Bear78

Boy, this is a rambling article Ram! I have read most of it - out of order - Very interesting. The perspective that I have is that the parents, player and coach have to have a partnership. Coach to champion the player, advise of opportunities and make connections. Players need to evaluate their skill level and target schools they believe they can realistically compete at. (Don't insist on D-1 if your current skill level is D2 or D3). Parents need to provide support for both the coach and player and be prepared to offer advice/ opinion - when needed. It can be very frustrating for the coaches and players when colleges recruit based on specifications for many positions. Players that could compete at D-1 have been overlooked becasue they aren't big enough. The players are at the mercy of the coaches, at least for the skill positions - can't get stats if they don't throw it or hand-off to you. At least on the O-line the film tells the tale. It's a little clearer on defense, but abiility is generally only judged through very small windows and is very subjective. The article above won't get your son recruited, but it will put the whole process into perspective.

So it's not really an All Star game? I see this as a "best" from each team invited, but certainly not an area "all-star" team. Too many deserving kids aren't on this list.:creepy:

With as much use as that stadium gets with football, soccer and DeSales football the new lights are long overdue. Let's hope the Board follows through.

This is a very charitable statement. I also think it over simplifies the issue. Most of the private schools in the state are religious based. I do believe that there are some families that have very strong religious convictions and make great sacrifces to have their kids attend the schools they choose. It's the parents that don't (never have and never will) attend an affliated church that amaze me. The whole question is not how they are treated after they get there as much as what "opportunity" presented itself to convince a non-affliated family to attend a religious based school. I have heard (although never met anyone that would substatiate) that some privates have Alum that will sponsor kids tuition (specifically athletes). What a gift, at $32,000 over 4 years this begs the question - what does the alum get. If any of this is even possibly true I would think the easist thing to do would be lay out the funding source of every kid on any of the teams (public or private). There may not be a rule about sponsoring a kid in private school, but I suspect that at least some of these are done for a perceived athletic advantage. If tuition is waived for a public school (I think this happens also) the same requirement of proof should be required. Just because it's not illegal doesn't make it right.

I think it's only a matter of time that Christian Academy of Louisville will challenge Trinity and X. It's a relatively new school and has an affluent family base, just like X and Trinity. I don't know what there interest is, but if they choose to invest in Football the only variable will be time.

There has to be more story that isn't being told. I understand there was no pressure from the princiapl or others to get him to resign, the timing just seems odd. To have a coach resign after the end of their season makes sense. To have the teacher resign before the end of he grading period seems odd. I think the grading period ends at Christmas break just 1-1/2 months off. I don't believe he left his players in a lurch having waited until the end of the season, but to leave teaching may have thrown a number of students off the mark for the rest of the year....:confused:

Does the KHSAA audit participating schools (public and private)? It seems that checking the fox that is watching the hen house occasionally would be prudent.

I didn't exactly state this was the silver bullet. I did think the premise has merit, or at least it get's us looking at things from a different perspective. You bring up some good points. Even if the schools were on equal footing a lot of the burden shifts to the parents and the have's gain benefits the have-nots (or lives to far aways) can't get. My comments focused on the school budgets, but your comments point out what might be a fatal flaw. The parents will never be regulated when it comes to spending thier money. JustletMplay also brought up that money didn't necessarily translate into championships. Although that is true that money doesn't buy championships it's sure easy to look at the recent winners and jump to the assumption their budgets outstrip many of their competitors. One additional thought: For those kids who love the sport and love to compete will find a way to make it happen. Jody Mudd was a pro on the PGA circuit about 15-20 years ago and he grew up playing the public courses in Louisville. Although not a Tiger Woods - he did alright for a KY boy.

Petrinos honeymoon isn't over yet, is it?

If you really want to level the playing field (hypothetically). Limit the money. Set the rule that a program cannot spend over $XXX,XXX on their football program - public or private. It doesn't matter where the money comes from, school board, boosters, alumni - but it all has to be above board and auditable (leave the paper trail). The limit amount can change by class and enrollment. The programs can spend it on field, equipment, coaches salaries, sneakers for the coaches, whatever they think will benefit their program (certain restrictions on player perks). They just can't go over the limit without penalty. I thought I would throw this out there although I think it would be tough to get some schools to raise funds up to the limit - those schools would likely be the bottom dwellers for years to come....., I'm also not sure counties with more than one high school could support such a proposal.

Isn't it all about the money. Schools that can afford to, whether public or private, pour money into their sports programs to win. Why spend the money, kids want to be associated with a school that is a winner. I believe they enjoy saying they have a championship in swimming or track or lacrosse, etc., but football is higher profile and inspires parents and players alike. The schools pay to win- to get the media attention- to have the parents and kids want to joint the program- to get the best players- to win- to get media attention....... Schools, public or private don't have to recruit outright when they win, people want to be associated with a winner. I believe we are all the same in that regard, public or private. At this point it seems the privates have recognized the value to recruiting (all students) that the investment in sports programs returns.

