OldSchoolLion

I think very highly of Coach Guandolo.  He did a fantastic job at Chaminade back in the early 2000's.  That program had done nothing for about 25 years and within a few years they were winning state titles.  And back then you didn't have all of this crazy transferring taking place.  He built those teams with good talent, but nothing like the stacked rosters you see today.
I lived up in Central Florida and saw his teams play a number of bigger schools up there... Sarasota Riverview, Venice, Manatee(twice), Mainland and Vero Beach...and they won every single one of those games.  I remember at the time thinking, wow this guy has some cojones taking on teams like he was.  
  
 

Probably couldn't get kids to transfer in like they had. Just a guess. If they're depending on just the talent in Weston to win games, they're going to be what they've been the last few seasons.

And this is why society is starting to question the game. 
Put a bunch of big dudes with higher than average aggression rates in a room and get them to start ramming into each other, and what is going to happen?  It's simply human nature.  Studies have shown that when you hit people it makes you even more aggressive.  
The design of the game fosters a "killer" mindset.  It's goal is to knock people to the ground-big, fast, strong people who are moving at you.  You are not going to be very successful if you don't come after the guys of today with a major attitude. 
A skilled wrestler can easily take an opponent to the ground without hurting him.  The movements are somewhat controlled.  Now tell that wrestler to take a guy to the ground who is coming at him full bore with a very mean look in his eyes.  ...totally different ball game.  There is a good chance someone is going to get hurt.    
Some of the great players have been described as having an "on-off" switch.  There is no second gear.  We have to accept that these personality types are playing football today.  Look at Mike Tyson.  ...quiet guy who talks to the pigeons outside the ring, but put gloves on him and he wants to eat your children(look it up if you do not know).    
  
 
 

Old school CANES were definitely VERY misguided.  
 
 

male part or cheerleader part.  Which is wrong?  

well I'm not smart but definitely an ass

As an old high school wrestler I have an opinion about the program at Cocoa. 
3rd generation. I have 2 grand kids wrestling for Cocoa this year. Both are 7th graders.
My son wrestled for Cocoa, 2nd generation.
I wrestled for Cocoa as a Soph, and Jr. then moved to Rockledge for my Sr year.
I have watched the program fall off by about a quarter each generation.
As a Sr at Rockledge, we packed the Gym. 
My son as a Sr at Cocoa, they had about 3 quarters of the Gym filled depending on who the match was with.
My grand son and daughter are both in the 7th grade and the Gym was about 1 quarter filled at the match I watched.
My team, 1971,  had over 40 wrestlers come out. My sons team, 2004, had about 30 come out. Then my Grandkids team have about 20 on the team.
The kids just don't want to make the effort to join a physically demanding sport it seems. They would rather play video games on the sofa, or hang out with their friends and txt on their phones I guess. 

I followed wrestling very closely back then.  I don't recall Piper ever being strong.
The 1980's were a heyday for wrestling in Broward.  Am not sure there has ever been a time when there were so many good/very squads in the county at one period in time.  The big powers were STA, McArthur, Chaminade and Deerfield Beach.  Some of their squads won state championships, and even when they did not, they were contenders.  The next level down I would put Miramar, Plantation, Western and Stranahan. 
All of these teams mentioned above produced state champions in the 80's. There were even a few multi-title winners.  McArthur produced some phenomenal athletes.  Errict Rhett, who played for the Gators and in the NFL was a great wrestler.  Oddibe McDowell played in the Major Leagues and was a great wrestler, too.  Anthony Brown won multiple state titles and I believe he became an all-american in college.   I remember watching all of those guys.  
It's a shame, but with the exception of STA, those programs have fallen off.     
 

Yep-long time ago  Palatka baseball titles  1929, 1963 (A), 1965 (A), 1966 (A), 1975 (3A)
Key West Baseball is an amazing story.  My guess is that they have a lot of community support to pull off what they done.  ...yet another example of a successful sports program with a coach who has been around 20+ years. 

