Voting for competitive balance
The IHSA approved a proposal yesterday which now goes to all 751 member high schools for a vote. The proposal asks that the enrollment for all private schools be multiplied by 1.65 in the hope that athletic competition will be more balanced. Since private schools are not bound by school district borders they are able to "recruit" so to speak and thus field stronger teams. This has been a bone in the craw of public schools so long even my parents who are in their 80's relate stories of Chicago private school football success in the 1930's.
A quick look at this fall's state champions other than football shows 2 private schools out of 9 winning titles. In football the number is 3 of 9. Last winter's state basketball champion in class AA was Glenbrook North a public school and in class A -Hales Francisan, a Catholic school. 2004 had a similar ending, the AA champion was public, A was private. If approximately 20 percent of high schools in Illinois are private then if these schools are winning more than their share of state titles the numbers should reflect that. It does appear as though this is true in the two major sports, football and basketball, but private school titles are few on the ground in other sports.
Voting on the proposal heads to the schools today and ballots are due on December 28. If it passes the new rules will apply for this year's state basketball tournament. The question is will it be the big guys who are affected or the little guys like Breese Mater Dei and Edwardsville's Metro East Lutheran? Somehow I doubt that schools like Joliet Catholic or Springfield Sacred Heart Griffin or Chicago Catholic league schools will miss a beat.
15 comments:
Perhaps the IHSA can also mandate a .6 multiplier on SAT Scores for private school students to give public school students a more balanced shot at college admission.
JBP
The multiplier is not the major factor although it will have some impact. The bottom line is that private schools do not play by the same rules as public schools. In discipline, resorces and several other aspects the public schools are at a huge disadvantage.
Okay, maybe I don't completely understand what is going on here. 2 of 9 is 22%, 3 of 9 is 33%. Is that really egregiously out of proportion? And how will multiplying the enrollment really make up for the ability of private schools to enroll students who self-select their schools/teams? Isn’t this simply a way to artificially create some sort of quota for private/public championships by making the lower enrollment classes virtually public-only (at the expense of making the higher enrollment classes packed with private schools?)?
And what about magnate schools? Would they by subject to the same rules as private schools, seeing as how their enrollment crosses school district lines as well?
The IHSA is an assoication of high school principals. They determine what is fair or unfair by dint of their votes.
If Catholic Schools ( they are the ones winning the championships - and not the Arnold Stang Country Day Schools) would take a powder from the IHSA as in the days of yore the IHSA would be breaking its necks to get them back in. Remember how long Catholic schools resisted the lure of weekends in Peoria. Pretty good basketball too.
As for football, nuff said. The 'no recruitment boundaries' charge against Catholic schools is a dog that won't hunt. How many times have we read about the 'heart warming tale of 7'11" Marv Backboard who moved to TAXBase Disrtict 311X14 from his home in Lake Canuckey, Manitoba to be part of the Forensic Debating Team and maybe try a little basketball for Coach Sketter LaCloche ( 278 & 1)
Catholic schools have disciplined and tradition minded athletic programs - that is the attraction.
Poor Hales Franciscan...getting screwed by the IHSA.
I've never understood why the IHSA doesn't just have separate championships for private schools. For most sports- AA, A and Private- for football consolidate classes to 1-6A and 2 private divisions...something like that.
Even adding a multiplier won't assure balance is achieved in high school sports. Regardless of the multiplier imposed, schools like Joliet Central Catholic and Springfield's Sacred Heart-Griffin are always going to be a factor in the play-offs (and for Angry Jolietan, Hales-Franciscan, too). Will it be more difficult? Yes, but these schools have been recruiting the best players for years and will continue to do so for years to come.
A multiplier? It just doesn't matter.
This is much ado about nothing, and Diane unwittingly proved it in her post.
With a multiplier in place for fall sports only this year, including football, 3 of 9 football championships were still won by private schools!
Does that indicate that the competition was still "unfair" even with a multiplier? Or were those 3 teams just "better?"
Maybe we just need more classes so everyone can be a "champion."
common sense-it's Joliet Catholic.
you're confusing that with Bloomington Central Catholic.
BTW I am anti-Joliet Catholic. ;)
Thanks for the correction, AJ...
SHG had an line that averaged 5-10 190, if we are recruiting, the recruiter should be fired! The facilities are small, old and do not compare to some of the public schools in the state
The problem is the Public schools for the most part have higher turnover in coaches, and their kids simply do not work as hard in the off season
For starters, SHG's offensive front goes 215, 205, 217, 218, 242 which averages out to 219...not bad.
The argument though is not the size - rather the talent level.
SHG is able to "recruit" any gifted football player out Springfield's public schools with the lure of exposure from college coaches and a chance to win a state title.
I don't blame the kids for taking the opportunity but it's unfair to the schools whose districts they reside in.
Plus, the CS8 is becoming horribly uncompetetive.
I will say the major offensive contributors on this year's championship team were products of catholic schools (Brenneisen, Reavy, and Sanders).
I totally agree that something need to be done to level the playing field in HS football.
Addison-Driscal doesn't win five state championships in a row with two different coaches without having benifited from recruiting. Period.(they even brag on their web site about pulling students from 30 different towns)
However, I question the effectiveness of the multiplier. The private schools will just limit their enrollements and only play small schools to keep their football enrollments down. Besides what about the large schools say in Class 8A - where are they going to get bumped too?
I say a seperate championship for the private schools.
Catholic Schools - refered to as private schools in all IHSA calls for fairness - will never measure up to any IHSA standard of fairness.
Kurt Vonnegut wrote a great satire on "equality" many years ago. In his dystopia, Vonnegut presents a world where 'all men are created equal' - if not by birth, by dint of social engineering.
People are weighted down with heavy metal, if they can leap higher than others & etc. Every person leaps at exactly the same height. Now that's fairness!
The IHSA wants equality and that is why Bishop McNamara ( a co-ed school) plays schools MUCH larger than they are and that is why Catholic schools go head-to-head in play off brackets in order to canniblize their positions in post-season play on the newly 'level playing field.' We're getting there - Mount Carmel lost.
Catholic schools have better athletic programs because they attract people who STAY in Catholic education for years: many of the more successful Public school coaches won their spurs in Catholic league (small l) schools.
Until Catholic schools lose at arate equal to the number of Public Schools or fail to appear in post-season competition, there will never be enough 'equality' for the IHSA.
Catholic school parents pay TWICE, don't forget. The IHSA wants to make sure that they get real bang for the dollars Catholic parents spend on Public Education.
Tell Kevin Garnett about recruiting boundaries.
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