Perspective

Nolebull, is that your way of saying that a kid from out-of-state that shows up and plays for IMG for a year or two doesn't really qualify as a "Florida kid?" If so, I agree 100%.

As it stands now, a team can afford to lose a game towards the middle-to-end of the regular season and still bounce back and win a state title. The idea of "lose or go home" after Week 5 does not appeal to me at all. Additionally, what do all the teams who lose in Week 6 or 7 do for the rest of the season? Try to find games to play the other teams that got bounced early? Hard to schedule a "home and home" series with another team if you don't know who's going to be in the playoffs for how long both this year and next.

So, while it might be wrong, I would not blame the kid for taking the deal. However, I would hold "the rich local private school" responsible for blatantly breaking the rules.

Nolebull, so here's the scenario: A coach or a booster from a high school in Florida approaches a kid who plays football at a different school and offers that kid and/or that kid's parents a boatload of benefits (money, an apartment, or anything else that would, under existing rules, qualify as an "impermissible benefit"). Let's break this down: it's OK for the kid and his family to accept the impermissible benefits as long as they believe that they're making the 'best decision' for their family. And it's OK for the coach or booster to provide such impermissible benefits because that somehow improves the kid's chances of succeeding as an athlete and/or student. Wait, it's not just "OK" for the coach or booster to do that, they should be encouraged to do that because that's the only way they'll be able to keep up with all the other coaches and boosters that are breaking the rules by providing impermissible benefits to other kids. Have I got that right? Do you want to do away with all the rules involving recruiting, benefits, transferring, etc. or just keep the rules in place, but not enforce them? #Lordoftheflies

“Knowing that we are committing [rules] violations and nothing is being done set off alarms for me." Quote from the former (as of a week or so ago) baseball coach at the high school in question (in the article at the beginning of this thread). Admittedly, he was not one of the football coaches, but between he and his wife (who was the principal of the school), they seemed to have a lot of insider information. Note also, that he uses the word "we," referring to the school he was coaching. Do I have any direct knowledge of cheating? Nope. But when I see this much smoke, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that there is some fire burning in there somewhere.

"Choosing to break the rules is not a coach philosophy; it's cheating." /s/ Annoyed and retired

I've said it before and I'll say it again: I'm OK with an open division, but the teams in the open division should be determined before the season starts and not at the end of the regular season just before the playoffs begin.

I think it was a coach from their own school (albeit from another sport) that was calling the school out.

Ironic. These days, it's usually the folks from other countries that are being told to 'go back to where they came from.'

In an effort to get this thread back on track, here's Tampa Plant's schedule for the 2024 season: 8/16 – vs. Lecanto (KOC) 8/23 – TBD (reports of a trip to Ireland have already been posted) 8/30 – vs. Gaither 9/6 – vs. Robinson 9/13 - @ Tampa Bay Tech 9/20 – vs. Sumner 9/27 – vs. Armwood* 10/4 – bye 10/10 - @ Wharton* 10/18 - @ Berkeley 10/25 - @ Sickles* 11/1 vs. Steinbrenner * - denotes District Game (6A Reg. 2, Dis. 8) The three-game stretch in the middle/end of September will likely determine what kind of team/season Plant has this coming season (TBT, Sumner and Armwood). The stretch in October will determine if they make the playoffs.

The difference that I see is that colleges and universities can recruit (in fact, they have to in order to be competitive). More importantly, the local car dealership can be loyal to a particular college or university and under new NIL rules, it can pay a student-athlete. As it stands now, that same car dealership can be loyal to a particular high school football team, but as soon as they start providing payments to players, they run afoul of the FHSAA rules prohibiting "impermissible benefits." This whole section would have to be changed: "37.2 IMPERMISSIBLE BENEFIT 37.2.1 General Regulation. No school employee, athletic department staff member, representative of the school’s athletic interests or third parties, such as an independent person, business, or organization, may be involved, directly or indirectly, in giving an impermissible benefit to any student or any member of his/her family for the purpose of participating in interscholastic athletics, or to any student-athlete who already attends a school. 37.2.2 Specific Prohibitions. Specifically prohibited arrangements, assistance or benefits include, but are not limited to, the following: 37.2.2.1 School-based financial assistance of any kind that exceeds the amount for which a student has been approved by an independent financial needs assessment company that is recognized by the FHSAA or otherwise is in excess of any supplemental assistance provided by a school to each and every student who qualifies for financial assistance. 37.2.2.2 Cash or like items, such as credit cards, debit cards, gift cards, gift certificates, coupons, or vouchers. . . .." What's wrong with keeping high school sports purely amateur? Unlike colleges and universities, no one (including/especially the high schools) is really 'profiting' from the name, image or likeness of a high school athletes, are they? My kids played with some pretty high-profile guys, but I don't recall Dick's selling jerseys with their names printed on the back. Are high school football players from Florida going to start fleeing to other states to pick up a few grand? Perhaps a kid from the panhandle or Jacksonville might get pulled north to Georgia or Alabama for a few bucks, but I can't see any south Florida kids making the move north unless the money was huge (like a once-in-a-generation kid). Let NIL screw up the college game, but keep the high school game as pure as possible.

Unless and until the FHSAA changes the rules regarding recruiting, I don't see how you can possibly reconcile "allowing NIL deals" with "no recruiting." The only way that I can see it happening is if companies offering NIL deals offer the deals to players at multiple high schools. But, if you've got, let's say, a car dealership in Venice or Lakeland that only offers NIL deals to kids who attend Venice or Lakeland, that constitutes recruiting.

St. Somebody, I suspect.

Hey, why can't we just have the FHSAA and MaxPreps come up with a secret formula to rate all the teachers and then pay them based on that?

Nolebull, just out of curiosity, how many of these games are away games vs. a non-district opponent?