Perspective

So, the Rural B State Champion would, at best, be the 17th best rural team in the state, huh? Hmmmm.

My answer to this question is pretty simple: If IMG is willing to play by the same rules as all other FHSAA member schools, whatever those rules may be, then, yes, they should be able to compete for a state title. If IMG is not willing to play by the same rules as all other FHSAA member schools, whatever those rules may be, then, no, they should not be able to complete for a state title.

I watched very few of the bowl games myself, but I did watch the three CFP games. That said, I must say I find it a little bit ironic that the poster who confesses to having watched zero college football post-season games goes by the moniker "SportsFan."

Nulli, I did think about that. I actually started going back to the FHSAA archives to look at the scores from the state playoff semifinal games playoff games (going back to 2010). And then I remembered that I actually have a day job. In any event, we may just have to respectfully agree to disagree on this point. I think that's still allowed . . . even on message boards.

But if the top 12-16 teams are playing in the Premier League, I think the rest of the divisions would be more competitive. Think about it, if you take teams like Chaminade, Cocoa, Central, MNW, U of STA, Columbus, Venice, Lakeland and a handful of others out of the mix, I think it would even out the playing field in the regular divisions. If we're still seeing blowouts on a regular basis, then I'm open to promotion/relegation. By the way, I'm guessing you don't care much for the College Football Playoff National Championship games either . . . since 2017, when 'Bama beat UGA 26-23, the average point differential in the champion game has been 28 points, with the smallest margin of victory being 15 points and the largest margin being 58 points.

I continue to believe that there ought to be a "Premier League" of 12-16 teams. However, I think the teams ought to be determined in advance of a given season and teams should be committed to staying in the Premier League for some predetermined period of time (say, 3 years). After that, the team can drop out if they choose and a new team can join. I'm even OK with relaxing recruiting rules for the teams that choose to play in the Premier League. It's happening anyway - might as well allow it, if not embrace it. Require the PL teams to play a minimum number of regular season games against other PL teams; the remainder of their games can be played against non-PL teams (old rivalries, out-of-state opponents, etc). All teams (or perhaps just 'most' of the teams) participate in the PL playoffs, with seeding based upon an established formula, to crown the PL state champion. All other teams in the state get placed into six divisions based on student body size, as has been the case for many years. I'd hold off on the idea of promotion and relegation to see if the Premier League concept evens out the playing field in the non-PL divisions. Just my two cents.

To the contrary. I'm all about parents and kids having all the information that they can get. And if they want to reach out for information, that's fine. But until the FHSAA changes the rules, it remains illegal for schools/coaches to reach out to parents and kids to encourage them to consider their school. And that happens. And that's wrong.

Well, I know that I, for one, can go to bed tonight and rest peacefully knowing that no coaches, assistant coaches, handlers or other representatives of any Florida high school football program will reach out to any of these players or their families to 'discuss their options.'

You are correct. But here's the point that I think is being made. 'Back then' the teams in the metro areas were, in theory, constrained by district boundaries. A kid could only go to Central if they lived in the Central district (again, in theory). So, Central's talent pool was limited to the kids who lived in the Central district. Just like Pahokee's talent pool was limited to the kids who lived in Pahokee's district. Now, with school choice, and as a practical matter, Pahokee's talent pool (and the talent pool of all the other rural schools) is essentially still limited to the kids who live in that relatively-sparse geographic area. Contrast that with Central, who now has the ability to legally pull in any kid from Dade County. Yes, they are competing against other schools, like Northwestern, for that top talent, but recent history seems to suggest that only a small handful of teams are going to end up with the vast majority of the top talent. To oversimplify, if one rural high school football team has a thousand kids to pick from (including gamers, trombone players, theater buffs, etc.) and a metro high school football team has a hundred thousand kids to pick from (because district lines really don't matter any more), which team is more likely to end up with a group of thirty talented football players? Now, it wouldn't surprise me at all if a rural team, like Pahokee, could beat the bottom-feeder teams in the metro area, because all the talented kids from those metro teams ended up at the super-power de jure. But when it comes time for playoffs, the rural team likely won't stand a chance against the metro power. And, yes, there will be exceptions along the way, but for the most part, the numbers won't lie.

