Think about it...Lincoln Way was one 3000+ student high school twenty years ago...and Joliet Central & West played as one team with 6000+ kids...Those are now five school teams, spreading out the wealth...
This comment is very much carried over to Bishop McNamara. I'll use Manteno for my example. Manteno, being a big Catholic town, traditionally sends a good number of students to Mac. I had junior high classmates who you just knew were going to Mac because their siblings went there, their parents went there, and for some their grandparents went to St. Patrick's (Mac's predecessor). And their kids go there now...
But the "sinister" undertow of recruiting was also there. But, if Manteno doesn't play football, trying to convince kids to go to Mac to play football is probably not recruiting. The problem is, one year Manteno had a junior high team go to state in basketball, and the top 7 players from that team all went to Mac...By junior year, none of them played hoops anymore, and only a couple played football.
A couple of years ago, a Manteno kid started school at Mac as a freshman, stud baseball player and QB. He wasn't real amused apparently being on the jv baseball and freshman football team...and wasn't real excited at the prospect of coming up through the ranks (and primarily handing off in football). So what happens? Transfers back to Manteno, starts three years at QB in a spread system and is the stud baseball player. Other players have started to realize that they can be three year starters at Manteno, or only start as a senior at Mac...Manteno's program has steadily improved, while Mac has had to fight through the Catholic league on long bus trips...
Combined with the athletic opportunity is greatly improved academics as Manteno has grown...Kids are now taking as sophomores the science classes I took as a senior, and there are two levels of math available beyond what I could take...Mac has lost many of the advantages which it could tout 30 years ago...Which is part of the reason it is half the size it was 30 years ago...