MOST COUNTIES HAVE A COMMITTEE SET UP TO HEAR THE CASE AND CAN RULE IF IT IS FOR A GOOD CAUSE.  ONCE THE PLAYOFFS START IT DOESN'T MATTER IN FLORIDA.  THEY ARE INELIGIBLE TO PLAY.  SORRY FOR YELLING BUT I'M NOT GOING BACK TO RETYPE IT

...thanks for sharing.  The comments after the article are very enlightening.  What's interesting is that Alabama does not have near the "problem" with private schools as do some other states.  In football, private schools have not dominated the state championships. 
It's pretty ironic.  Alabama is one of the most conservative states in the country.  I know folks from there who love to ridicule social justice warriors who complain about and overdramatize societal injustices, yet Alabama is leading the charge to try to "balance" high school football. 
One of the commenters spoke of kids in rural areas having "their hopes ripped away from them."  ...talk about overdramatic!...as if the kids will be scarred for life if they do not win a state championship.  We love to bash the kids for being too "soft" today, but look at how we are trying to protect them from, "gulp," life's unfairness.  And then we wonder why some kids today are quick to cry foul when things do not go their way.  
I think the challenge is that things are just so fluid now with transfers, changing demographics, etc, trying to balance things is like trying to capture lightning in a bottle.  It's one thing if teams are routinely getting destroyed in competition and/or kids are getting hurt.  It's another to whine because things did not go your way for a season or two. 
Even ST Aquinas, as dominant a program as you'll find,, does not absolutely destroy every public school in its path.  One of the commenters had an interesting point.  Certain public schools in Alabama have dominated the hs football scene, but folks do not seem to be as outraged by this. 
     
 

Sigh... this is why this board is frustrating.. Just wait then. You don't need to post just to add to your post count.  

As for the actual proposal, it is almost like Alabama reads my posts about the idea of promotion and relegation. Granted I apply my ideas to all teams (public and private), but at least they understand that teams should move up because they are successful to play better competition. I love the idea. I don't know how Alabama schedules their non-football sports, but I like they are sensitive to the issues of girls/boys basketball and soccer. I would prefer them to treat them individually, but I like the fact they showed sensitivity. 

My frustration is that the FHSAA has not tried to equalize the size of classifications at the lower levels. If we put 1A aside, 2A-4A are too small in terms of number of teams, there should be about 40-50 teams. They already do this is sports like Basketball (5A-9A are 85+ teams) (2A-4A are 49+ teams). Yes, I know more teams play basketball instead of football,  but they could still equalize the classes which they have failed to do. 

2A: Less than 440 students (non-Rural Division)
3A: 440-950
4A: 950-1300
5A: 1300-1650

Would more than equalize many of the lower classifications. 

When I played organized baseball many years ago, our new coach had his twin sons playing for him.  My buddy and I were the two best players on the team and we got stuck in the outfield while his boys, who were terrible, played the infield.  Everyone in the whole league noticed what was happening.  I had coaches from other teams consoling me.
My parents never said anything to the coach and told me I better learn how to deal with it constructively.  I guess their mindset was, "Son, you better get used to how things sometimes work in the real world and learn to make the best of it."  In retrospect, it was a good lesson.  My guess is that many parents today would feel obligated to "defend" their child and guilty if they did not.
I believe that "guilt" drives some parental behavior.  They spend less time with the kids and have less confidence in the kid's ability to adapt, so they end up going overboard with teachers and coaches and even employers.  They are afraid to let the kids fail and experience "pain."   As a result, some kids really struggle adapting when things do not go their way. 
 

Oh don't get me started on the parents LMAO 
 
Money corrupts and apparently influence does too, i remember my first year at football their was a parent (who had way more power then they should have had) who was going to use their spot in booster club to force the coach to play his kid or he was going to try and get the coach removed 
 
Luckily most saw right through the idea and shot the parents plan down and he eventually just transferred his kid to a different school, where he didn't even start at the position there either lol
 
Nothing personal against the kid but i found it funny the parent made a big deal about trying to get his kid to start yet he transferred to a school with 1/3rd the roster size and actually got less playing time then he did here
 
So the parent did more damage then good 
 
 
Also kids today are so unmotivated, plus i saw every year whenever at beginning of year the teacher would ask if their previous teacher taught them anything they would say no (yet i was in the class and real reason they never learned was they sat there talking the entire year or on the phone)
 
No accountability these days with some kids

Truthfully all the sports at Suwannee has begun to fall off since we hit the 2000s
 
I think part of it was they dominated when in small classes but once they moved up they couldn't sustain at any sport
 
I personally haven't seen their wrestling so i can't be sure that's why they struggled but ik that's why they struggle in a few other sports
 
I only go to sports where i can look at a scoreboard and know who's winning,  nothing against sports like wrestling, weightlifting, track, ect.  I just have a hard time following unless i know who's winning by simply looking at a scoreboard 

Having coached in South Florida, Central FL, and GA I can tell you that the only difference talent wise is that there are more people in Florida.  If you were just putting together true all star rosters GA would match Florida on a roster of about 40 or 50 kids.  I coach in the Future Stars Games FL vs GA and its pretty much even.