Circling back to the original question: does anyone know if the FHSAA publishes the results of its investigations into programs that recruit or provide impermissible benefits? If so, when and where?

I'll call a spade a spade. Venice attracts its fair share (perhaps more than its fair share) of the good athletes/football players in Sarasota County. Good for them; that happens when you develop a winning program. But, they then go out and recruit players from other counties (like QB's from the Tampa Bay area) to help push them over the edge. I can't argue with their success on the field, but it's why I have no respect for Peacock.

Other threads have touched on the topic of whether, in light of new school choice rules, the FHSAA punishes teams that recruit or otherwise violate FHSAA rules. Here's my question: does the FHSAA publish the cases - and more importantly, the results of cases -- that have come before it over the past year or two? I'd be interested to see something like: "School A was accused of recruiting (or, perhaps, allegations of recruiting were leveled against School A leading to a self-report). A determination was made that the accusations were (a) unfounded and the matter was closed or (b) well-founded and the following penalty(ies) were assessed against the school and/or its coaches." Such a list ought to be published quarterly. Let everyone see who's guilty of cheating and how they were punished. Feel free to disagree (but you'll be wrong).

One year shows a dominant team; four years shows a dominant program.

I think he's trying to set a trap. Seriously, my guess is that he's had/having a hard time getting teams to schedule Deland because of their recent success (and likely because teams don't want to play against Darlington-style offenses unless and until they have to). So, he's taking a page out of playbook of former Georgia coach, Vince Dooley, who was notorious for talking down his team's chances of success. In short, he's trying to entice potential opponents to catch Deland while they're down, knowing that they're not that down and knowing that they need games.

??

I may have an unpopular opinion on this subject, but I really don't have a problem with more than 50% of the teams making the playoffs. Half of those teams will likely lose their first round game, many by large margins (although the teams on the winning side of the blowouts, if smart, will rest starters and give quality playing time to kids that have paid their dues all season and/or kids who will be returning next season). But if some relatively weak teams get to play a single playoff game, so what? The kids get to play one more high school football game than they otherwise would have. I don't have a problem with that. More gate money to share (assuming it doesn't all go the FHSAA, which I don't believe is the case for early-round games). Boosters get to sell more hot dogs at the concession stand. The bands and cheerleaders get one more Friday night under the lights. And thirty to forty years from now, when the kids from the losing team are overweight and out-of-shape, they can go on a high school football message board and brag about the time they played in a high school playoff game. Again, I'm OK with that.

So, hear me out on this. A QB left Polk County to attend a school in the Tampa Bay/Hillsborough County area as a junior. That means Venice can go after him next year.

I suspect this hire will help Northwestern's recruiting, er, transfer efforts.

I didn't know you were allowed to say that on a message board.

Former head coach Mike Gregory reportedly has been hired as the "new" head coach at Tampa Catholic.

It's friggin' January. You've got the kids who transferred from one school to another prior to the start of this semester. You've got the kids who will transfer before Spring practice starts. You've got the kids who will transfer after Spring practice ends. You've got the kids who will transfer over the summer because they played 7 on 7 with some kids from some other school. You've got the kids who will transfer because somebody somewhere promised to give them or their family something if they switched schools. In short, it's really hard to predict how good this team or that team is going to be in the fall because no one knows what each school's roster is going to look like come August. For high school football players, August is a lifetime away. But Central and Northwestern will probably both be pretty good.

Can it be done? Yes. Should it be done? No.

I can't decide if this is sad or funny.

I'm not saying that anything in this post is inaccurate, but it appears we're at the point where we're just casually talking about high schools recruiting when, as far as I know, recruiting is still illegal. Oh, well.

All kidding aside (if that can even be described as "kidding"), here's the problem that high school coaches face: if their team has had a successful run, and then they have a "down year," there's a good chance all the good players who would otherwise be returning and/or beginning their high school career at that school will jump ship and transfer. One down year leads to two or three and next thing you know, you're one of the "have nots" and you're trying to rebuild your program all over again.