Recruiting, the elephant in the room.
Since this blog’s inception(2009), the #1 HOT BUTTON topic has been recruiting. The vitriol is mainly directed at a particular school in the Huron League. Because of course, that is the league this blog has covered before expansion.
I saw a recent post on Facebook which prompted me to write this. My goal is to offer some points and counterpoints. I would also love to hear what others have to say about the topic.
There is a general feeling out there, that private schools have an unfair advantage in finding talent, particularly in the sports arena(it seems that’s all anybody cares about). If a student transfers to join a great band and so on, nobody cares.
Now, I am not saying there is an advantage and I am not saying there is not an advantage. The fact is for me, I just don’t know. Let me ask you this, is it the perceived advantage that gets everyone all riled up or is it that the private school wins? If said private school went 3-6 in football every year would you still cry foul? I contest that you wouldn’t. But because the school is great in a particular sport and goes 7-2 or better with regularity, then there must be a problem.
Does recruiting even happen? Honestly I have no idea. I would assume it does, but I contest it happens at private AND public schools all the same.
I am close to a particular situation with 3 individuals that went to a school that I associate with. One individual, his parents went to Monroe High, as did his brothers. He was a many time varsity letter winner, ALL-STATE, plays college football and held a 4.3 GPA.
Another individual, his parents attended Monroe and SMA. His Father lives in Ida and brother attended there. Three sport varsity letter winner All-League in 2 sports and held a 3.6 GPA.
Individual 3, his parents live in the Bedford school district and his brother attended Bedford. 3 Sport varsity letter winner, ALL-STATE and plays college football.
I know for a fact that none of the individuals above were contacted by SMCC, where they ended up going to school. All 3 were superb in athletics and easily could have gone to another school. None of them were spoken to by anyone affiliated with SMCC. None were given scholarships. They chose to go to SMCC all for different reasons. The parents all left it up to the child and they chose to go to CC. How do I know all this, again I am very close to the situation.
If these 3 were not approached, then I have no idea who would be.
As I said before, if recruiting or “cajoling” if you will, happens at private schools then it most certainly happens at public schools as well. I mean, don’t private schools have to recruit students just to survive?
There are many public schools out there who stand out to me at being “guilty” of this. Here are three.
-Ithaca- the Yellow Jackets had won 69 games in a row on their way to 5 consecutive state titles and now have 6. Nobody in their surrounding area even has a pulse in football. I am talking 20 plus schools. Yet Ithaca is the strongest program in the state currently. Multiple D1 quarterbacks along with multiple all-state players. Again, nobody around them can find a way to scrape up 4 wins. You can make up your own mind if that seems fishy.
-River Rouge- the Panthers have kids from all over the Detroit area transferring in. Their school buses go deep into the city. Many good at football. very good. Prior to 2012(62 years)they had won 1 playoff game, since 2012 they are 51-9 and have won 11 playoff games, with a finals birth. Is something going on here? You be the judge.
-Saline- the Hornets, same situation as Rouge. Kids transferring in, many good at football. Prior to 2012(62 years) they have 4 playoff wins, since 2012 they are 53-8 with 11 playoff wins.
There are rumblings dealing with all 3 of these schools, that they are bringing in kids just to play football. Is it wrong? I’m not sure it is.
All three of these schools are well coached, Hessbrook, Parker and Palka are proven winners and kids want to play for them. Parents want to send their kids there to win and get recognized at the college level. Again, is it wrong?
I’ll stop there and end with this. I do not know if recruiting happens and if it does, I am not sure it is wrong. But if it does happen, it happens at both private and public schools. The bottom line to me is, get a good coach and you will win, one way or another. period end of story.
I’d love to hear your thoughts.
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To me it sounds like sour grapes as usual...can't beat them because they recruit...blah blah blah !!! ZERO sympathy for whoever believes that garbage !!! Cry all you want !!! Big babies ...
