My goodness this is getting insane.
Public schools have WAYYYY larger budgets. Parochial schools pinch pennies.
Bunch of crybabies.
State basketball tournament
- Thread starter Charlie Marlow
- Start date
Public schools have WAYYYY larger budgets. Parochial schools pinch pennies.
Bunch of crybabies.
Theres the parochial aspect.
People who arent religious assume no one else would factor religion into their choice just because they themselves wouldnt, so they scoff at it.
I have no dog in this fight, just stating facts.
If you don't think private schools have a built in advantage in sports, especially in smaller schools, you are out of touch with reality...
First of all, you have no clue what I know so don't preach to me about knowledge.
Secondly, it's not an accusation nor is it hypothetical, it's based on experience and history. Being from a small town who's kids go against some of these private schools in athletics, you get to know the opposing parents, coaches and even some the administrators. It's not a big secret that some of these smaller private schools cherry pick kids that not only suit their academic and faith qualities but athletically as well. Parents and coaches have said as much. At the same time, keeping enrollment within certain parameters. Which alot has to do with their academic side wanting to have a closer teacher to student ratio. They don't want to get bigger, but still want to be competitive on the athletic side.
A lot of these schools could grow if they really wanted to. GICC is an example. Grand Island is the largest class A school in the state and the city could use another high school.. Yet GICC stays where they're at as a small Class C school. Why? Because they control their enrollment! How do they do that? They try to get a certain number of kids that fit their ideals which includes athletics!
It was the same way 35 years ago when I was in high school. It's more noticeable nowadays because the NSAA reclassified schools since then.
So please don't say things you don't actually know!
Bullshit.
Give proof that GICC “cherry picks” kids. you cant like every kid in GI is at their door begging to get in.
You realize most kids in these high schools went to catholic or lutheran gradeschools as well, right? Yeah did you know they got kids who want to enroll putting down their 40 time and bench press in their kindergarten or 7th grade enrollment forms? Ive seen it. Dont question me. I heard they have potential sixth graders doing the vertical.
Maybe they stay as a class c school because thats the amount of kids who want to go there from a town about the size of GI with multiple other school options. This is much more likely.
Most of these schools want students as enrollment is their lifeblood. Sure they cant take 2000 kids simply because of facilities but neither can every public school (gretna for example) but they dont turn kids away based on athletic prowess. But they dont have 2000 kids wanting to go there.
Anyone who thinks schools like Norfolk Catholic dont want more enrollment are crazy. NC doesn't wanna be C2 I can guarantee they want more kids.
Oh ok because you said so.
Their advantage is they have more parents who give a crap and they have high participation rates. A lot of these schools can require participation in activities or push for it.
Should we punish good? This is whats wrong with society. Instead of punishing parochial schools try to make public schools better.
Does Howells Dodge have some built in advantage? Football juggernauts. We better punish them. How about crofton girls bb? Pierce football? Not fair!
That's an easy answer. The biggest expense in a school system is teachers. Once you get past a certain teacher/student ratio, you have to hire more teachers. There are a few ideal "sweet spots" for enrollment levels with Class C-1 with an average of 23-28 in the classroom being optimal from a financial perspective without harming academic performance. Public schools don't control their enrollment. They have to take in everybody. Private schools can control their enrollment.
Private schools hire fewer teachers and the ones they do hire get less pay & fewer benefits. The typical kid who goes to a private school pays tuition. Families that pay tuition can afford it and/or care a lot about the religious education and/or the fantastic sports success at the school they are paying to attend. If that is your typical family, it's no wonder private schools do well academically and athletically.
FCSH absolutely recruits...especially during their run in the late 80s early 90s...they had students from several surrounding communities not to mention kids from Missouri, Kansas and Iowa.
I am sure Goltz is an ok coach, but I would love to see what his record would be if he had spent his whole career at say Pawnee City or some other public high school.
Oh, Ok. Got it. The reason private schools are so good is they get everyone to participate and their parents care more. Sure, let's go with that.
I believe 3 of the 9 main contributors/players on varsity live in the district.
I went to Norfolk Catholic in the early - mid- 90's and we never recruited anyone to come play football. Heck my senior year Norfolk Public won state football with a ton of talent. Put it this way - all the kids I played jr. high football with were the same kids i ended my NCHS playing days.
Is it recruiting though if they're just just picking & choosing out of those who have applied at their school? Turning down applicants because of space isn't recruiting in my mind, actively going after kids who attend other schools to try & convince them to go to your school is recruiting.
It would cost a lot of money for these private schools if they decided to expand beyond what they currently have. They've built their "campus" to a certain size so it only makes sense for them to limit / control their enrollment to what they can handle. If 300 families apply, but you can only handle 200 then what are you supposed to do?
The families are more well to do of course which helps. But don't you think participation & parent involvement makes a difference?Oh, Ok. Got it. The reason private schools are so good is they get everyone to participate and their parents care more. Sure, let's go with that.
I grew up down there. I assure you, the run in the 80's and 90's were all local kids. I played against them in sports growing up. I'm related to half of them.
