HornetFan

I love football, but kids have to understand, it's not as important as a good education. I don't believe in participation awards and for many kids from poor areas that high school championship is just that, a participation award. They won a high school football championship. They may get an athletic scholarship to college; few will graduate with a worthwhile degree and sufficient knowledge to succeed in the workplace. But, you as a fan will cherish that championship; a championship that was earned through no effort on your part.

And the purpose of the transfer policy was to allow kids from those poorer schools to transfer to schools where their chance of academic success can be much greater. What is ridiculous is people like you selling football to these kids as their way to success. Less than one in a thousand make it to the NFL. Those that make it seldom last more than 2 or 3 seasons. Then, it's on to the real world where they are not prepared for much more than riding on the back of a garbage truck. And you justify it because you want your high school team to win championships; that's sad.

Clearwater Cocoa Lakewood Tampa Catholic Vero Beach Deland Oakleaf Edgewater Palmetto N Marion

Kyle Trask was a backup in HS and spent 4 years as a backup at UF. Now, let's name another HS backup that received a similar opportunity. For the great majority of HS football players, HS is the end of their football career. By importing players from outside the school, coaches are telling these kids that the coach's football record is more important than the kid's HS experience.

I guess the state of Florida should stop rating schools academically and grade them only by how successful their football program performs.

They are not baseless accusations. I know that the #1 ranked school in Central Florida recruits. I have spoken with several kids and a coach from a neighboring school that were approached by players from that #1 school. They were told that the coaches couldn't talk to them direct unless they inquired about a transfer. If a friend sets you up with a neighbor's wife or you approach her yourself, it's still cheating.

Are we comparing OOS national all-star teams like Mater Dei, St Frances, and say Bishop Gorman, against all-star teams here in Florida like IMG and STA, or are we talking about 2nd tier OOS all-star teams that travel to Florida and schedule our traditional high school teams that don't recruit? IMG and STA can compete with the best OOS schools. I don't think it's fair to compare our traditional schools to 2nd tier OOS travelling teams. Florida still has a tremendous amount of high school talent, comparable to California and Texas.

I stand by what I posted. The transfer policy was sold in the state legislature as a way to enable academically under-performing students to move to a school that would improve their chances for a better education. If it were put in place for athletic transfers, they would have allowed for recruiting.

Should we add that the transfer policy was sponsored by a state legislator from Lakeland? I guess when your state legislator and coach have trouble being ethical, you can't expect much more from their fans.

So you failed to mention that your association with the future NBA players happened in AAU and not in a Florida high school. AAU programs deal solely with athletics and as a private organization, they have nothing to do with transfer or recruiting rules that are applicable to FHSAA schools.

Let's clear up the obvious first; the state of Florida does not recognize athletic teams as a "magnet program" as you inferred in your post. Next, as for telling under-performing students to simply "man up", I don't support that direction. That is specifically what the transfer program was supposed to address. It allows students at schools that are deficient to transfer to a better academic school in their area. The transfer program was passed by the legislature to address academic issues, not athletic program building. I don't support the creation of all these charter schools that are not required to meet the same standards as our public schools. Dumbing down the curriculum so kids can get higher grades does nothing to improve their education. As for which one is it? "schools need a more level playing field in regards to having more equal access to motivated and talented students", including under-performing students seeking better instruction, but that level playing field is the classroom, not the football field or basketball court.

The problem with your rationale is that this isn't college football, it's high school football. As for your hard work in your time and being beat out by two future NBA players, were these "imaginary NBA players" local kids or transfers that were recruited by your local public high school?

They abuse the transfer rules by recruiting kids for athletics. The transfer rules were supposedly put in place for kids that wanted the opportunity for a better education at a school that was rated higher academically than their previous school, or to allow kids to take special programs such as those offered at magnet schools. Coaches use their players to recruit so the coach cannot be charged with intentionally violating the rules.

Ok, you've drawn your liberal line in the sand. As long as the coach isn't sleeping with minors, everything else is acceptable as long as Lakeland has a winning team. What do you say to the kids that have put in their training an efforts for 2 or 3 years from 9th grade on and can't get on the field because you're recruiting players from other schools? I'm sure the morale is really great for those local kids.

I also agree that pushing the ratings out two weeks is the best course for FHSAA to take. When it finally comes out, every coach and rabid fan of a team with a prayer of sniffing the playoffs will be going through gyrations and calculations to determine the "what if's" for the remainder of the season. The later it comes out, it will be easier to narrow the focus down to fewer potential teams.

Are you serious? Now you have to use military families to justify skirting the rules? How many of the football transfers have started attending Lakeland this year or last year because a parent has transferred to a military base in Lakeland? How many kids in Lakeland HS band or JROTC lost their spots in those groups because the son or daughter of a military person transferred to Lakeland HS? I think it's best you stop trying to defend something that really has no defense.

The Orlando Sentinel printed a article today that addresses when RPI rankings will be released: "FHSAA football playoff power rankings still two weeks away". Initial rankings will be released following completion of Week 7 games in two weeks. https://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/highschool/football/os-sp-hs-fhsaa-football-20190923-2znwu7qf4bcthgbfiecyiunuz4-story.html

There are only two real revenue sports in college, football and men's basketball. Those two sports support all other college sports. Perennial basketball powers like Kansas, Connecticut, and UCLA do not come close to matching what football brings to the Power 5 conferences in TV money. As for being "grandfathered in", Rutgers and Maryland recently joined the Big 10; Louisville and others did the same in the ACC, Texas A&M and Missouri to the SEC, etc. The Power 5 is a consortium of older, established schools who find it mutually beneficial to isolate newer Division I football schools and minimize their access to TV revenue and thereby limit competition based upon a level playing field.

When I was a kid growing up, we learned to fight our own battles, and if we lost, it was us that lost and we accepted that result. The new philosophy of "rent a football player" to wear your school's uniform and play your games for you, just seems to take something away from the victories. At least with ethical fans, I think it would. It would also bother me that our homegrown kids who have worked hard, put in the effort, and had hopes of playing football for their school, would be shoved aside so an outsider could come in and play in their place.

By your last statement, "*I'm actually on the progressive, liberal end of the political spectrum FWIW" , I understand you're argument for "entitlement" when it comes to taking the fruits of another coach's labor, not sharing in the effort to develop the talent, and using it as if you have every right to benefit from someone else's efforts. As a conservative, I believe that the person who puts in the work should reap the rewards from their efforts.

So you're telling us that Wake Forest, Vandy, Kansas, llinois, Indiana, Rutgers, etc. are heavyweights and UCF, Boise State, and the rest of the very good G5 teams are only cruiserweights?

You sound like Bill Clinton; it all depends on what you mean by "cheating".

That's not true. The students at almost all schools take pride in their teams and love to see them win. Some win following the rules and others ........................

I was speaking to a coach today about this very topic. He stated that it is strictly forbidden for coaches to recruit talent from other schools, BUT that doesn't stop the players from a school recruiting friends or acquaintances from other schools. The players do it on the QT. He said all coaches are aware this practice is going on.

I don't think this could ever happen in Florida, but at least in Iowa they're seeking a solution for the apparent disparity in teams. I would rather see teams move to districts where the competition would be balanced. Here in Florida, you get one team that abuses transfer rules and that district becomes noncompetitive. If you want super teams, let them form a single league and play each other or go national like IMG. Stop beating up on teams that field only homegrown talent.