re: Quick Recap of LA HS divisional revamp

you are making the same statements that have been made ad nauseum on this site for years. People go to private schools voluntarily for lots and lots and lots of different reasons.
The end. Deal with it.


if you really coached at public and private then you know why people go to private schools. Pretending like there is some nefarious plot to stock private schools with all the best athletes is a joke. Most of the best athletes in the public system that want to go to private HS cant cut it because they either cant hack the academics, dont have the support structure, cant deal with the different culture or dont have the work ethic to make it four years.

Frankly the outside kids often create more problems than they are worth in a private school program. A non-feeder school kid comes in and takes a spot then a kid that went to the feeder school has to sit. That kid has a mom and dad that were dreaming of peer status because of their kid's athletic ability since elementary school. Those parents get pissed and raise all kinds of hell with the staff, the admin, other parents etc.

Dont act like just going into town, finding some 6'2 220lb kid, throwing him in the back of the school van and making an indentured servant for four years out of him and everything takes cares of itself is some reality. It isnt. It is incredibly difficult to find 6'2 220 kids that are even wanting to consider going to a private school. Finding one that can make it and thrive is like a lottery ticket for a coach. it happens but it isnt very often.

when I was coaching we had a very important kid ineligible because of a RELIGION class. Catholic priests that run the school tend to take those things seriously.

some get all worked up about public school kids going to Curtis or Evangel for HS. Do they note the kids that start at and then transfer out of Curtis or Evangel with the same zeal? I doubt it.

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i dont disagree with anything that you said, however i think you are discounting the ability of the athletes. ive coached at both public and private schools, so i know how it works on both sides. private schools can absolutely pick and choose who they want to come to their school. they select the people that they want, while controlling their numbers at the same time. public schools cant turn anyone down. with that being said, there are plenty of public schools that still go out and try to get good athletes to come to their school. the one thing that we agree on is the most important thing, and thats that the lhsaa is an absolute cluster. i dont really agree with the split in the fashion that it has happened, but something needed to be done. its just sad that the kids are the ones in the middle of everything. i blame 4a and 5a but thats just my opinion. thats a whole other discussion. haha. i just hope everything works out for the best because i think high school athletics are great.

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This is pretty close to the way I feel. I really didn't have a strong opinion one way or the other about the playoff split. But reading some of the supporters of the private school, both on here and other forums and in newspaper accounts of their statements in various meetings, legislative gatherings, etc. there seems to be a pretty deep difference in thinking on some pretty basic issues.

It looks like the private school people are sticking to a view that it is only things like their dedication, community support, coaching prowess, etc. that lead to their success. I don't think I've heard or read one person who supports the private schools acknowledge that their ability to draw players from across boundaries benefits them. Without some sort of agreement on such basic issues and principles as this, I think the privates and publics are in very different places indeed.

This is an issue which the LHSAA seems to have been struggling with for decades andI think it boils down to really only one team - Curtis. Though I understand Evangel is sometimes put in there with them and I can see the argument. They've tried letting them play up, they've tried making them play down in their natural class, etc. etc. Problem is, no one seems to want them in their class. The big schools (which I'm pretty sure included the big private schools) don't want them allowed to go up to 5A and tend to block those proposals. The 2A schools don't want them there. Proposals for a "super class" seem to have fallen flat.

So yeah, I'd like to see everybody stay together in one organization. And I half thought when they did this playoff split thing, it would bring everyone together to try to really work it out. But it doesn't seem like the sides even agree on the basic facts. So I dunno. I think if the private schools think it is in their best interest to start their own organization they will do so. I kind of think they won't do it just for negotiating purposes or out of spite if it's not in their best interest. But, who knows. Organizations like people often do things for reasons that won't benefit them.

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one less real class they have to take.

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Do we really need to compare the academic standings of publics and privates?

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Episcopal and Dunham both small private schools really lost out

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They lost out, but not as much as 3A private schools did IMHO.

The division of the selects into 1A-2A and 3A-4A-5A means that Episcopal and Dunham will be competing against a lot of 1A and smaller 2A schools like Christian Life, St. John of Plaquemine, Southern Lab, etc., which are generally around their level.

It's not like they're stuck playing Catholic-BR, Parkview, Rummel, Shaw, Jesuit, etc.

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This right here is the reason people go to select schools bro.

LINK

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Not the best example, IMHO.

While I was at Episcopal, the headmaster's wife hit a pregnant French teacher in the stomach and said "Now how does it feel to have YOUR kid pushed around?!?" to her.

Of course its not......It was really meant to be an example of the type of emotionally charged crap that caused this split in the first place.

You see I did no research on the topic I just made an overgeneralization based on one newspaper article (which is more proof that any non-selects have of select "recruiting").

ask why shaw got nuked in 2002 and holy cross got probation in 2005...

i really cant understand how you can sit here and act like recruiting athletes doesnt go on. it goes on at select and at non select school. i know it does. you know it does. why cant you just admit that? oh, i forgot. people dont go to select schools for athletics. its strictly for a better environment, better academics, and because of the all important dress code. its laughable, and its the root of the problem. everyone knows it goes on, but you just cant admit that it does.

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While I was at Episcopal, the headmaster's wife hit a pregnant French teacher in the stomach and said "Now how does it feel to have YOUR kid pushed around?!?" to her.

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LINK

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I don't think I've heard or read one person who supports the private schools acknowledge that their ability to draw players from across boundaries benefits them

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Unless there is recruiting, which no one has shown any evidence in support of, then the admission boundaries don't matter. It's statistics.