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Q of the Week: So what's the fix?

With all this talk going on, I got a chuckle yesterday during the Illini game when Jordan Anderson got his 1st carry of the year. Announcer says, "Jordan Anderson, from Naperville", and I was like, "Nah, he went to Joliet Catholic".... then, of course, I look it up and his hometown is Naperville. Hey, I'm all for parents doing whatever is best for their kids, but as someone said above, there is a reason FBS & FCS are different... they play by different rules.
Can you imagine Alabama getting on a chat board like this telling Mercer to get a tougher schedule?
 
So was it poor coaching at Maroa and Byron and Lena and Wilmington?

Now keep in mind these are historically solid programs with multiple state title appearances yet somehow they were poorly coached or improperly prepared?

Take a look at the roster of Althoff. 8 kids who currently reside in St. Louis. You think Lena should go to Rockford and get a lineman or running back? Is that your solution?

Should York be able to go to Naperville and get a tackle, or Maroa go to Champaign to get a wide receiver?

If you’re ok with it then it’s zero boundaries for all and let the bidding process begin.
Moroa was horribly coached Friday.
 
Speaking about the publics, there are more publics that have competed and won 8A
It’s kind of a misleading stat as the bulk of private schools do not normally compete at 8A. Private schools have won 5 8A titles and only Mt Carmel and Loyola have won them - Marist and Rice are the only other schools to play in 8A title games and both lost to private school teams.
 
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Speaking about the publics, there are more publics that have competed and won 8A
In 11 of the past 14 years private schools were in the title game in 8A. And one or two of those were private only. No one is asking for kids NOT to go private, but to not admit that their is an inherent advantage is crazy.
 
Okay, let's do this again...strength of schedule - Batavia, Geneva, Lyons, Naperville Central, LWE, and York all played in the toughest public conferences and scheduled great non-con schedules. None of them won, or came close to winning, a title. Scheduling is not the answer.

The publics that have won state titles in the highest classes have been MS, NC, ESL and LWE...2 proven cheaters/recruiters, one we all know cheats/recruits but refuse to do anything about, and one that attempted it's best at bringing in transfer portal kids this off-season to finally knock off Loyola and failed.

So the only answer is to allow everyone to recruit openly, or separate by public/private...not as a flag waiving, but as a matter of principle. There's a reason ISU competes in FCS, and when they play FBS schools, they lose. Poor coaching? Weak scheduling? Or just a difference in rules regarding scholarship limits?
Geneva, York and Batavia made it to the championship game, so yeah they came close! NC got knocked out by York in the semis, not a private, NC knocked out Lyons in the quarterfinals. And obviously LWE came extremely close to knocking off LA in the semifinals. I can't wrap my head around how you think SOS is not a factor. It clearly is.
 
Geneva, York and Batavia made it to the championship game, so yeah they came close! NC got knocked out by York in the semis, not a private, NC knocked out Lyons in the quarterfinals. And obviously LWE came extremely close to knocking off LA in the semifinals. I can't wrap my head around how you think SOS is not a factor. It clearly is.
SOS is a huge factor. Where the problem occurs is when you’re tied to a conference that is 50/50 at best with half good and half bad teams.

I’ll use the NSC as an example.

Libertyville Stevenson Lz Warren and LF are perennial playoff teams. Mundelein Zion and Waukegan aren’t competitive.

The issue is you lose your edge playing non competitive teams. In the CCL that’s rare that teams run into that. It’s a significant advantage but one that’s really not with a path to change unless we get into the districts discussion which makes me ill.
 
Geneva, York and Batavia made it to the championship game, so yeah they came close! NC got knocked out by York in the semis, not a private, NC knocked out Lyons in the quarterfinals. And obviously LWE came extremely close to knocking off LA in the semifinals. I can't wrap my head around how you think SOS is not a factor. It clearly is.
You're misunderstanding me. I am not suggesting that playing a tough regular season schedule is not advantageous. I'm merely pointing out the fact that in the end, talent wins. And amassing talent is only available to private schools who are allowed a larger area to recruit. How can you not wrap your head around that?
 
