Kissimmee Osceola Coach Retires

[Perspective]

Guys, I'm not shy about calling out the FHSAA when they've done something wrong but, in my opinion, you can't blame the "transfer" thing on them.   That blame needs to be placed squarely on the state legislature.  I'm pretty sure I've posted the whole back-story on this site before, but the bottom line is that a state rep from Lakeland got all bent out of shape that the FHSAA wasn't allowing kids to transfer into her beloved Lakeland High School (or, if they did transfer in, they had to sit out a season).   So, she introduced legislation, and the legislature passed a law, that basically allows any kid in a particular county to attend any school in that county for any reason whatsoever as long as there is room at the school they want to attend.  In short, the Florida Legislature forced this issue down the throats of the FHSAA. They even threatened to cut off funding for the FHSAA if the FHSAA didn't rewrite their rules and policies to conform with the new law. 

Individual counties in the state can still restrict transfers into its schools when those schools are at or above capacity (or perhaps even within a certain percentage or number of capacity).   I'll give you an example from Hillsborough County:  Plant has been at or over capacity for over a decade.  With a couple of very fact-specific exceptions (that have to be approved by all the powers-to-be), a kid in Hillsborough County cannot attend Plant unless they live in the Plant district.  On the other hand, Armwood is not at capacity.  Therefore, any kid in Hillsborough County can choose to attend Armwood and play sports there if they want to.   The only caveat is that if the kid lives out of the district, he has to provide for his own transportation to and from school. 

Now I'll shift from the "news" section to the "editorial" section.   Because of what happened a few years back, in my opinion, the FHSAA basically had their mojo taken away from them (refer to the Austin Powers movies).  As a result, in my opinion, they have been very, very timid when it comes to policing alleged recruiting violations.  For the most part, they don't have anyone on staff initiating investigations; they only investigate if another member school files a complaint.  Combine that with the "honor among thieves" mentality that exists among high school coaches and athletic directors (many of whom are or used to be coaches), and you end up with a policy manual that has no teeth and a group of people that are willing to look the other way for fear that their indiscretions might get revealed.  But I'll leave the rest of this part of the conversation for another day.  For now, just know that the FHSAA could be doing more about the recruiting problems, but may be hesitant to do so because of how they got b!tch-slapped around by your elected officials in Tallahassee a few years ago. 

[skyway]

7 hours ago, badbird said:

Funny you mentioned Lake Minneola.  They are a good example of what transferring talent can do to a program.  Minneola has been average since they opened until 2 years ago.  2 years ago they got about 10 transfers and they lost in the 3rd round.  After another influx of talent they made it to the state finals.  Unfortunately for them the Dade County transfers of Miami Central are a little better than the Lake County transfers.

I know nothing about Lake Minneola! But, they were the only team I could think of that made it to a state title game that may not have had many/any transfers. Whoops. 

[skyway]

1 hour ago, Perspective said:

Guys, I'm not shy about calling out the FHSAA when they've done something wrong but, in my opinion, you can't blame the "transfer" thing on them.   That blame needs to be placed squarely on the state legislature.  I'm pretty sure I've posted the whole back-story on this site before, but the bottom line is that a state rep from Lakeland got all bent out of shape that the FHSAA wasn't allowing kids to transfer into her beloved Lakeland High School (or, if they did transfer in, they had to sit out a season).   So, she introduced legislation, and the legislature passed a law, that basically allows any kid in a particular county to attend any school in that county for any reason whatsoever as long as there is room at the school they want to attend.  In short, the Florida Legislature forced this issue down the throats of the FHSAA. They even threatened to cut off funding for the FHSAA if the FHSAA didn't rewrite their rules and policies to conform with the new law. 

Individual counties in the state can still restrict transfers into its schools when those schools are at or above capacity (or perhaps even within a certain percentage or number of capacity).   I'll give you an example from Hillsborough County:  Plant has been at or over capacity for over a decade.  With a couple of very fact-specific exceptions (that have to be approved by all the powers-to-be), a kid in Hillsborough County cannot attend Plant unless they live in the Plant district.  On the other hand, Armwood is not at capacity.  Therefore, any kid in Hillsborough County can choose to attend Armwood and play sports there if they want to.   The only caveat is that if the kid lives out of the district, he has to provide for his own transportation to and from school. 

Now I'll shift from the "news" section to the "editorial" section.   Because of what happened a few years back, in my opinion, the FHSAA basically had their mojo taken away from them (refer to the Austin Powers movies).  As a result, in my opinion, they have been very, very timid when it comes to policing alleged recruiting violations.  For the most part, they don't have anyone on staff initiating investigations; they only investigate if another member school files a complaint.  Combine that with the "honor among thieves" mentality that exists among high school coaches and athletic directors (many of whom are or used to be coaches), and you end up with a policy manual that has no teeth and a group of people that are willing to look the other way for fear that their indiscretions might get revealed.  But I'll leave the rest of this part of the conversation for another day.  For now, just know that the FHSAA could be doing more about the recruiting problems, but may be hesitant to do so because of how they got b!tch-slapped around by your elected officials in Tallahassee a few years ago. 

It's all part of the school choice movement. If you think long enough and hard enough about it, it is very difficult to find fault with the spirit of the rules. Of course, it does bring about other unintended problems. Programs- be it sports, the arts or academics- that have a strong reputation get richer with new students, while fledgling programs that may be of quality struggle to ever get flying because all of the most talented/dedicated kids go to the other schools. And of course the high turnover rates and lack of loyalty degrade the overall experience for everyone. 