Richardson county definitely has a very shallow gene pool!
I have no doubt that some of the kids were local...but certainly not all of them...we were on the short end to them a few times during that time period...and that is always what has been said...it isn't anything new...everyone knew they were recruiting and controlling their enrollment....
Wouldn't it make sense to only take as many kids as you can handle or have space for?
You can't name 1 kid off those dynasty teams in the late 80's and early 90's that was recruited. The ironic thing, most of them are legacies, with one or both parents being alumni. In fact, I believe there are at least 4 kids on their current roster whose dads were key players during the 80's run.
I am stealing the below from a different site, but this what FCSH has been accused of doing and what most small schools that compete against them already know...With these advantages should they be playing Hyannis or Mullen...does that seem fair?
excellent recruiting and has been for many many years, when this run all started back in 89 and 90. 4 of the 8 starters in football and 3 of the 5 in basketball where from surrounding school districts, they have done a great job of getting kids to come to that school, all with in the rules but if you live with in 30 miles of falls city which is like another 10 small towns they go to FCSH if they want to win. Add that with the 4150 in Falls city and another 7 or 8 towns across state line, it is a pretty good deal for FCSH, now dont get me wrong, you still have to have a good guy to coach that bunch and they do.
Parental involvement- to some degree helps. Participation- maybe for bigger sports such as football. But forcing little Johnny to get off the video games and go play golf does not equal state championships.
Winning championships is more about Jimmy's and Joe's. Private schools are able to recruit and hand pick their students/athletes, which is huge, giving them free/reduced tuition if needed.
Hell, even on a bigger scale in Class B...Skutt has over 76 state championships + 44 runner ups **IN THE LAST DECADE**! That's not because of forced participation or parental involvement. And you can bet they are doing whatever is necessary to stay in Class B if possible.
Last edited:
It’s good to see the yearly public vs private schools debate gets its day in the sun again.
Nope, sure can't...I'm not from down there...all I know is what has been well known for 30 years....FCSH has an extremely unfair advantage with who they compete against.
Like I said does Goltz have the Nebraska record for wins coaching his entire career at Pawnee City or Mullen?
Skutt is also located in Omaha and has a large number of potential students to choose from. If an Omaha public high school only had room for 750 kids and had open enrollment, or some sort of magnet program, they would also dominate class B.
compare apples to apples.
Skutt has a total enrollment of 506 students. The smallest Class A school this year is LPX at 874 students. Are you saying that Skutt is turning away 368 students in order to stay in Class B? Do you think there is that kind of demand? Wouldn't it be more likely that they just don't have room for 368 more students and they would have to increase capacity by 72% to accommodate that kind of increase?
I remember Sacred Heart recruited a kid from freaking Chicago one year to win a state basketball championship. I believe this was in the early 2000s. Don't tell me they didn't recruit back in the day.
Don't know anything about these schools, but which one sends more kids to college, on a pro-rata basis, of the three?
You'll never have it completely fair though. Is it fair that the boys of Bancroft-Rosalie / Lyons-Decatur NE (enrollment 60) has has to compete in C1 vs Wahoo (enrollment 144)? FCSH vs Hyannis or Mullen seems much more fair (enrollment 25 vs 27 or 24) than the former example.
Again, what is FCSH suppose to do? Take in more kids than what they have space and/or teacher for? Amherst brings in other kids outside of Amherst, is that also unfair of what they're doing?
Private school aren't forcing participation. Parent's are doing that on their own so when you have parents willing to be more involved, I think that breeds better success in their kids/students therefore the school as whole.
Does Skutt have enough space at their school currently to bring in more kids?
I don't know what the answer is...make the private schools bump up a class? or have the private schools have a separate state tournament? no idea...
But as someone already stated the current configuration isn't working...the state semifinals in Class B shouldn't both be 25 point blowouts won by two private schools...who wants to watch that?
I'm just pointing out how private schools generally get built in advantages over public schools which helps private schools in sports. I used Skutt as a Class B example to provide support of that argument, that's it. And no, I don't think Skutt turns away 300+ applicants...
Currently in classes B-D2 in the boys state tourney, of the final 4 remaining teams in each class, 50% are private schools. Girls state has an even higher percentage than that. Not even 20% of high schools are private. Private schools for the most part have a big advantage overall, especially at the lower levels...
Only about 7 out of 48 private/parochial schools are in Class C-1. Are the rest of them doing it wrong?
Just looking at where most of these school are ranked in enrollment, it would be a stretch to say that there is enough demand, particularly in the smaller communities, that the students they turn away would be enough to move them up a classification.
I'm pretty far removed from Nebraska HS sports these days, but the setup they have today still seems a lot more fair than the old days of A-B-C-D. For many years, my high school was either the smallest or second-smallest Class C school, and we regularly got our asses handed to us by schools with much larger enrollments. But not only did we survive, our girls' teams - facing the same obstacles - were a powerhouse.
Someone will always feel they're getting the short end of the stick, no matter how many classes are created or where the lines are drawn.
Someone will always feel they're getting the short end of the stick, no matter how many classes are created or where the lines are drawn.
