VeniceIndianFan

There’s really a gray area here that I don’t believe is being discussed enough. I think kids are more likely to transfer when they have disputes with coaches or internal problems that the public will never know about. I have raised this point several times, but I have been met with ad hominem and hypocrisy and still have yet to receive a coherent answer. Good athletes on bad teams will always be “recruited”, to play for better programs. I hate that word with a passion, because it seems that nobody except maybe a few people on this board actually know what that word means. No kid wants to play for a bad program with coaches who couldn’t care less about their success. Many people seem to forget that 14-18 year old kids aren’t fools. They aren’t going to play for a coach who is so stuck in their ways that their pride costs the team games or possible championships. This is what causes them to transfer, not some unproven sense of entitlement that people baselessly cling to. No-one on this board seems to even want to touch this topic with a barge pole. Why is this so? Coaching is the root, the pure essence of a football teams’ identity. Without a coach, you don’t have a football team. It would be extremely difficult to make a case that good football teams could have very poor coaching, and still be successful against teams with equal talent. You can win games by overpowering lesser teams with pure talent, but when playing teams of even equivalent talent, coaching is what makes the difference in winning and losing. Transfers are a direct cause of good coaching. You can put a cap on the number of transfers that a school can receive, but how would we do this fairly? Even if a family moves into district, why wouldn’t they feel inclined to send their kid to a school that has a more successful program nearby? I think it would be fair to say that there would be some sort of fraud involved, if the school purposely didn’t report their numbers properly. That would result in heavy penalties, as it rightly should. I believe if we were to institute a cap in transfers, that this would be the most fair and equal to approach the topic.

Hallandale will see better days. Even as someone who supports school choice, I believe this is the instance that really bothers me the most. They have been plundered by neighboring schools and it’s sickening to see them fall so far. Coaching (or lack thereof) is often to blame for these instances, but I still believe kids should have the right to make that decision for themselves. Just saddened to see Hallandale get so ravaged by kids who are angry at their program, in one way or another.

I don’t understand why I can’t post pictures here. Alex Perry, wide receiver and basketball player from Port Charlotte, is transferring to Venice for his senior year.

Does anyone understand what in the world is going on with Hallandale right now? I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many kids leave a program in such short order before. Do you have any knowledge of a possible internal conflict, or possibly anything else of that nature?

Didn’t anyone tell you? Venice is the only high school in the country that gets transfers!

Only Dillard and Gibbons have shots for upsets, it seems. None of these teams seem particularly tough, especially by STA standards. I long for the day when they finally decide to schedule IMG Academy.

I have a feeling Dillard can pull the upset in that game. When I see their full schedule, I can give you a more detailed answer.

It’s not a stretch for them to go undefeated in any way. Can you show me at least one “definite loss” on their schedule please?

Madison County doesn’t even deserve top 25.

Fair point, then I’ll say you guys have a good shot for an undefeated season. I can’t really look at the schedule and point at one game as a definite loss. Trinity Christian is always tough and Raines is a very talented team too. Bolles is never easy. You could even say Madison County might be a trap game. But nevertheless, I’ll be rooting for you guys to do well this season!

Extremely solid schedule. American Heritage and Oakleaf are going to be great games. Raines isn’t what they used to be, but they always have athletes and should be capable of at least giving Columbia a tough game. Bolles lost a lot to graduation, and playing early in the season at Columbia’s house should Be a win for you guys. I don’t know much about orange park though. Madison County should be another win as well. The Ceiling is a perfect regular season for sure. But I’ll say you guys go 8-2 this year, losses to AHD and possibly Oakleaf.

And how many schools that play against IMG can say that they kept the score within 17 points? The whole point of playing them is to be used as a measuring stick to expose any flaws you have as a program. Northwestern should have beaten them last year, but they don’t have the coaching to overcome adversity the way other teams do. IMG doesn’t fill their schedule with all of these all-star teams like Mater Dei and SFA in every single week. They’ve played plenty of playoff-contending public schools over the years, such as Dillard, Venice, Miami Northwestern, Edgewater, and even Central. Sure, only Central can say they’ve kept the score within 14 in their one occasion of playing them. However, the crux of my post is that playing them helps to prepare a team for what they may see come playoff time. The incessant hatred for IMG on this board needs to stop.

Madison County is trash.

About time STA played Northwestern! They’re gonna get crushed like a soda can, and I'm all for it!

What a great outlook to have. “We can’t compete with them because we’re not good enough”. That will instill confidence In your players, without a doubt.

Footballs gonna be a lot of fun this year. I haven’t seen STA or IMG’s schedules yet. I bet STA is still too stubborn to schedule them

That was 8 years ago. Dillard is a much different team now

That’s all changed now man. It’s a damn shame that STA has become so dominant, plundering all of the talent from neighboring schools because of their history of success. Kids don’t have the same heart nowadays. If Miami Central or Northwestern had the coaching of STA or AHP, they would have defeated IMG at least one of those years when they played. I would love to see Dillard play IMG one time to see how they would stack up. One of the few South Florida teams that has decent coaching, alongside really good talent.

Central and Northwestern thrive off of mostly talent. They aren’t nearly as well coached as an STA or AHP. Against equal athletes, they would be pressed to win a game. With that being said, I don’t need believe for a second that more talent originates from Broward than Miami. Players want to go to STA or AHP because they have incredible coaching and a winning mentality that is contagious. Teams in Miami have “heart” that is intangible and can’t really be described in interviews or in television. It’s just something you feel, like momentum. Unfortunately, it seems that many public schools in Miami are impoverished, and thus don’t have the money to throw toward their programs that many neighboring privates do. They play with more heart than anything else, I can tell you that. But their lack of adequate funding and middle-of-the-line coaching is what prevents them from being year-in, year out contenders for the national championship.

Miami has a lot more talent than broward county collectively. The issue is that they aren’t as well coached as teams like St. Thomas, Cardinal Gibbons, or American Heritage. STA has world-class coaching. Teams like Miami Central unfortunately do not.

That was a compliment...

Wow. Well I saw a picture of you running track for blountstown on their page. Good stuff man. But they really are your team. Why abandon them if you graduated from that school?

I agree with most of what you said, but at home STA gets a TON of questionable calls and penalties. Their referees will break your no-cursing streak (if you have one, of course.)

Private powers are detracting too much from homegrown, community-feeling football games. Dillard really needs to win that first game against STA to have them travel in the playoffs. You guys can’t afford to stub your toe in that game. It’s either beat them twice or lose to them twice. A defeat in that district matchup could very well cost the Panthers a chance at a home game later. Brian Piccolo stadium is where state championship hopes come to die. I know this as a long time Venice fan. I hope you guys beat the brakes off of them!

There’s nothing I can really say that DarterBlue hasn’t already put magnificently. One thing I can tell you, though, is that there is more incentive to go to an STA or American Heritage, than there is for a Dillard or other public schools in Broward. The problem doesn’t only rely on recruiting, though. Things like how much money a program has or how good their coaching staff is also play massive roles in shaping the success of a program. Teams can have a lot of talent, but be poorly coached and not understand how to overcome adversity when they get down or face a foreign situation in game time. Personally, I see this is as a make-or-break year for Dillard. They have a lot of talent returning, and a huge task approaching with STA in their district. This is going to rely on how well-coached and disciplined Dillard is, to knock off STA and get a chance to play them at home should they meet again in the playoffs.