at the same time of about 600. The public schools, properly, embarked upon a construction binge to rectify this problem. Time passed and the baby boom ebbed. Ultimately many public school enrollments stabilized at around 1000-1500. Meanwhile, the Catholics could not afford to build extra schools, nor did they have the heart to split existing schools in half. As a result, the big Catholic schools enrollments gradually crept upward. Now we are left with a situation where enrollments are somewhat similar, but because of the Catholics unisex concept there is a serious imbalance of numbers at individual schools. For example, X and T have about 1400 boys and this inures to the benefit of those schools. Meanwhile, Assumption and Sacred Heart have enrollments of girls much larger than their public school counterparts, enabling them to disproportionately dominate competition in female sports.

There are a number of factors that go into "why is baketball different" but I believe that H's post was the closest to answering this conundrum. First, as has been shown with prior posts,the big private (read Catholic) schools, X and T, are the only private schools that consistently win football championships. Therefore, the issue, properly framed, would be why don't the big private schools dominate basketball like they dominate football? I do believe that the answer is numbers, or enrollment. Football is a sport that suffers, in general, a higher injury rate than basketball. For example, of few years ago I read that the injury rate in the NFL is 100% each year. By the end of the season many high school teams have 3, 4, or more starters at the beginning of the season out with injuries. And bear in mind that many of these starters go both ways. Because of limited numbers, there is often a vast drop off between the injured first stringer and the second stringer replacement. However, at X and T, often the replacement is merely next year's allstater, who happens to be a junior this year. Also, these schools often platoon on offense and defense so the injured starter was only 1/22 of the team on the field, not 1/11th. There are, of course, a host of other reasons but I believe that this is the predominant reason. It also answers Tony Danza's (whose opinions I generally respect) question earlier in the post as to why numbers matter so much in football.

I don't know about the next four state finals, but X and T will be contenders for the considerable future. We differ on the reasons. You posit that "their upgrades in facilities that cannot and will not have any chance of being duplicated at a public school" is a factor. X was a contender for years without a stadium, and are ranked near the top this upcoming year while still a tenant of Manual. Thus, its not the facilities. Also, public schools can easily match or exceed the facilities at X or T. As I have posted previously, just start with the base that the taxpayer has already given you- classrooms, labs, computers, parking facilities, football stadium, basketball arena, fully paid tuition, etc. Then, simply add in a fraction of your personal assets. Voila! You have a facility that exceeds the one to be built at X, or the one at T. I do not understand your reference to the major differences in coaching staff positions. Please elaborate. I think one of the major factors in the success of X and T in football (and X in all sports - a recent CJ article pointed out that X had 30+ state titles in about a 10 year period, and I think the next scool in the state had about 8) is enrollment. X and T have 1400+ boys, dwafting the number of boys at any other school. More boys equals more athletes.

I would not overlook PRP this year. This is their second year with a dynamic young coach and they return a lot. Last year they almost beat X. X and T should be loaded again. Picking a favorite between these rivals is akin to deciding between drowning in the Atlantic or Pacific. How about the Lexington area? Also, anything back at John Hardin and Warren County? Has Henderson County moved back into the pack or are they still among the cream? Who are the powers outside of Jefferson County? Will the west be overall stronger than the east again this year?