Ok, let me get this straight. We're having a split in 1A in certain sports. And the perception is that some private schools are "bringing in athletes." Ok, I see. 1) So these 1A schools would be breaking the rules, correct? 2) When was there an actual investigation of these private schools? 3) So basically we're having a public/private split off of perception, not actual documented facts, correct?
And I know all about the other sports (baseball, track, CC, etc), and how heavily one-sided they are in the favor of private schools. But with all of that said, in those sports it just kinda' put icicing on the cake for the split. I'm gonna venture to say that at least 95% of the split dealt with football and football alone. Every article I ever saw with coaches complaining about private schools, every last article dealt with football. Anyway, those are the few burning questions I have over the split.
And sure, the GHSA can do what it wants. They're free to split things off of perception. I don't have a problem with that. They can do what they want. But we can also take a step back and ask questions if they did any kind of investigation. And we can also ask if they've ever investigated any public schools. Yeah it seems odd to see a loaded football team at a private school, but it's also odd to see a loaded team in a TINY, 1A school district.
The only reason I bring this up is b/c it could potentially effect the entire landspace of sports in GA. I've brought this subject up before, and made a specific example with the state of TN. Do you all realize that 3 out of the last 4 yrs the top rated football player in TN has been from a private school? It's no different for this 2013 class. Have we ever had our top rated player at a private school even one year, much less 3 out of 4 yrs????
Just b/c you pass legislation and get things in writing, it doesn't mean that you solve any perceived problems. Here are some things to think about. 1) If we see private schools in 2A play at the dome in back to back years, don't ya think the rumblings of a split will start in 2A? I'll go ahead and tell ya, that would happen if we see that, ESPECIALLY now that the foot is already in the door with 1A. And the same goes for 3A. Forget the fact that only 3 private schools have won a class A title in 32 yrs in football, it's all about current perception and a quick rush to rules changes (all emotions). So forget the fact that the facts are overwhelmingly in favor of the public schools in football. It's all about perception, and a very quick rush to judgement. And in real terms, this split has almost everything to do with football. That's just the reality of the situation, even though football has probably been THE LEAST effected of ALL the sports.
Another thing to think about. Public schools in TN, like in GA, are highly out-numbered by private schools. It's kinda ironic that the top rated football player 3 out of the last 4 yrs has come out of a private school. When you're labeled as a recruiting division (let's be real. the split has now labeled private schools as a recruiting/scholarship division), it kinda' opens up the flood gates for actual recruiting. If you're already perceived as a recruiting/scholarship division, and your athletic association has passed legislation to separate you from public schools, what's the harm in going all out at that point? Again, usually the top 10 football players in TN are made up of at least 4 private school players. That's never the case here. And when that happens it then effects the public schools.
So if we see a private school in back to back title games in 2A it's probably safe to say that we're gonna have an enormous push for a split. And it doesn't end there. It will effect track as much as anything. If this split stays like it is for the next 5 yrs or so, it wouldn't be shocking to me AT ALL if the 1A private school meet was head and shoulders better than the 1A public school meet. I'm even talking about the sprints as well. Let me tell ya, the Division II track meet in TN is MUCH better than their A-AA division, and they're COMBINING A and AA in track. And if it happens in 2A, 3A or 4A here, the public schools will be that much more effected by it. Sometimes you need to be careful what you wish for. If you wanna see LOADED private schools, and a much lesser involvement in HS sports (especially in football), travel north a few hours to TN. I think a split creates for even more controversy. In TN the word "recruiting" is the bad word of bad words at their private schools. Coaches at private schools up there will literally stop you immediately if you simply say the word, recruiting. And why is that? It's b/c they're already labeled as a recruiting division and they do everything they can to keep that word away, b/c the rules still state that you can't "recruit." If you wanna talk about controversial, TN athletics and their split is about as slippery of a slope as you'll see.
The Ohio High School Athletic Association yesterday announced that its members had narrowly rejected a proposal that was aimed at leveling the playing field between public and private schools. The reverberations of the outcome went beyond Ohios borders. Once again, in another fashion, we are a battleground state.
That's a really good article.. My question is, what is to be done about the public schools having kids from out of district? Again, I have no problem w/ any of it. It can't be regulated in an efficient manner. We have public school programs in border counties bringing in kids from just over the state border. I have no idea how they do it b/c it's supposedly against all sorts of different rules. However, I know for a fact that programs are doing it. Ppl just get up in arms when they see private schools doing something that is equivalent to what some of the public schools are doing.
In any event, I have no problem w/ the split SO LONG AS the whistle blowers of this split are willing to have a 10 yr, thorough investigation, of every single player RESIDING/LIVING w/in their school district. Meaning, we go back 10 yrs and check to see if every player they've had has lived in the school district. You all know as well as I that these coaches would want no part of that.
@Gatrackfan
Who are we kidding? we know a lot of Ga. high schools, public and private recruit.
Will it ever stop? NO! Because the Ga. officials don't have the guts to take a stand.
As for seperate championships for public and private; I think the Chicago area still has city championships for public and private. Once each group finds out who is the champ; the 2 will play off for being truely the#1.
I just say we keep it business as usual. Too many rules, exceptions etc, just screws things up. Once a split starts it ONLY grows. Like I said, all we need is to see is private schools in back to back yrs at the dome in 2A, and the same thing will happen in 2A. That WILL HAPPEN if that scenario plays out. It grows and grows. And it grows to a point, like in TN, to where it doesn't make any sense. In TN they indeed have a private school division, BUT even that division is split into schools that can provide financial aid, and a division w/o financial aid. You have to pull out your calculator to figure it all out. It just gets to a point where things barely make any sense.
Making new rules doesn't always fix things. In fact, like in TN, a lot of the time a ton of rules creates for a bad product. The public/private split is definitely one of those type of things that works out ON PAPER, but when you do the actual RESEARCH (like looking at TN for example) you'll find that it creates for a big mess.