[h8r]

3 hours ago, Ray Icaza said:

Agreed, FHSAA legalized this problem so they wouldn't be in the middle of arbitration.   Example of kids that transferred from Toho proves my point.  The QB, Wesley Tyler would have a short drive to OHS but we are not in the need for a QB where Edgewater is; we are 3 deep at the position, obviously he might be better than our 2nd or 3rd stringer but maybe not.  Same at LB, OHS doesn't have an issue so the other kid transferred to Dr. Phillips.  Those are Orlando schools almost 20 miles away, not even in the same county.  Any kid not zoned to our school that plays for us is usually a legacy deal, their dad, granddad, uncle, etc. was a Kowboy and wants his kid to carry on the tradition.  We just by happen chance didn't get 3 offensive lineman which we could use this year as that is where we graduated key players.   That does happen at the big metro schools around the state, ie. Jax, Tampa, south Florida and Orlando.

didnt the qb and lb come from st cloud?  who lost like 20+ dudes, why wouldnt they go back there?

[h8r]

1 hour ago, Perspective said:

Guys, I'm not shy about calling out the FHSAA when they've done something wrong but, in my opinion, you can't blame the "transfer" thing on them.   That blame needs to be placed squarely on the state legislature.  I'm pretty sure I've posted the whole back-story on this site before, but the bottom line is that a state rep from Lakeland got all bent out of shape that the FHSAA wasn't allowing kids to transfer into her beloved Lakeland High School (or, if they did transfer in, they had to sit out a season).   So, she introduced legislation, and the legislature passed a law, that basically allows any kid in a particular county to attend any school in that county for any reason whatsoever as long as there is room at the school they want to attend.  In short, the Florida Legislature forced this issue down the throats of the FHSAA. They even threatened to cut off funding for the FHSAA if the FHSAA didn't rewrite their rules and policies to conform with the new law. 

Individual counties in the state can still restrict transfers into its schools when those schools are at or above capacity (or perhaps even within a certain percentage or number of capacity).   I'll give you an example from Hillsborough County:  Plant has been at or over capacity for over a decade.  With a couple of very fact-specific exceptions (that have to be approved by all the powers-to-be), a kid in Hillsborough County cannot attend Plant unless they live in the Plant district.  On the other hand, Armwood is not at capacity.  Therefore, any kid in Hillsborough County can choose to attend Armwood and play sports there if they want to.   The only caveat is that if the kid lives out of the district, he has to provide for his own transportation to and from school. 

Now I'll shift from the "news" section to the "editorial" section.   Because of what happened a few years back, in my opinion, the FHSAA basically had their mojo taken away from them (refer to the Austin Powers movies).  As a result, in my opinion, they have been very, very timid when it comes to policing alleged recruiting violations.  For the most part, they don't have anyone on staff initiating investigations; they only investigate if another member school files a complaint.  Combine that with the "honor among thieves" mentality that exists among high school coaches and athletic directors (many of whom are or used to be coaches), and you end up with a policy manual that has no teeth and a group of people that are willing to look the other way for fear that their indiscretions might get revealed.  But I'll leave the rest of this part of the conversation for another day.  For now, just know that the FHSAA could be doing more about the recruiting problems, but may be hesitant to do so because of how they got b!tch-slapped around by your elected officials in Tallahassee a few years ago. 

wasnt that the year that george jenkins was pretty decent, had a good qb and 3 or 4 wrs.  all a sudden they end up at lakeland, lake gibson had a couple good kids go there too.  and they had to sit out spring?  the publix school (GJ) hc was a bit of a loud mouth, if I am remembering this right, and called the naughts out in the paper.

 

[h8r]

now to the OP.

rumor central is churning....aforementioned coaches above not getting the position, as calls went out this AM.  

 

[Ray Icaza]

21 minutes ago, h8r said:

didnt the qb and lb come from st cloud?  who lost like 20+ dudes, why wouldnt they go back there?

Nope.  Most kids at Toho were siphoned off of Gateway HS.  They have been affected terribly with the new school.

[Ray Icaza]

5 hours ago, h8r said:

now to the OP.

rumor central is churning....aforementioned coaches above not getting the position, as calls went out this AM.  

 

Nope, it looks like it will be Eric Pinellas.

[Ray Icaza]

13 hours ago, Ray Icaza said:

Nope, it looks like it will be Eric Pinellas.

Defense looked dominant last night vs Edgewater, despite holding out stud DT John Walker and a starting LB for minor recovery from injury.  As mentioned earlier, offensive line needs work plus we need a kicker but skill players are in place.

[h8r]

On 5/21/2021 at 3:17 PM, Ray Icaza said:

Nope.  Most kids at Toho were siphoned off of Gateway HS.  They have been affected terribly with the new school.

the toho qb that transferred to edgewater, lives on the state streets in st cloud.  digging around and find out info, and most of the kids came from gateway, but a dozen or 2 of their best players came from just across the lake....

congrats to EP. 

[OHS_Kboys]

21 hours ago, h8r said:

the toho qb that transferred to edgewater, lives on the state streets in st cloud.  digging around and find out info, and most of the kids came from gateway, but a dozen or 2 of their best players came from just across the lake....

congrats to EP. 

Thank you sir!