IMG is a different category as it isn't depriving anyone from a state championship, so I am okay with their model of taking elite players from around the country and preparing them in every way for the next step in their development.  The two players we lost to TFA will be contributing seniors to their program in the upcoming season and as you can see didn't devastate our program last year so my beef isn't about that.  However, it is my understanding that they took 6 or 7 of the best players from both Lake Minneola and Leesburg last year and that would certainly be a devastating blow to almost any FL HS team's chance for success.  That is unconscionable.

None of this has anything to do with the (im)propriety of allowing some schools to play by a different set of rules. What would happen to Osceola if they actively and blatantly recruited players on TFA's roster, as TFA did to them? There'd be a scandal, the coaches would be fired, and the team banned from playoffs. IMG does this and it's "savvy marketing" or something lauded. What would happen if Lakeland offered housing for prospective players as IMG does? We don't have to search for an answer to this question, as it's assumed it already happened in about 2011 and there was an outcome that was highly unfavorable to Lakeland. Meanwhile, IMG and SFA do it and are lauded, while programs who won't play them are accused of being scaredy cat wimps by internet posers. Any program who wants a seat at the table and a place in the playoffs needs to play by the same set of rules as the others who want to do this.

I think kids know who the hot hand is. Take Edgewater for example before Cameron Duke. Laughingstock. Then he “attracts” players and becomes a contender every year.    Look at Deerfield Beach. They were a 8-12 win team annually with Jevon Glenn. Now they are one of the worst teams in South Florida. They have won 6 games in the last 3 season combined after he left!!! Point is certain coaches know how to attract players. Players know where to go and when to go. It’s even easier in the Information Age.    So if TFA has coaches who know this formula, it’s not a surprise someone can get really good really fast 

I tend to side with Ray here. No other program can entice players in the way IMG, and it seems TFA, have done. Programs shouldn't play by different sets of rules. The idea that an absolute nobody program at a tiny school can suddenly scoop up many of the area's best players and play a national schedule without ever having won ANYTHING is ludicrous.  But, I think where we run into trouble is with the basic idea around programs being able to recruit players. I think we're beyond the point of a communist-style approach where we engineer equivalent talent bases for programs. The better programs should be able to recruit/attract whoever they please, and families pick the best option. Now that the players are all professionals (don't get it twisted, the 16 year-old brat who isn't any good STILL retains the right to PURSUE "NIL" opportunities and there is a non-zero chance he'll get some eventually), schools and/or boosters should also be able to pay players. It's basically already legal. The market will eventually sort itself out and we'll reach a point where no one would actually pay a teenager to play sports for a particular high school. It will just be seen as bad business. But, it shouldn't be illegal. And, it wouldn't be such a sore spot if all the programs could play by the same rules.

Plausible Deniability can be used as a defense, but it still doesn't eliminate GUILT!!  They took 2 kids from our program and had a full court press on our 2 top LB's that just graduated, Melendez who is now at Auburn and Robert Lee at FAU.  This isn't hearsay as their parents told me as much at practices.  "COERCING" the player isn't the standard, instead simply talking too and encouraging it.   Kids that were not involved shouldn't be punished and with the School Choice they are free to play elsewhere.  The institution knew all along as their Principal as well as the varsity baseball HC resigned in protest of what they witnessed.  TFA needs to be held accountable for turning a blind eye.   Hopefully, we will see more of this in the upcoming season as they aren't a one off.