RE: "I do think a school should play schools from there own sports class A,B,C,D. It is an advantage to play up all year, then play down for the playoffs. Everybody plays harder when they play big brother, then they play somebody their own size after that. HUGE advantage"
Playing tougher competition is a bad thing? I don't follow that at all. On the down side of playing tougher competition it does keep you from getting those 5 or 6 wins from time to time. But again, I completely disagree that teams should only play teams in their class. Not a well thought out plan in my opinion.
http://highschoolsports.mlive.com/news/article/-4715817851184078739/public-vs-private-playoff-system-makeover-gains-support/
2:30, I would agree with most of what you said except the academic part. Many schools do have much more to offer. More AP classes, more choices, more hands on classes in case you don't want to spend your work life in a cubicle. Stuff like that. So I would not agree that SMCC has the best academics. That is a myth. They just give more homework on the same courses.
Calm down there 2:34, SMCC gets grief over there transfers the most because they get the best ones. Milan had 2 real good ones and they got grief over it. At this point the transfers the rest of us are getting aren't all that good, therefore grief is minimal.
I do think a school should play schools from there own sports class A,B,C,D. It is an advantage to play up all year, then play down for the playoffs. Everybody plays harder when they play big brother, then they play somebody their own size after that. HUGE advantage.
You get more playoff points for beating a 7 win Class C team than you do a 5 win Class B team or a 3 win Class A team.
Actually 4:47, it can easily be disputed.
Smcc is a total inconvenience for everyone in the league football wise. They rack up points beating Class A and B schools, while playing them does no good, even if you beat them up only get Cheap points. As most know bonus points from other teams wins aren't even close to being as valuable points from beating a bigger school. You can't dispute that, Gary
Smcc is in a league where theyou belong , with bigger schools. They should be in the playoffs with bigger schools as well.
We live in the U-S-A where freedom reigns. Fundamentally, you can go to any school you want for any reason. This is verified by the whole concept of "open school districts". The MHSAA does a token job of preventing the worst of the worst - that's all they can do.
What riles me is what the definition of "recruiting" is for some of you. Is it when any person advocates for a particular school? Is it recruiting when someone says, "you should come to ABC High School. Its a good place."? Or when a parent whose kids play on the same summer team says "you should have Marvin come to ABC HS to play with my boy?" Recruiting is a folly unless a benefit is given. Stop using it as an excuse.
Mostly, you people are just ridiculous. So SMCC is a private school in a public league. The have the smallest enrollment and, in football, are forced to run a precision offense typically used by the military academies because they typically lack size, numbers, and diverse talent. Their facilities pale in comparison to other schools in the area. It is FACT that their academics are better than every school in the area not to mention the alumni support that comes with being a graduate of that school. Are you really serious that recruiting is the only thing keeping your Johnny from All-League? If SMCC offered boarding houses like OLSM or Country Day, I'd buy what you are selling. But otherwise, your arguments are simple whining.
It's the Huron League folks. Stop making excuses. God forbid you have to deal with the things that occur in schools around the Detroit borders.
Let it go. Work harder. Stop making excuses for your kids.
Riverview Grad, Huron Parent
Yeah I know you know a few transfers. All transfers that go to smcc do that to play sports. All other transfers to other schools transfer for academic reasons. And by the way it's not 3 transfers. This whole thing started because you gave false info and you continue to give false info. Obviously it hard to have a discussion because all you do is say the same thing in a different way. Glad you live in your perfect little world that nothing goes wrong and you obviously are the best parent ever. Just on here on judging kids, families, schools, and criticizing why people do things. But you sure are quick to spew crap. Just don't get how you have 3 kids that transferred or school of choice and they start but that's ok. Smcc had 2 kids that came in and somehow it's totally wrong.
One of the transfers had to sit out a year because he played for the Jv coach in the summer. So a kid leaves a school after playing for the Jv coach in the summer and that's ok to you. Like I said it's not a discussion it's you bashing smcc. If you were really concerned with the issue you would address all of these transfers and not just give the they transferred for academics. The school of choice kid played for your varsity baseball coach in the summer before 8th gr. And now he's at that school and he's not the only one. See these are facts you give assumptions. But again you don't address that. If you were a local ad would you be all over that also. No because it benefits you. Don't really care what people do or how they parent not for me to judge. But I guess it is for you to judge.
Have friends at both schools so a little more informed than what you think.