A Big Problem with Our Current Classifications

[Cat_Scratch]

7 hours ago, OldSchoolLion said:

I really like your comment.  In the days before the internet, people may not have anything better to do a Friday night than go watch the local hs team, regardless of how good they were.  Now we have so many choices.  Once fans lose interest today, I can see it being very difficult to get them back.   

Getting them back takes a momentous effort from the school to get the students back and a winning streak to get the fans back. 

[OldSchoolLion]

Pine Ridge, one of the 100 teams listed above, and a school that has been around since 1994, goes to Georgia and loses 62-0 to a solid Ware County program.  I wonder how many other teams on this list above would not have fared much better?

Does FL have a lot of talent.  Yes.  Is it "overflowing?"   I don't believe so.  If it was, I think a Florida 6A program in a substantially populated area like Volusia County could do better against a rural, Georgia program from a county with about 35,000 people.  Volusia County has over 500,000.

Louisville High in Mississippi, from a county of 19,000 people, came to Navarre and beat them yesterday.  Santa Rosa County, where Navarre is located, has over 150,000.      

 

 

[Bamarod]

On 8/15/2018 at 11:37 AM, OldSchoolLion said:

...another tidbit.  Below are the more successful programs from the list above.  Note the coaching continuity.

Bartram Trail-Darrell Sutherland-18 seasons as head coach

Braden River-Curt Bradley-6 seasons

Cypress Bay-Mark Guandolo-11 seasons (resigned last season)

Heritage(Palm Bay)-Mark Ainsley-4 seasons (and one other coach who was there 4 years since the school opened)

Wharton-David Mitchell-13 seasons

Viera-Kevin Mays-7 seasons (resigned last season)

Kevin Mays made Viera football program.  Having staff continuity is the top factor in making a new school competitive. Of course, coaches need to be competent to begin with.

[OldSchoolLion]

Everglades(8A), one of the teams on the list above, just lost 39-0 to Thomasville(GA), a team that would be 4A in FL.  Everglades has been around since 2003 and is located in Miramar, less than 1 mile from the Dade County line. 

Taravella(8A) is a Broward County school that opened in 1981.  In 37 years, they have only won 3 playoff games.  They just got beat by Coffee County of GA 54-6.  Coffee would be a 6A school in FL.  

Wouldn't you think teams from an area of the country supposedly overflowing with talent could do better than that against rural Georgia teams with a limited talent pool to draw from (Thomas and Coffee counties have population of less that 50,000)?

My point is that Florida already has numerous football programs in urban areas that cannot get off the ground and we are opening even more schools.  The sad news is that there are many schools in Broward and Dade that would have been blown out just as badly.