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Nah, you're a lifetime coach! I think my time has run out. I hope to see everyone in August, the Good Lord willin'!

Good catch.....I fixed it. Hammy and Rocket3118 were the same dude.

As someone who grew up in the hard-core Religious Right subculture/church, there are a few reasons. 1. Prior to the 1960s, many public schools were very openly and explicitly Protestant. Daily Bible readings, prayers, they basically openly embraced religious belief and practice as long as it was "nondenominational" (e.g., "Protestant"). I remember an older family member complaining about "God being taken out of schools" and saying "well, we had a Jewish person in my class and when it was her turn to read the Bible, she always read from the Old Testament." The Catholic/parochial school system developed as a means of educating Catholic students because the public schools were so openly Protestant. 2. After court rulings banned prayers, Bible readings and open religious instruction in public schools, churches (especially conservative Baptist churches) began opening their own schools. The one my siblings went to opened in 1965. There was a Lutheran school system similar to the Catholic one (albeit on a much smaller scale), but it grew post-1965, too. Some were also created to avoid segregation, but moreso in the South than in Indiana (where, thanks to the Klan's control of the state in the 1920s, most small towns had few/no Black residents, and that's where many of the religious schools were). 3. Parents began desiring their tax dollars that were supporting those "Godless" public schools be able to be used to send their kids to said conservative Baptist schools (or pay for homeschooling, which has also become a big deal in conservative/evangelical culture), and thus the voucher concept was born. Legislators, in trying to funnel money to their preferred private schools, began to villify public schools, and the distaste has grown since. In Indiana, every single bill post-2009 has been to try to weaken traditional public schools and funnel as many kids as possible to charter/private/parochial schools. And when not enough kids are doing what the legislature told them to do, they double down even more.

Foxbat, I really like this schedule upgrade for Harrison. I would definitely consider it an upgrade as well given what it was to what it is now. No, it isn't the "strongest" of schedules but all you can do is your best and this appears to be the best you guys can do, for now, to steadily improve your program's schedule. Excited to see how it works out for the Raiders!

To the point I think at times, I could have been a detective. 😄 Piecing things together at times has been a challenge, but it has been fun too.

Typically new users if they never been here before get lost at times...... Some new members who rejoin under new alias are able to be found out pretty easily with the opposite of getting lost, instead they post a whole bunch of times within a very small amount of time all over the website, which means they are certiainly not a newbie things you pick up over the decade +

If you're interested, I highly recommend "A Fever in the Heartland" by Timothy Egan. One of the better books I've read in recent years.

The Rochester Rockets are VERY good and have seen them anywhere between 3A and 5A. They were one of the programs I referred to in a previous post as one of the few outside of the greater Chicagoland area that is undeniably competitive. I've also heard some Illinois folks who believe Rochester's head coach is one of the best offensive minds in IL.

The definition as I used it: "Football played at the lowest of class levels (1A-3A) that could not compete with the level of higher class (4A-8A) football played in the greater Chicagoland (IL) area." Example: 2024 IHSA 4A State Playoffs - Chicago (DePaul) beats St. Laurence (Burbank) in the Quarters 26-14 and Coal City (NW of Bourbonnais) 21-14. They play Mt. Zion from down near Springfield in the Finals... 40-6. I know, PRIVATE vs PUBLIC, right? Whelp, Coal City isn't private... I can find more than just this ONE example as well but didn't feel the need at the moment. So for me: Big Boy Football in Illinois = Played in or near Chicago Big Boy Football in Indiana = Played in or near Indianapolis (and in some cases a little South of there)

No. Talking about Spalding.

Is that anything like a non-paying Booster? https://gridirondigest.net/clients/donations/

All I ask is that you don't forget a central Illinois program with big time tradition......

Well played lol

Oh I guarantee it. To that I say… So I guess it’s more acceptable for a kid to jump ship early rather than staying and building somewhere? Why are we punishing a kid who has put the time in or taken his lumps every year at one place and just wants to have a more enjoyable/successful senior year? If anything it should be the other way around. Definitely makes more sense if a sophomore/junior has to sit for 30 days or just play JV initially, and then still have another full year or two. I’m all for the new transfer rule, but I despise the part where seniors have to be punished in their last (and probably most memorable) season.

How absolutely terrible would it be to live in Southern ILL and be controlled by Chicago politics? Yuck