godfthr,
I agree. I have said that when SF hires a good coach they do very well. In the last 30 years two sport programs have really dragged SF down as an option for boys and its football and basketball. Since I graduated in the mid 80s, the basketball program has gotten much better but football has not.
I don't agree with people here when they say that SF isn't doing enough to get kids or they lose kids to WWS or WN or they aren't in a good spot to get kids to enroll. I totally disagree. St. Michael school sends quite a few kids to SF. In the last 10 years SF lost out on a few real good players to WWS. The Vitale and OToole families both went to St. Michael and the O'Toole family sent two kids to SF before sending Reilly to WWS. The only reason Reilly went to WWS was because of football. Not sure on Vitale, but if SF had been a 5-4 team or better it could have made the family think twice about SF instead of WWS.
When SF had Bill Barz for ONE year, they went to the quarters. He left and SF went down the tubes. They hired Greg Purnell and he won a title in his second year. Purnell had winning records and 5 playoff appearances in seven years. After that, SF hired Fitzgerald and they went to the semis and he had a 5-4 team the next year. SF usually tests around 220 to about 223 kids a year. The year after they won 5A, the school tested over 270. After they went back to the playoffs they were testing 260, but last year and this year they tested right back down at 230.
What SF needs is a good coach who is willing TO STAY and build a program I think SF has turned out to be a stepping stone for some coaches and for some others it showed they can't coach.
If you have a kid who is good in soccer, volleyball, track, cross country or baseball, you are going to have a great experience if you are a boy or girl. Track and cross county for both boys and girls does fine.....volleyball does fin for boys and great for girls........baseball is fine and they took 4th a few years ago. But if you are looking for football, this is when you take a look at WN WWS or Benet. And Benet has really been a late comer because for two decades they were a disaster. Benet lost kids to Naperville or WWS when they were really bad.
I don't know where some get off saying the school is a mess. I don't think its true. If they fix football, they would be competitive.