It’s kind of a misleading stat as the bulk of private schools do not normally compete at 8A. Private schools have won 5 8A titles and only Mt Carmel and Loyola have won them - Marist and Rice are the only other schools to play in 8A title games and both lost to private school teams.
Changing goal posts again? I don’t get it, is it about winning trophy’s or being the best you can be. It seems these days we don’t strive to be the best we can be, but to have others tell us we are the best because we are working towards mediocrity. I’ve had my kids in public then private in Illinois and then public in PA. Tell the kids to work their ass off and be the best they can and get the adults egos out of the equation. If you want New Jersey and kids being recruited from 8 states separated, please don’t complain about how watered down public school ball is because every top tier athlete goes private to make sure they get their college recruitment handled by competent coaches(note I’m not saying all coaches in public schools are incompetent, but if you separate all the recruiting and pay rules go out the window)
 
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Changing goal posts again? I don’t get it, is it about winning trophy’s or being the best you can be. It seems these days we don’t strive to be the best we can be, but to have others tell us we are the best because we are working towards mediocrity. I’ve had my kids in public then private in Illinois and then public in PA. Tell the kids to work their ass off and be the best they can and get the adults egos out of the equation. If you want New Jersey and kids being recruited from 8 states separated, please don’t complain about how watered down public school ball is because every top tier athlete goes private to make sure they get their college recruitment handled by competent coaches(note I’m not saying all coaches in public schools are incompetent, but if you separate all the recruiting and pay rules go out the window)
To me it’s a bigger issue in the smaller classes than in the larger ones.

Lena etc can’t pull from the talent pool and range that someone like althoff can. Thai ain’t about Bobby Brady everyone gets a trophy it’s about operating from the same principles and playing fields.

Wilmington can’t go get kids that Montini can get. Sycamore can’t get kids in their town like Nazareth or Joliet or Providence can.

Providence is probably a bad example as LW schools seem to keep their own in districts.
 
Changing goal posts again? I don’t get it, is it about winning trophy’s or being the best you can be. It seems these days we don’t strive to be the best we can be, but to have others tell us we are the best because we are working towards mediocrity. I’ve had my kids in public then private in Illinois and then public in PA. Tell the kids to work their ass off and be the best they can and get the adults egos out of the equation. If you want New Jersey and kids being recruited from 8 states separated, please don’t complain about how watered down public school ball is because every top tier athlete goes private to make sure they get their college recruitment handled by competent coaches(note I’m not saying all coaches in public schools are incompetent, but if you separate all the recruiting and pay rules go out the window)
I like your overall philosophy here, except there's one issue I can't understand.....if the goal is to be the best you can be, do rules matter? Or is it simply justifiable to skirt rules, or have certain rules available only to a select few, in order to be "one's best?" Honestly, serious question. I don't want to come across as attacking, but you are moving the goal posts.
 
To me it’s a bigger issue in the smaller classes than in the larger ones.

Lena etc can’t pull from the talent pool and range that someone like althoff can. Thai ain’t about Bobby Brady everyone gets a trophy it’s about operating from the same principles and playing fields.

Wilmington can’t go get kids that Montini can get. Sycamore can’t get kids in their town like Nazareth or Joliet or Providence can.

Providence is probably a bad example as LW schools seem to keep their own in districts.
Wilmington can’t get kids Lisle can get, but they seem to have no problem kicking their ass most years. Byron seems to have no issue taking Montini to the wire this season and straight up beat them last season. I’ll stick to my guns of adults needing to stay out of kids sports and stop giving them excuses to lose.
 
Wilmington can’t get kids Lisle can get, but they seem to have no problem kicking their ass most years. Byron seems to have no issue taking Montini to the wire this season and straight up beat them last season. I’ll stick to my guns of adults needing to stay out of kids sports and stop giving them excuses to lose.
Is it adults staying out of kids sports when they attend all of their youth games and call them on the phone to beg them to attend their high school? 40 year old men calling 13 year old boys to beg them for their services.
 
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I like your overall philosophy here, except there's one issue I can't understand.....if the goal is to be the best you can be, do rules matter? Or is it simply justifiable to skirt rules, or have certain rules available only to a select few, in order to be "one's best?" Honestly, serious question. I don't want to come across as attacking, but you are moving the goal posts.
Again this is about adults egos. Kids can do amazing things as a team regardless of stars next to their name. I’ve seen plenty of 5stars bust in person at the next level.
 
