re: MSB, explain the perennial lack of Alexandria football talent

Too many large schools is the major reason.

For years, ASH, Bolton, Tioga, Pineville, and Peabody made up most of one 4-A district with either Marksville or Leesville. Now, Pineville is 5A and Bolton has fallen to 3A, but still the same problem.

Menard has a good football program and drains a lot of talent from ASH.

Butch Stoker ran a good program at ASH, but most of the time, even his undefeated teams never made it out of the first round when they were faced with a runner-up from the tough south Louisiana districts, someone like Eunice, Crowley, Jennings, or Washington-Marion.

His brother-in-law, Brownie Parmley, coached Bolton to the semis in 1991. I don't think an Alex-Pineville public school has even made it to the quarters since then.

I think good ole boy hiring by the school board plays a part. Then the coaches succumb to the pressure from high-falutin' parents to play their kids over more talented kids from poorer families.

When Stoker retired, ASH had a chance to hire an outsider--a guy from Alabama who was a real disciplinarian and took his teams at least to the state quarterfinals every year. His record was something like 75-10 with a couple state championships. They passed on him and brought back a long-time ASH assistant who did nothing as a head coach at Buckeye.

Rapides Parish has no school boundary lines. Any kid in the parish can go to any school, as long as they can get there. I figured when this went in place about six years ago, that one school, probably ASH or Pineville, would out-recruit the rest and become a perennial powerhouse, but it hasn't happened.