Thanks - had not heard about that, and I knew that schools were formed to avoid desegregation, but I assumed that they were all gone since has been illegal to have a segregated school for 40 years. No school in America, public or private, can exclude a student based on race.
Not entirely true and prob not the best example. I’m from that area and know of at least three other schools outside Fayette County that FCHS has “recruited” players from for their program(s) (not just for football). My alma mater did it to them my senior year and we beat them in large part to that player’s talent in the defensive backfield. Walden Tucker wouldn’t even walk across the 50. Had his team go straight to the bus. Said player moved back to FC the next year because our basketball coach went back to Bevill St. and he helped FC get to the semis. For a while in the mid-late 2000s all of the schools in that area jumped on the recruiting trail following FC’s lead. Even the 1A schools.
Other schools you can add to this list- Sweet Water, Brantley, Addison, Piedmont, Lanett, Pickens Co. - small rural public schools which have won several state championships in the last few years in multiple sports. According to the logic of the rule they should be punished for winning (not the multiplier rule). Makes no sense to me.
If you truly watch Prattville then you would know they have beaten Hoover in the state championship 3 times. I think that is pretty competitive and not flukish. Which further proves my point that Hoover has true competition, St Paul’s doesn’t. End of story.
Yes and no. It’s more of where and what classification you are. A private school in Mobile and a key spot in Bham is going to probably be a lot better than some private school in idk Tallapoosa county.
I live in Prattville and see it up close and personal. Since 2000, that's 18 years, in the highest classifications that existed during that period, there have only been 8 schools to reach the championship game. From the North: Hoover (16) and Spain Park (2). From the South: Prattville (7), Daphne (5), McGill-Toolen (3), Auburn, Opelika, and Jeff Davis once each. Daphne and Opelika are no longer in the top classification. Again, let me reiterate, since 2000, there have been 18 championship games and Hoover has represented the North in 16 of those games. Where is their competition? The Southern half of the bracket has been more competitive and, yes, even managed to defeat Hoover a few times (5 to be exact) in the finals - kudos to P'ville for owning 3 of those! Still, that's eleven (11) titles for the Bucs in 18 years.
Well, there are more private schools in our metro areas than rural. Most of those sports programs are not dominant. They’re usually good in 1 or 2 sports and even then not year in and out like the private schools being discussed. Briarwood, MA, and St. Paul’s are an exception not the rule with dominating sports across the board in both boys & girls sports.
This. I teach at a tiny 1A private school in a small metro area, and the idea that we recruit for sports is laughable. We need as many paying students as we can get in order to keep the lights on. With that said, we've won a couple of volleyball state championships in the last few years and just won a golf state championship, so does that mean we should be playing up in classification due to recent success? (Heck, we're already playing with 2A and 3A in some sports due to lacking program numbers statewide). How fair would that be? To boot, were already dangerously close to being 2A due to the multiplier, despite the fact that we just graduated a senior class last night with a whopping 27 kids. Oh but wait, the 45 kids in the rising sophomore class might be enough to push us to 2A after all; too bad that 29 of them are girls and thus won't help us for football [yeah, be sure to read that last sentence in blue font].
The problem with Briarwood and St Paul’s is they are a big exception to the rule. I’m telling you that because I’ve seen both over the last 15-20 years and I can’t tell you the last time either didn’t host a 1st round playoff game ( which means #1 or #2 in your region for those unfamiliar to the rules). It’s getting to a point that there needs to be a competitive counterbalance to these types of metro private schools because they are basically feasting on a poor county school league by paying for Championships. Personally I think the most fair thing to do is make every private school their own classification a part from public schools and compete for their own state championships.
As someone stated earlier, the AISA already exists, but competition in it is voluntary. Frankly, it's almost unfair to the private schools who choose to play in AISA to wedge schools like St. Pauls and Briarwood into that universe. Those schools play in that league because they know that they don't have the horses to compete with other schools in the AHSAA, mostly the public schools. Sure, they might be afraid of someone like St. Paul's, but again, that's not who or what they're principally trying to avoid. Frankly, for most of those schools, sports is a secondary concern anyway.
Did I not just say that it was Saint Pauls decision to play in the classification that they currently are. So they should accept any rules that classification makes sense they are a special issue team. I have no sympathy for teams it pillage talent from big metro areas, you take generational talent away from County and small city schools. So you can preach all you want about how it’s unfair for private schools in big metro areas but you’re not gonna get 1 ounce of sympathy for me on that argument so what use is there to argue about this anymore. They should go to at the league County in small city schools. So you can preach all you want about how it’s unfair for private schools in big metro areas but you’re not gonna get 1 ounce of sympathy for me on that argument so what use is there to argue about this anymore. They should go to the private school league if they have a problem with playing teams like Spanish Fort, Daphne, and Heather mobile schools. There’s a reason that Coosa Valley Academy doesn’t want to play Talladega County schools. If Saint Pauls has a problem with it they should follow up with Coosa Valley Academy did.
Again, what are you going to do with the public schools that have dominated their classifications? Make them all play in the same classification for that sport?
The multiplier was there for the super six. We are at super seven so either the multiplier needs to increase our new rules need to be in place. Also again not every public school is Hoover. Hoover also plays it good competition for their situation. Saint Pauls does not
Let me guess - you want to make sure the multiplier is high enough it puts St. Paul's in 6A, right? Better hope it's not too high, and Madison Academy moves up to 5A. What would teams do then?
St Paul’s is 6A already exactly where they belong
Let's be honest. You just want your team to win State championships. The weaker the competition, the more championships you will win. I get it and don't have a problem with it, but let's face it.St Paul’s is 6A already exactly where they belong
Again my solution is that all private schools play in their own league, but right now the multiplier and balance of competition is the best way to deal with it imo. If Madison Academy or any other private school starts to dominate their league to the level that it’s a clear competitive advantage then they should move up. That’s my opinion and you have yours and I think we are at the point that we’ll just have to agree to disagree.
Sounds like there already exists a division for private schools, but private schools get to choose.
