Curious to see how D does this upcoming season under the leadership of Marty Quinn. Coach Quinn is an MC grad and I know he has brought on board some former coaches or players from Mt. Carmel. Does anyone know what D has on paper?
De La Salle
- Thread starter southside74
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I guess no one has an idea. As a former grad I was interested as well. Somehow has to pull kids away from south side powers
I'd rather see the Institute grow the market than to pull kids away from other Catholic schools and dilute their product.
Other than the CPS SES system going away entirely, how? A resurgent DPP/GT and a good in football SI doesn't help.
That's not DePaul Prep's experience. They are growing the market. It's out there just waiting to be tapped in the right way.
The CPS SES system is not able to handle the demand. Not even close.
Look what McAllister was able to do at Phillips, a scant few blocks away from DLS. Get a coach like him in at DLS and let's see what happens.
Hopefully they just did. Minus McAllister. What he just accomplished at Sandburg in his inaugural season was nothing short of a miracle.
That is more of a case of gentrification plus other North side Catholic schools losing enrollment and or closing. Now name all the schools that have closed or declined in enrollment over the last 30 years. That list will be much longer.
Gentrification has happened, and continues to happen, in Bronzeville, Kenwood, South Loop, West Loop, Little Italy, University Village, and Pilsen. These neighborhoods, and other gentrifying neighborhoods, are well within reasonable commuting distance from DLS.
Heck, Old St. Mary's OPENED a Catholic elementary school in the South Loop 15 years or so ago, and it's going strong. Cristo Rey OPENED 26 years ago in Pilsen and it's going strong. Christ the King and Chicago Jesuit Academy OPENED in South Austin 15 years or so ago and they're going strong. In fact, CJA broke ground just a few weeks ago on a 50,000 sq ft expansion so it can admit girls. 30 years ago, Francis Xavier Warde OPENED a Catholic elementary school in the West Loop and it's a powerhouse. San Miguel School OPENED in 1995 in the Back of the Yards. Although not Catholic, Chicago Hope Academy OPENED in 2005 in a shuttered Catholic elementary school just west of the Medical District.
It CAN be done! The above schools found a way to tap into the market, and many of them did so at a time when their locales were nowhere near as gentrified as they are now.
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K through 4th on Near West Side, 4th through 8th on the Cathedral campus, where, in keeping with the neighborhood, tuition is a robust 18k per year.
Marty Quinn was a helluva player at MC and has a good coaching resume. He’s been at MC and Marist, he has head College experience at Ava Maria, he’s been in California...he’s well traveled. Chris Goeffer is coming from MCs staff and will be a good coordinator. It’s going to be a project though and a challenging one at that. Let’s be honest, DLS had never had a consistently good program in the last 40 years. They have had good squads here and there...1993 made it to the semi’s and beat McNabb and MC. But they haven’t put together a string of competitive teams in a long, long time.
DePaul has been able to rebuild GT because they ditched the old campus and got the old Devry and made it their own. DLS school needs a major work over. I don’t like the football field. Great new turf but it’s one sided stands because the visitors have to stand in center field of the baseball field. It’s just a tight area with IIT and CPD headquarters there just isn’t much they can do.
Canaryville and Bridgeport aren’t filled with young families that used to be there biggest draw. It’s a tough battle to recruit against the CCL Blue teams and SR, Laurence and now SI (test score pending). There biggest chip is “Immediate and extended playing time”.
DePaul has been able to rebuild GT because they ditched the old campus and got the old Devry and made it their own. DLS school needs a major work over. I don’t like the football field. Great new turf but it’s one sided stands because the visitors have to stand in center field of the baseball field. It’s just a tight area with IIT and CPD headquarters there just isn’t much they can do.
Canaryville and Bridgeport aren’t filled with young families that used to be there biggest draw. It’s a tough battle to recruit against the CCL Blue teams and SR, Laurence and now SI (test score pending). There biggest chip is “Immediate and extended playing time”.
You too brother! I’m a big Marty fan, he played like his hair was on fire at MC! But he has his work cut out for him for sure.
I wish Marty and his staff nothing but the best. Marty is a great man, so I am hoping for great things for him. I was just curious how their talent was, but nobody really answered that.
To put it bluntly, not good. For now. Maybe a decent player or two but as a team not good, they can’t compete with the other teams they are competing with for players. Last couple years they had trouble fielding lower level teams, a few times not at all. So not good, major project, but not a lost cause.
So just change the draw. I know that it's easier said than done, but who else is in a better position to draw from the South Loop and all their young families?
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It is an open market, especially Iggy being very selective with their enrollment, not to mention an extremely expensive one. MC has done well in the South Loop recently, I mean it’s a straight shot down LSD to get there, 20 minutes door to door. I do know a lot of families send their kids to Jones and Whitney Young who live there.
Jones and Whitney Young are also selective enrollment. Not all the kids from the growing South Loop (for example) can go to those two schools or to Iggy. My entire point is that, if the traditional markets for DLS are no longer as productive for them as before, then they need to look at these growing and gentrifying areas and do a good (better?) job of marketing/positioning themselves within those neighborhoods. It's great that MC gets a good number of kids from the South Loop, and this is my point exactly. Those South Loop kids are there, and they can't all go to those selective schools because of quotas, etc. Those of them who are going 20 minutes to MC are taking at least twice as long to get there as they would take to get to DLS. They are basically zipping right past DLS to get to MC.
I zipped right past Lindblom and a still thriving Leo to get to MC. It was worth the hour-long bus ride, which included a transfer. Convenience is no substitute for passion and tradition.
I get that.
But, in the specific case of MC doing very well in the South Loop as another poster claimed, we don't know for sure that tradition has anything to do with it. If MC is indeed doing well there, all we know is that there are kids passing by DLS to get to MC. It could well be the case that MC is simply doing a better job of marketing themselves there.
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