OT: PIAA, leveling the playing field

[AWS1022]

The Octorara situation seems similar in that kids are actually living with family- or at least have real family members/addresses to use. The sport in this case is hoops- not football.

Coatesville and Aliquippa are downtrodden former steel mill cities- with no shortage of urban issues.

A stark difference is that the Coatesville area is growing as Philly suburbia spreads. Many in the McMansions send their kids to private school. A PSU roommate's wife teaches at CASH (Coatesville Area Senior High School) which is their 11/12 building. "CHAOS" is their 9/10 building and it is known to be crazy. Basically the young folks who have behavioral issues reach the end of the line in CHAOS- making it more violent and a harder learning environment. Those with the intention to graduate get to CASH- making it a much better school.

They live in a new neighborhood that used to be farmland just over the Downingtown line in the Coatesville district. While she likes her colleagues and students, 4 of their 5 went to Shanahan. However The Ville also has its' high flyers. Another PSU buddy taught Honors and AP Chemistry in CASH and coached Freshman basketball. He loved his job until he moved into Administration. Said many times he never encountered any of the issues that the school was known for as a teacher. Then being a Principal it was pretty much all he dealt with. He is no longer in Education.

Definitely not dissing @ you Spin- just a similar situation on my end of the state that I watched from behind the Scorers table for 15 years in hoops.

Yeah- it sucks when a kid who played for one of the 3 Coatesville middle schools suddenly appears at Octorara. But in my mind if it keeps the young men in school and athletically eligible towards graduation then that seems to be part of our current high school model.

The real superstars now leave Coatesville to play at one of the basketball preps. AJ Hoggard from MSU is the latest example- he went to Huntingdon Prep in WV- where OJ Mayo played.

OJ Mayo did not go to Huntington Prep…he went to Huntington High School which is a public school.

 

[AWS1022]

Right.
And the Pope is Jewish.

Sorry, you’re incorrect on this one.

 

[AWS1022]

Yep, they’ve probably got coaches sitting in an AAU tournament somewhere around Erie or Cleveland or Youngstown right now.

Apparently you don’t know much about that school.

 

[87 Penn St8]

OJ Mayo did not go to Huntington Prep…he went to Huntington High School which is a public school.

Good info- not living out that way, for whatever reason I assumed it was the Prep.

Back in that time didn't another top player "move" from maybe Ohio to play w OJ?

Things are changing. I remember watching a documentary on Tim Tebow and how he and his mom kept an apartment in the Nease school district so he could be on their football team. He was homeschooled and didn't attend classes. At the time it was positioned as showing the sacrifice made for greatness. I wonder if his race had anything to do with the positive spin on that?

I have cousins in LA whose sons went to a large Catholic school. It was routine that they would get athlete transfers from Montana and other parts of the West hoping to get their kids noticed. The football QB is typically not a Californian.

Hopefully somewhere in all of this kids are learning something in class. The public vs private debate is apples and oranges. As said in The Wizard of Oz from the other movie post: "Now that's a horse of a different color." 🐎

 

[AWS1022]

Good info- not living out that way, for whatever reason I assumed it was the Prep.

Back in that time didn't another top player "move" from maybe Ohio to play w OJ?

Things are changing. I remember watching a documentary on Tim Tebow and how he and his mom kept an apartment in the Nease school district so he could be on their football team. He was homeschooled and didn't attend classes. At the time it was positioned as showing the sacrifice made for greatness. I wonder if his race had anything to do with the positive spin on that?

I have cousins in LA whose sons went to a large Catholic school. It was routine that they would get athlete transfers from Montana and other parts of the West hoping to get their kids noticed. The football QB is typically not a Californian.

Hopefully somewhere in all of this kids are learning something in class. The public vs private debate is apples and oranges. As said in The Wizard of Oz from the other movie post: "Now that's a horse of a different color." 🐎

OJ is the one who moved from Ohio. He was from Huntington, but he went to school in Cincinnati. He wanted to come back and play with the group in Huntington because they were so loaded, so they moved back (or some say he moved in with his grandmother, but I’m not sure) for his senior year. That team was the best high school team I’ve ever seen.

 

[The Spin Meister]

The Octorara situation seems similar in that kids are actually living with family- or at least have real family members/addresses to use. The sport in this case is hoops- not football.

Coatesville and Aliquippa are downtrodden former steel mill cities- with no shortage of urban issues.

A stark difference is that the Coatesville area is growing as Philly suburbia spreads. Many in the McMansions send their kids to private school. A PSU roommate's wife teaches at CASH (Coatesville Area Senior High School) which is their 11/12 building. "CHAOS" is their 9/10 building and it is known to be crazy. Basically the young folks who have behavioral issues reach the end of the line in CHAOS- making it more violent and a harder learning environment. Those with the intention to graduate get to CASH- making it a much better school.

They live in a new neighborhood that used to be farmland just over the Downingtown line in the Coatesville district. While she likes her colleagues and students, 4 of their 5 went to Shanahan. However The Ville also has its' high flyers. Another PSU buddy taught Honors and AP Chemistry in CASH and coached Freshman basketball. He loved his job until he moved into Administration. Said many times he never encountered any of the issues that the school was known for as a teacher. Then being a Principal it was pretty much all he dealt with. He is no longer in Education.