...nice post.  Just last night I met with about 25 youth struggling with addiction.  I think kids who are struggling today are a bit more grounded.  Maybe they don't have as much time to get so wrapped up in "fluff" because they are fighting for their lives.
It's ironic that some folks in our country point to the poor as "entitled" and expecting a handout.  I am convinced that many people who make such statements have never had to live it.  I recently had two young college grads working for me who were the epitome of self-centered, entitled, "life owes me something" attitudes.  They obviously were spoiled rotten by their parents growing up.  And when I tried to push them they got an attitude and a half. 
I'll take the kids described in the post above any day, gold teeth and all.   
 

I'm sure some thank in person prior to tweet but yes some do say their goodbyes over social media 

I am amazed at how some of our youth today lack certain basic etiquette.   We really need to coach them.  I saw this when I had young college grads working for me.  
If you are leaving an organization, you do not write a note stating how thankful you are then mention your excitement about going wherever you are going.  It's a bit like breaking up with your girlfriend, telling her how much you have enjoyed your time together, and then telling her about your NEW girlfriend.  How do you think that would go over guys?  Do you REALLY think she wants to hear about your new girlfriend in the same breath you are telling her how wonderful she has been? 
Leaving an organization can be a very sensitive issue and should be handled as discretely as possible, and I am not sure kids today "get" that.  Handling it the wrong way is a great way to offend and burn bridges.  Maybe not as important in high school, but get things wrong in the working world and there can be serious consequences.     
....going back to the kid's note.  He puts ST Thomas Aquinas in bold letters-not ABM.  What subtle message does that send?  If he really wanted to be nice, he would have mentioned how humbled he was to have known such great people at ABM.   
I guess what I am trying to say is, when you are thanking someone, the discussion should be about THEM and nothing else.  If you want to announce to the world you are going to a new team, employer, etc, do that elsewhere.  Some of these "announcements" I see from kids come across as very self-serving, ie tooting their own horn as if they are so important that they need to announce to the world that they are changing high schools.    
It wasn't too long ago that the only time you would see announcements like these were very important people like executives and political figures.  If we don't coach these kids, they can grow up with an inflated sense of self, which is a knock you here all the time about the millenials.  It's not fair to knock them if we haven't coached them right. 
 
 
 
 

I am amazed at how some of our youth today lack certain basic etiquette.   We really need to coach them.  I saw this when I had young college grads working for me.  
If you are leaving an organization, you do not write a note stating how thankful you are then mention your excitement about going wherever you are going.  It's a bit like breaking up with your girlfriend, telling her how much you have enjoyed your time together, and then telling her about your NEW girlfriend.  How do you think that would go over guys?  Do you REALLY think she wants to hear about your new girlfriend in the same breath you are telling her how wonderful she has been? 
Leaving an organization can be a very sensitive issue and should be handled as discretely as possible, and I am not sure kids today "get" that.  Handling it the wrong way is a great way to offend and burn bridges.  Maybe not as important in high school, but get things wrong in the working world and there can be serious consequences.     
....going back to the kid's note.  He puts ST Thomas Aquinas in bold letters-not ABM.  What subtle message does that send?  If he really wanted to be nice, he would have mentioned how humbled he was to have known such great people at ABM.   
I guess what I am trying to say is, when you are thanking someone, the discussion should be about THEM and nothing else.  If you want to announce to the world you are going to a new team, employer, etc, do that elsewhere.  Some of these "announcements" I see from kids come across as very self-serving, ie tooting their own horn as if they are so important that they need to announce to the world that they are changing high schools.    
It wasn't too long ago that the only time you would see announcements like these were very important people like executives and political figures.  If we don't coach these kids, they can grow up with an inflated sense of self, which is a knock you here all the time about the millenials.  It's not fair to knock them if we haven't coached them right. 
 