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Pretty simple question this week........so what's the fix in your opinion? How do we fix the current IHSA state playoff format and system? Do we separate public from private? Add stricter guard rails in place?

My feeling? Can we TRY seeding 1-32 in all classes to start with....then also look at the whole impact of multipliers/success factors? Personally...after seeing literally daily debate on this subject for well over 30 plus years.....can we finally just put public/private to a member wide vote and just accept the results and live with them/move on?
Yes. Try 1-32 for 2 seasons. See what happens. Then review and make changes IF needed.
 
I’ve seen this behavior from public schools as well, not the ones you listed in your prior posts.
As have I, and I don't agree with it, but if it's about kids than we need to send the message that it's wrong. Not that we can do it better than the next guy. But is this about kids? Or is this about adult egos?

Is it ok for 40 year old men to call pre-teens and beg them for services? Creepy isn't it? Yet this board idolizes some of them.
 
Edgy,

1) Seed 1-32 using the computers Calpreps/Massey average.
2) eliminate wavier for the privates(sorry guys 1.65 base plus x2 for all boys) or male enrollment for all teams public and private and private gets a 1.65x)
3) Old SF for all teams which also eliminates the issues for publics that do nothing but win
4) open class for anyone that wants to play up from 8A
 
As have I, and I don't agree with it, but if it's about kids than we need to send the message that it's wrong. Not that we can do it better than the next guy. But is this about kids? Or is this about adult egos?

Is it ok for 40 year old men to call pre-teens and beg them for services? Creepy isn't it? Yet this board idolizes some of them.
I think kids should be given options and opportunities. I think parents(guardians) are always involved and should be. I am a strong believer in school choice and the kids allotment of funds should port with the child from transferring institution to receiving institution. I think these transfers should apply to academics, the arts, 4H, and sports. Is that clear enough?
 
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I think kids should be given options and opportunities. I think parents(guardians) are always involved and should be. I am a strong believer in school choice and the kids allotment of funds should port with the child from transferring institution to receiving institution. I think these transfers should apply to academics, the arts, 4H, and sports. Is that clear enough?
Yes. As am I! School choice would be a great program and philosophy...but it's not currently in place. So what do we do? Give a few schools the option of selling "choice" and continue to see all-star teams? Or teach kids to earn something.
 
Yes. As am I! School choice would be a great program and philosophy...but it's not currently in place. So what do we do? Give a few schools the option of selling "choice" and continue to see all-star teams? Or teach kids to earn something.
Yes you have to “sell” it to the parents/guardians as they have to pay the $12-20k a year per student to attend. I had 2 sons that played on power5 teams and 2 sons that elected not to play in college and I had to pay every cent of tuition even when I was out of work in 2015. There is no free lunch for private schools to “scholarship” players. There is the Big Sholders program in the city of Chicago, I believe, but all these schools use a 3rd party clearinghouse to assess need based awards. I do know of one student that was a guardian of a player that paid that players tuition but he was like the guardians son.
 
Yes you have to “sell” it to the parents/guardians as they have to pay the $12-20k a year per student to attend. I had 2 sons that played on power5 teams and 2 sons that elected not to play in college and I had to pay every cent of tuition even when I was out of work in 2015. There is no free lunch for private schools to “scholarship” players. There is the Big Sholders program in the city of Chicago, I believe, but all these schools use a 3rd party clearinghouse to assess need based awards. I do know of one student that was a guardian of a player that paid that players tuition but he was like the guardians son.
I understand. I applaud you for being a selfless father as well. But you have the choice of attending a public school for free or choosing to attend a private school at a premium cost. Is it worth it? Yes in some ways. Is it an advantage? Yes.
 
I understand. I applaud you for being a selfless father as well. But you have the choice of attending a public school for free or choosing to attend a private school at a premium cost. Is it worth it? Yes in some ways. Is it an advantage? Yes.
See my last reply to your question as to why he transferred. Keep in mind I was also dropping$32.5k on school taxes on a house well under $1MM value and then $45k/year on tuition.
 