Definitely not dissing @ you Spin- just a similar situation on my end of the state that I watched from behind the Scorers table for 15 years in hoops.

Yeah- it sucks when a kid who played for one of the 3 Coatesville middle schools suddenly appears at Octorara. But in my mind if it keeps the young men in school and athletically eligible towards graduation then that seems to be part of our current high school model.

The real superstars now leave Coatesville to play at one of the basketball preps. AJ Hoggard from MSU is the latest example- he went to Huntingdon Prep in WV- where OJ Mayo played.

I have stayed out of the main recruiting discussion because I know far less about than you(plural) that live it. I do know it goes on everywhere, some schools do it….others don’t.

But I do know a lot of kids transfer to get out if terrible situations. Bad family life, crime ridden neighborhoods, drugs and gangs. For any kids that improves his life …. Credit for having fortitude to do so. Came from a great family in a great neighborhood in a great school district so I have no idea how difficult it must be to have to make that choice .

As for Aliquippa….. if a kid is a D1 prospect, especially a 4/5 star player, they would have far better offers than moving to Aliquippa….. a really bad area to live. And until this past year they had what was possibly the worst stadium in the entire state.

But they just opened a brand new stadium plus a company announced it will build an all new steel mill in Aliquippa so hoping things are turning around for those long suffering people.

 

[joeaubie21]

Aliquippa is a terrible place.

 

[bison13]

Apparently you don’t know much about that school.

Yep, I do know the girls basketball coach is also the athletic Director and they’re probably at an AAU tournament right now

 

[Safety Blitz]

Sorry, you’re incorrect on this one.

Sorry. Not trying to be a smart ass, but I know way more than you apparently think you know on this one.

 

[AWS1022]

Sorry. Not trying to be a smart ass, but I know way more than you apparently think you know on this one.

Not in this case.

 

[Safety Blitz]

Gotta give you credit for being consistent.
You always know everything about absolutely everything.
That’s good enough for me.

 

[passedout]

Ironically the PIAA decided to go after Aliquippa in order to level the playing field. What a sham.

Aliquippa is a huge offender! They play the race card. THEY are the sham. Warfield, since he's taken over in 2018 is 74-6, has had double digit D-1 caliber recruits transfer into the program. His argument is his players will get injured playing big schools. That's pure BS. Aliquippa went 300# tackle to tackle across the line and had/has multiple D1 athletes on or coming into the program (including the best player from 6A Central Catholic). I recent transfer from 5A North Hills (their best player) was ruled ineligible (the only one) and they are appealing.

 

[passedout]

Because they are living with family members which is 100% legal and by the rules. They are almost always coming from nearby districts and escaping bad situations.

Huge difference from some wealthy kid coming from across the state or even several states away. Lives in a dorm or with ‘host parents’ they never met before.

By all accounts Aliquippa has a great coach and a great program with solid academic requirements. Kids that enroll there usually make big improvements in the education and their lives, even the ones that don’t become D1 superstars.

Paul Warfield, is that you? This is BS. The kids coming in to Quippa are all purely their for football reasons. Warfield is in kids ears about "all the major colleges come to see the Quips play". Why would 4 kids with D1 offers already coming from better situations go to gun-riddled Aliquippa? Larry Moon and Sa’Nir Brooks, who transferred back from Central Catholic. Bishop Canevin transfer Daiveon Taylor, a high-profile recruit committed to West Virginia, and Snacks Allen from North Hills 300# lineman with D1 offers. They are ALL hand-picked.

 

[The Spin Meister]

Paul Warfield, is that you? This is BS. The kids coming in to Quippa are all purely their for football reasons. Warfield is in kids ears about "all the major colleges come to see the Quips play". Why would 4 kids with D1 offers already coming from better situations go to gun-riddled Aliquippa? Larry Moon and Sa’Nir Brooks, who transferred back from Central Catholic. Bishop Canevin transfer Daiveon Taylor, a high-profile recruit committed to West Virginia, and Snacks Allen from North Hills 300# lineman with D1 offers. They are ALL hand-picked.

So a player that was recruited by a Catholic school from Aliquippa moves back to Aliquippa and you count that as a negative.

And wouldn’t those D1 kids be getting offers from other schools with great facilities and lots if D1 coaches watching? Aren’t they getting offers from schools in fantastic neighborhoods? Great facilities? Great climates?

I am not saying they never recruit. But the kids go there for more than football as they could get better coaching, better training facilities, better living conditions at those football factories like IMG and a dozen or more others.

There is a reason one kid left a top rated Catholic school.

 

[tullfan68]

Aliquippa only doing what most other schools do,they are a small school it's just stupid to keep making them go up to play much larger schools.thought it was supposed to be about attendance total?

 

[The Spin Meister]

Aliquippa only doing what most other schools do,they are a small school it's just stupid to keep making them go up to play much larger schools.thought it was supposed to be about attendance total?

It is about attendance but the PIAA was heavily criticized about Catholic and private schools dominating because of recruiting. So they instituted a rule forcing teams to move up in classification if they won several championships in a short time.

Quips always played AA even when attendance was A. After winning several titles they were forced to AAA where they kept winning titles do now they okay AAAA.

But they won again and the state tried to force them to play 5A. Quips went to court and won sobsill stay at 4A…….. for now.