re: Quick Recap of LA HS divisional revamp

The playing field will never be level......coach odom will want to start kicking west monroe, neville, etc out next because they will then be the ones with the competitive advantage.....how many years of these schools winning in a row will it take before they are on the fire?

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This is why the LHSAA is broken and needs to be fixed.

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Enforce the rules in place correctly then.

The fix they put in with prop 18 breaks the LHSAA worse than ever.

you can name any list of private or public schools that you want to, but it really only comes down to 2 schools. evangel and john curtis. the smaller classifications (3a 2a 1a) will get blamed for not wanting to play eca and jcc, but its the 4a and 5a schools that are to blame for all of this happening. they really are the only schools with the numbers to compete with those schools, but they are just as scared as anyone else. when you were allowed to play up to whatever classification you wanted jcc was 4a and evangel played in 5a. both of them won state championships if im not mistaken. after a few years of that they all banded together and voted against allowing them to play up to whatever classification you wanted to. i am against the split in the fashion it happened it, but something has to be done about whats going on. i know there are public schools that recruit just as much as private schools do, but its much harder and comes with a lot more red tape. im not really sure what the best solution is, but at least this is a step in the right direction. although it may not be a very good step. public schools need private schools and vice versa. hopefully cooler head will prevail in time and reasonable solutions are made. i know some public school parishes are talking about making the parish open enrollment. meaning once you leave the 8th grade you can choose any high school in the parish without having to sit out. any transfer after that you lose a year of eligibility. it can actually be used with academics as well as athletics. i know people probably dont agree with that suggestion but im sure there just as many people that would use the academic side as the athletic side.

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Just pointing out where there are advantages for specific schools over others.

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The data simply doesn't hold up. At the end of the day, you can use all the anecdotal evidence you want and it can be countered with other anecdotal evidence.

But the data doesn't support the allegation.

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There is a sense of community and dedicate effort to the sport that simply doesn't exist with most schools.

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I've come to realize that people would rather act with emotion rather than acknowledge this simple fact.

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There is a sense of community and dedicate effort to the sport that simply doesn't exist with most schools.

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while there is a lot of truth to that, you and i both know that there is a whole lot more that goes into it. if it were that easy, everybody would do it. if you take all the students at jcc starting in whatever grades they have and move those students to delcambre. take all the kids in the same grade at delcambre and move them to jcc. coaches, community, support and everything else stays in place. you honestly think the results will be the same once those kids reach high school? you can really insert any public and private school. im just using those as examples.

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So 80 private schools, against over 200 public schools win 50% of the football state championships. I would say that data points to the private schools having an advantage.

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Your numbers are wrong. Since it went to 5 classifications, a public school wins the State Championship 57% of the time compared to 43% with the privates. When you look at State Finalists it's almost 2 to 1 in favor of public schools. And when you isolate repeat state champs, of all teams winning a state Champioship in this time frame, 70% are public schools.

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Your numbers are wrong.

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They've been talking about it a good bit here on local radio, and they said that since 1991, when the 5A classification was made, that nearly 50% of the state titles, in all classes, have been won by private school. But I'll trust your numbers.

It still shows that a small minorit (private schools) are able to compete near evenly with the large majority (public schools). There are many factors for it. As others have stated before, selected entrance is one of those. 3A is a big example of schools that will keep their total attendance at a certain number so that they don't have to move up in classification. How is it that a school like Parkview, sitting in the middle of a big city with poor public schools, stays in the 3A classification year after year?

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How is it that a school like Parkview, sitting in the middle of a big city with poor public schools, stays in the 3A classification year after year?

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1) they dont want to get any bigger

2) they have a student:teacher ratio figure written in their school charter that they cant go above

3) they are land locked and dont want to move

4) it is expensive to build anything in Baton Rouge right now


There is so much disinformation and misinformation in this entire argument. If the LHSAA really wants to address the athletic factories then they should:
1) eliminate practicing during school in the offseason

2) regulate the amount of time someone on the faculty can spend with the kids in the offseason

there is a very prominent private school that has a 90 min PE right before lunch. They practice football for that 90 mins everyday they have a full day of school. That is in addition to practice after school during the season. So conservatively estimate that is the equivalent of another 100-120 90 min practices during the school year. There is your "competitive advantage"

It isnt recruiting, it is across the board dedication (by athletes, parents, coaches, admins etc) to a common goal and the ability to construct your curriculum around football (private) and not your football around the curriculum (publics)