With travel being an issue and the school with the home field should have an advantage in that traveling on a bus for more than and hour could take a little something out of the players I like the idea of a different approach. Allow Districts to play adjacent districts in their class (1vs3, 2vs4). Once they move out of district play the teams move to a neutral field as close to 1/2 way as possible. The gate gets split 3 ways, with 1/3 going to the host school (although this would probably be supported only if the host school wasn't playing that night).

Justletmeplay touched on some of the topics I believe are important. I want to ask the same question with a slightly different twist. What is the goal of cutting the privates out? Do the AD's intent to starve their neighbors? Will the privates shrivel up and die on the vine? If LEX Cath has been blackballed has their skill levels diminished in any sport? Are they still competitive, will they be after 5 years, 10 years? JLMP said it pretty well - in his name and in his post - just let them play. All of these high school players will soon be in some college playing with / against all of these same kids, or back to playing sandlot - not many caring where their teammate or opponent went to school. Life just isn't fair and the playing field will never be level. In this way sports does mirror life. A good lesson to help them all live just as long and be just as happy.......

Matthews is all that. He can get the ball to the target consistantly and for short, medium or long gains. I credit a lot of the attention he is getting to his receiving corp. Without multiple targets that have the speed to get down he field and ability to catch the thrown ball, sometimes in a jump ball situation SC would be just another one dimensional team. But as far as the one dimension they have they may do it better than any other team in the state.

Got it, I mis-read the original post. Good call;)

It will be an interesting match-up. Manual will need to play the Defense they are best at - straight up smash-mouth defense. Few trick or strunts. The offense has quite a few athletes. If the coaches can see that and take advantage of it they can keep St. X on their heels. St X does have an awesome defense. Speed to the ball may be the best in the state. I have heard Glaser has been working on it hard all year. Their offense, with or without Duece is still a force. Zoeller can run or pass - so Manual will have to defend both. Both teams will be pump up for the rematch. Glaser wants to beat Manual bad everytime they play. Manual really wants to beat X. It could get a monkey off their back and allow them to advance to the next tough game. It could show thier players they do have the talent. Coaching will be a big part of it, there is only so much the players can do. They will need to maintain their focus and play with a controlled energy to get past X. I wish both team well and hope that sportsmanship and respect are present throughout the game with both the players and fans.

Scribe, Looks like two schools - unless Bell County is a private school???? Congrats to all the schools. I admire anyone who can train for that kind of athletic endeavor.

I agree that technically the better team should not be affected. The fear I have is that of injurying a player in a game that has already been played once. I am making the hugh assumption that #1 beat #4 by mostly a large margin. If the margin was tighter, like 1 or 2 TD's it could be an exciting game. I still like the idea of playing at least the first game out of district. As far as travel, has it really saved anything? Being able to schedule new opponents has allowed cross state games that haven't been played in recent years. I recall a number of games played between NK - LEX-LOU schools... to name the easy ones... this year. KHSAA needs to walk the talk:walk:

I thought it was about the number of boys / girls attending a school not necessarily the number participating in the sport. If the region placement is based on enrollment and some teams don't have as many runners, then good for the ones that do. Theoretically a team only needs seven with the top five scores counted. :confused:

When the shark bites, With his teeth, dear and he keeps them pearly white....

I don't get the logic. 10-11 teams per region, with no apparent regard for dividing up private all girls or all boys schools. I guess there are two ways of looking at it. 1) you get better competition for the girls when you have more than one all girls school in the region with the same being said of the boys. 2) The girls team may not always have an easy path out of the region if the region is girl school heavy (same for the boys). It seems there would be a pairing of a private girls with a private boys (of similar size) to keep form overloading a region.

I'm not sure I would call Butler's trip to post season play a reward. These boys got pummeled by St. X in regular season with many points being scored by 2nd and 3rd team players. I don't believe there is any joy in Shively over this reward - this year....

Non scholarship play makes a lot of sense to me. This actually puts the focus back where it was originally intended - academics. My son has looked at Dayton and although it would be great to get an athletic scholarship that is not his primary interest. Getting to an academic program that will allow him a good career and reasonable earnings - after football - is the long term goal. There appears to be plenty of opportunity for academic money at Dayton, likely the same exisits at other schools.

I like the way it has opened up the opportunities to play different teams than usual. I do think, however, that the playoff scenario is just plain silly. I like the idea of the 1 and 2 teams in the district playing outside the district with the possiblity of meeting again down the line. The way it is set now if a team is in a strong district they don't have a chance to build the momentum a team might get winning playoff games against new opponents. (I guess that's why the game is played.....)

Great, I hope they keep the game at Papa John's stadium for years to come and the crowds respond accordingly.