 
 
 

We have experienced drastic changes in the past 25 years.  Those changes have made some of us very uncomfortable on a number of fronts.  Why would we not expect sport to change drastically as well, and likewise elicit certain mixed feelings? 
It has been said that sports are a reflection of the society in which we live...a microcosm.  The changes we see in our game today are linked to changing values and norms in our society and underlying tensions related to those changes often show their face in sport.  Our challenge is to figure out which of these changes are "good changes," and which are a warning of a future train wreck.
For some of these kids, sports are possibly the only setting in which they feel empowered to express themselves and their individuality.  Sometimes their behavior frustrates us, but I think we need to remember that we have created this stage for them, and some kids really take advantage of that opportunity to express their dramatic talents.  
As a coach, teacher or mentor, my job is to look for that creative genius in a kid and nurture it.   It may manifest itself in a manner that is foreign to me.  I am not a big fan of rap music, but I have come to appreciate the creativity in it, and recognized that by doing so I might make a connection with a kid and tap into that creative genius...and unleash it to do greater things . If I don't have a keen eye and open mind, I may miss that opportunity. 
 
    
 
   
 
 
        

We have experienced drastic changes in the past 25 years.  Those changes have made some of us very uncomfortable on a number of fronts.  Why would we not expect sport to change drastically as well, and likewise elicit certain mixed feelings? 
It has been said that sports are a reflection of the society in which we live...a microcosm.  The changes we see in our game today are linked to changing values and norms in our society and underlying tensions related to those changes often show their face in sport.  Our challenge is to figure out which of these changes are "good changes," and which are a warning of a future train wreck.
For some of these kids, sports are possibly the only setting in which they feel empowered to express themselves and their individuality.  Sometimes their behavior frustrates us, but I think we need to remember that we have created this stage for them, and some kids really take advantage of that opportunity to express their dramatic talents.  
As a coach, teacher or mentor, my job is to look for that creative genius in a kid and nurture it.   It may manifest itself in a manner that is foreign to me.  I am not a big fan of rap music, but I have come to appreciate the creativity in it, and recognized that by doing so I might make a connection with a kid and tap into that creative genius...and unleash it to do greater things . If I don't have a keen eye and open mind, I may miss that opportunity. 
 
    
 
   
 
 
        

Who knows.  Maybe this bump in the road will cause him to take a another path in life he would not have taken otherwise...and with that, maybe experience a life he never dreamed of.  Life has a funny way of working things out if we have faith.  Bet as he grows up ,this experience will help him to be very thankful for what he has in life.  Anyone who has had to live through "bad news" on the medical front can probably relate. 
 

We have experienced drastic changes in the past 25 years.  Those changes have made some of us very uncomfortable on a number of fronts.  Why would we not expect sport to change drastically as well, and likewise elicit certain mixed feelings? 
It has been said that sports are a reflection of the society in which we live...a microcosm.  The changes we see in our game today are linked to changing values and norms in our society and underlying tensions related to those changes often show their face in sport.  Our challenge is to figure out which of these changes are "good changes," and which are a warning of a future train wreck.
For some of these kids, sports are possibly the only setting in which they feel empowered to express themselves and their individuality.  Sometimes their behavior frustrates us, but I think we need to remember that we have created this stage for them, and some kids really take advantage of that opportunity to express their dramatic talents.  
As a coach, teacher or mentor, my job is to look for that creative genius in a kid and nurture it.   It may manifest itself in a manner that is foreign to me.  I am not a big fan of rap music, but I have come to appreciate the creativity in it, and recognized that by doing so I might make a connection with a kid and tap into that creative genius...and unleash it to do greater things . If I don't have a keen eye and open mind, I may miss that opportunity. 
 
    
 
   
 
 
        

We have experienced drastic changes in the past 25 years.  Those changes have made some of us very uncomfortable on a number of fronts.  Why would we not expect sport to change drastically as well, and likewise elicit certain mixed feelings? 
It has been said that sports are a reflection of the society in which we live...a microcosm.  The changes we see in our game today are linked to changing values and norms in our society and underlying tensions related to those changes often show their face in sport.  Our challenge is to figure out which of these changes are "good changes," and which are a warning of a future train wreck.
For some of these kids, sports are possibly the only setting in which they feel empowered to express themselves and their individuality.  Sometimes their behavior frustrates us, but I think we need to remember that we have created this stage for them, and some kids really take advantage of that opportunity to express their dramatic talents.  
As a coach, teacher or mentor, my job is to look for that creative genius in a kid and nurture it.   It may manifest itself in a manner that is foreign to me.  I am not a big fan of rap music, but I have come to appreciate the creativity in it, and recognized that by doing so I might make a connection with a kid and tap into that creative genius...and unleash it to do greater things . If I don't have a keen eye and open mind, I may miss that opportunity.