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Numbers - Numbers -Numbers!

cornerrat

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Aug 1, 2009
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All... About six months till game one. Now nobody really knows this early sometimes not even until the postseason qualifiers are actually announced what class certain schools will be placed in.

When the Ihsa brings out the preseason class designation list as teams drop from consideration during the year many schools end up playing in a different class in the playoffs. Having mentioned that I'm bored and have worked up some very early Researching I looked at and compared past historical and up to the present playoff class school enrollment numbers and this is what I came up with.

5A looks to be a beast in 2023. In no particular order Nazareth, JCA, St. Francis NLP, although at 1296.075 they appear to be a 5A/6A bubble team. A newcomer to 5a is runner up 6A Prairie Ridge. SHG 536 (884.40) (LFF2023) is in 5A due to the success factor as well. There are others and don't forget Peoria even though they lose their stud RB. They are a pain in the a$$ to play.

Two schools that now appear to be a class 3A/4A on the bubble team would make noise if ending up in 3A. The first although not the power team as in the past would be Phillips. The second Richmond (Burton). Schools all over the state with enrollment drops makes all of this speculation difficult. We will see. Ratsy
 
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All.... AS is the case with SHG the following teams lose quite a bit of offensive production and defense through graduation. Some more than others. It will take a few games to get a read on them. Sterling, Mascoutah, Sycamore, and Mahomet-Seymour. All look to be in Class 5A adding to the fun. Ratsy
 
All... About six months till game one. Now nobody really knows this early sometimes not even until the postseason qualifiers are actually announced what class certain schools will be placed in.

When the Ihsa brings out the preseason class designation list as teams drop from consideration during the year many schools end up playing in a different class in the playoffs. Having mentioned that I'm bored and have worked up some very early Researching I looked at and compared past historical and up to the present playoff class school enrollment numbers and this is what I came up with.

5A looks to be a beast in 2023. In no particular order Nazareth, JCA, St. Francis NLP, although at 1296.075 they appear to be a 5A/6A bubble team. A newcomer to 5a is runner up 6A Prairie Ridge. SHG 536 (884.40) (LFF2023) is in 5A due to the success factor as well. There are others and don't forget Peoria even though they lose their stud RB. They are a pain in the a$$ to play.

Two schools that now appear to be a class 3A/4A on the bubble team would make noise if ending up in 3A. The first although not the power team as in the past would be Phillips. The second Richmond (Burton). Schools all over the state with enrollment drops makes all of this speculation difficult. We will see. Ratsy
Any thoughts on Rita? Speculation is that she may wind up in 6A. How about ESL?

Any insight would be appreciated.
 
All.... Not doing a full class spectrum.... at 1194.00 the Flyers would be 5A. But I assume they will petition up for the new two year period into 6A again. Because of that weird deal with their conference 7A is a no no. And I don't even know if they could do a two class petition jump.

St. Rita with their drop in enrollment looks to be a high enrollment 6A dropping from 7A. Of course as I mentioned all of the numbers are based on playoff teams not what will come out at the beginning of the season.

One would think playing in a lower class in postseason is not a bad thing unfortunately it might be if a school down the road has to play the Flyers. Ratsy
 
All... A couple of more schools having looked at past history I have no idea about. But one never knows when a team will have an unexpected break out season. These two appear to be be class 5A. Which of course I'm very interested in this year. (lol) Carmel and Marmion. Anyone have a general idea on what they bring into the season? Thanks! Ratsy
 
Carmel Catholic brings a roster of around 45 players. Not much firepower, however.

Got taken to the woodshed by Sycamore to end '22. I thought the arrow was pointing up, but I'm probably wrong.
 
All.... My pursuit of anything and everything 5A continues. Does anyone have insight on Grayslake North. Last year going 8-1 in the regular season with two quality wins and then dropping a tough one in round one against Harlem out of the NIC 10.

In 2022 the Knights played 6A with an enrollment of 1431.00. Their new two year average is now 1289.5. I have them as a 5A/6A bubble team leaning toward 5A. Who knows till late in the season where they will end up. (LFF2023) Ratsy
 
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I was talking to the principal and football coach of a borderline 5A/6 a school. They are petrified of being six AA and get in seated with Eastside. I made the suggestion, “identify 10 biggest a holes in the building and get rid of them. That’s a win-win.“

The football coach says how does firing my entire staff keep us out of 6a?
 
All.... My pursuit of anything and everything 5A continues. Does anyone have insight on Grayslake North. Last year going 8-1 in the regular season with two quality wins and then dropping a tough one in round one against Harlem out of the NIC 10.

In 2022 the Knights played 6A with an enrollment of 1431.00. Their new two year average is now 1289.5. I have them as a 5A/6A bubble team leaning toward 5A. Who knows till late in the season where they will end up. (LFF2023) Ratsy
GLN has been a talented team as long as the team that plays them isnt too physical. Had a decent pass attack, but when u ring their bell, they have no answer. They would have been 6-3 if they dared to play a decent non con team.
 
GLN has been a talented team as long as the team that plays them isnt too physical. Had a decent pass attack, but when u ring their bell, they have no answer. They would have been 6-3 if they dared to play a decent non con team.
Is that shots being fired? 😄
 
GLN has been a talented team as long as the team that plays them isnt too physical. Had a decent pass attack, but when u ring their bell, they have no answer. They would have been 6-3 if they dared to play a decent non con team.
Didn't they just hire Brent Pearlman as HC? I have a feeling they'll become a much more physical team soon.
 
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Didn't they just hire Brent Pearlman as HC? I have a feeling they'll become a much more physical team soon.
Just checked and it's Grayslake Central. with that being said...holy cow does that guy move around!
 
Just checked and it's Grayslake Central. with that being said...holy cow does that guy move around!
Yeah. He was HC at Wheeling, then DC at Fremd, then OC at Elk Grove, and now HC again in Grayslake. Article I read said he lived near there.

It's interesting how these guys don't seem to be able to recapture the championship form they once had. Pearlman got Wheeling to the playoffs once, Fremd's defense his last couple of years there was bad(though they just didn't have the athletes), but he did help EG take a huge leap forward. Will be interesting to see what he does up there. Stortz was the same way at Conant - got them to be a 6-3 kinda team a few years, but couldn't get them into the rare air where he had LZ.
 
Pearlman was successful at Prospect because of the assistant coaches he had on staff. I believe at one point he had 5-6 former head coaches on his staff. He was a smart CEO but I do not feel it was ever his X's and O's that made is program successful.
 
Pearlman was successful at Prospect because of the assistant coaches he had on staff. I believe at one point he had 5-6 former head coaches on his staff. He was a smart CEO but I do not feel it was ever his X's and O's that made is program successful.
Staff management is coaching 101, how many guys make their team worse by micro managing their staff? A good coach will find quality assistants and let them coach to their strengths and give help where needed.
 
Pearlman was successful at Prospect because of the assistant coaches he had on staff. I believe at one point he had 5-6 former head coaches on his staff. He was a smart CEO but I do not feel it was ever his X's and O's that made is program successful.
The major part of being a succesful head coach is managing players and staff and getting them to buy into your philosophy.
 
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