Wilmington can’t get kids Lisle can get, but they seem to have no problem kicking their ass most years. Byron seems to have no issue taking Montini to the wire this season and straight up beat them last season. I’ll stick to my guns of adults needing to stay out of kids sports and stop giving them excuses to lose.
I think Wilmo could’ve given Montini a decent challenge if they’d been at full strength on their home field.
With that said, ‘24 Montini was the best team that Wilmo has played against since 2016 IC.
 
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See my last reply to your question as to why he transferred. Keep in mind I was also dropping$32.5k on school taxes on a house well under $1MM value and then $45k/year on tuition.
That sucks but it could happen to any one of us and that's scary. But your story is unique. Dierre Hill didn't go to Althoff to avoid opiates....
 
That sucks but it could happen to any one of us and that's scary. But your story is unique. Dierre Hill didn't go to Althoff to avoid opiates....
No he went there to be the best he could be! No one is paying him to go to school there. Now at the next level NIL will be paying him well I’m sure and he should be.

If your saying or implying he was on sports and not need based scholarship if his tuition was subsidized, I’m not going to pretend to know his personal situation and you shouldn’t either!
 
Okay, let's do this again...strength of schedule - Batavia, Geneva, Lyons, Naperville Central, LWE, and York all played in the toughest public conferences and scheduled great non-con schedules. None of them won, or came close to winning, a title. Scheduling is not the answer.

The publics that have won state titles in the highest classes have been MS, NC, ESL and LWE...2 proven cheaters/recruiters, one we all know cheats/recruits but refuse to do anything about, and one that attempted it's best at bringing in transfer portal kids this off-season to finally knock off Loyola and failed.

So the only answer is to allow everyone to recruit openly, or separate by public/private...not as a flag waiving, but as a matter of principle. There's a reason ISU competes in FCS, and when they play FBS schools, they lose. Poor coaching? Weak scheduling? Or just a difference in rules regarding scholarship limits?
You know there have been a lot more that have won the higher classes....WWS won numerous times, Lockport won a couple, Bolingbrook (beat Loyola) Prospect won a couple (beat MC in 2005) Stevenson, how far we going back and what are the higher classes? If we are talking 6A then you got Cary Grove of course.
 
I understand. I applaud you for being a selfless father as well. But you have the choice of attending a public school for free or choosing to attend a private school at a premium cost. Is it worth it? Yes in some ways. Is it an advantage? Yes.
If I lived in a nice suburb I'd send my kids to the suburban high school probably more times then I would not, regardless that I'm a practicing Catholic. I'm paying the taxes I might as well send them to the school. But being a City of Chicago employee, as well as my better half, we are bound to live in Chicago city limits and while the the neighborhood we reside in is fine and dandy the CPS high school we would be zoned in is absolutely not. So we, like 90% of the neighborhood send our kids to Catholic Schools, and yes they all invite us to their schools for visits because they would love to have our tuition money and some of our kids athletic services but tuition first. Most of the South Side CCL schools and many North Side CCL schools are made up of a high % of City of Chicago employees kids, as high as half in most schools, especially on the South Side
 
Only top 32 overall (public and private) teams play for IHSA state championship - record, win margin, and select seeding committee weighted - with no regard to off-season residency transfers. Allow the athletes to play and transfer to wherever is the best place for them and their talents.

While not politically possible, it would fix the current challenge of loaded scholarship-bought private teams under an exaggerated or plain false academic / religious focus, dramatically reduce the nuanced and exaggerated claims of many suspect team’s on-field FB dominance, and likely return prep football to a time when public conference championships actually mattered as an achievement level. Private school dominance is still way overblown as most know regardless of 2024, but a level of fairness in how the rules apply to everyone needs to be re-established for IHSA’s credibility/integrity in football.

And the final product would be much better at every old level or region due to real rules.
 
Edgy,

1) Seed 1-32 using the computers Calpreps/Massey average.
2) eliminate wavier for the privates(sorry guys 1.65 base plus x2 for all boys) or male enrollment for all teams public and private and private gets a 1.65x)
3) Old SF for all teams which also eliminates the issues for publics that do nothing but win
4) open class for anyone that wants to play up from 8A
I’m a private school guy and I’d like to see all of these.

Although, I follow mainly smaller schools (1A-3A), so #4 doesn’t mean much to me.
 
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