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4 minutes ago, Cow Bell said:

With out the SF how many private school are in 6A or 5A.

LaSalle in Ohio could never win a state championship at D1.

They dropped there enrollment to D2 and now dominate.  

They have no plans at raising there enrollment now.

Through all your inaudible rambling this is up there for post of the year. No private or parochial is capping their enrollment to pad their trophy case. Less student=less tuition dollars which is the biggest source of income these schools take in. Don't be ridiculous.

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1 hour ago, George Orwell 2 said:

Here a post I made about 4 or 5 years ago.  

"I must say there have been a lot of intelligent statements made in this thread and for the most part I am impressed by the civility of the discussion.  Although the old public-p/p discussions (pre-Success Factor), were much more entertaining.  The difficulty in this debate is that the inherent advantages of private schools simply cannot easily be separated from the earned advantages of certain private schools.  Everyone recognizes that there are certain inherent advantages but everyone also recognizes that there are earned advantages that certain schools (many, but not all, private) have attained.   

Contrary to many views expressed on the forum, there aren’t one or two or even a few specific variables that one can point to which lead to long term, significant football success.  The fact is that the variables involved are so numerous and so complex that it is nearly impossible to identify all of them or to determine how much each lend to the success of the program.  In addition, some variables may lend more to the success of certain programs and other variables may lend more to the success of others.  Also, some variables are inherent in a community and others are developed over time. 

The attribute which has the most direct correlation with football success is enrollment size.  The size of the school has a stronger correlation with having a better football team than any other variable.  If you use Sagarin rankings as the measure of quality, larger schools, on average, are consistently ranked higher than smaller schools.  As we all know, although size matters, it isn’t necessarily the determining factor.  In fact, there are numerous variables which seem to have a correlation to football success but are not absolute determining factors.  How about simply being a private school? On the other hand, there are many private schools that are not very good at football at all.  What about being located in a densely populated area?  Once again, lots of schools located in densely populated areas aren’t very good.  The opposite is also true.  There are some very good rural programs.   Being Catholic versus other religious schools versus completely secular private high schools?  Same thing.  Some Catholic schools are good, some are not, some non-Catholic private schools are good, some are not.  There also seems to be consensus that average household income has some effect on success.  I don’t know if there are any studies on this but I question the significance of this variable.  My suspicion is that at some income levels the difference isn’t very significant.  For instance, the difference in the success effect between enrollment populations with very low average incomes as compared to slightly above average incomes is probably much greater than the difference between enrollment populations with average incomes versus above average incomes.  In fact, there is probably a point at which increasing income levels decreases football success as very high income households may dissuade their children from football participation.

Of course all of this begs the question as to why certain schools have achieved a level of dominance over the others?  I have read some posts which insist that the Catholic schools (or more correctly, the Catholic schools which are dominant) have better players than their private school counterparts.   For the sake of argument, let’s assume that that is true (at least at game time).  In fact, let’s assume that this is true of all schools which have experienced significant football success regardless of whether they are public or private.  Why is it that the athletes on the field would be better at one school of similar size than another?  The obvious answers are 1) a higher percentage of the population desires to play, 2) they start playing earlier, 3) they receive good instruction from a young age, and 4) the players develop a team oriented identity from an early age. 

When you get down to it, football (all sports really) is a math game.  The more students a school has to choose from, the more quality athletes will be in the pool.  Why does the German national soccer team beat the US national team every time they play?  The German national team has better players than the US national team.  Why?  The German national team has the 25 best athletes in the country on the team.  They started playing at a very young age.  They received good instruction from an early age, they developed a team oriented identity when they were very young, and they devoted themselves to soccer success.  The US national team doesn’t have the country’s best athletes on the team.  There are some very good athletes on the team; some that may be the top athletes in the country.  But not all of the best athletes in the US play soccer, nor do they get the same level of instruction as German youth players, etc.   

                So the first, and probably most important variable, is that every one of the good athletes in the community must have a strong desire to play football from an early age and to devote themselves to the success of their team.  Understand that this variable isn’t inherent in a Catholic school, a public school, a city school, a country school, a rich school, or a poor school.  This is a variable that is a by-product of the identity of the community. 

                Certain communities value football participation (and by extension, success) more than others.  The Indianapolis Catholic community (of course, there are others but this is the one of which I am most familiar) has taken great pride in their football success for generations.  Football was a sport that lent itself to the blue collar, mostly immigrant, and less sophisticated Catholic communities in the early part of the 20th century.  At the time, football was a poor man’s sport.  It was tough and violent and there were a lot of serious injuries.  The type of activity that poor, uneducated immigrant kids and young adults would not be dissuaded from.  It just so happened that there were a lot of poor Catholic kids in Indianapolis at that time and a great many of them starting playing football.  That developed into football success and a certain pride what went with it.  In a community that had no other way to favorably compare themselves to the majority, athletic success, especially in football, became part of its identity.  The resulting pride in that success was passed down from generation to generation.  It became part of the culture of Catholic school education.  

Now, this history isn’t unique to the Catholic community.  There are other communities throughout the state, which are not necessarily Catholic, which have developed a “football culture.”  The fact, though, is that it takes generations (not years or even decades but generations) to develop the type of football culture that leads to dominance at the high school level.   But it is this “football culture” that most strongly drives the success of the community’s football programs. 

The result is that when teams like Bishop Chatard, Roncalli, Cathedral, Andrean, LCC, etc. take the field, the 50 or 60 best athletes in the school are on the football team.  Not only that, but they have been preparing to play for the high school team for years before they even get there.  Most of the kids have played together for eight to ten years by the time they are seniors.  From the time they are in the 3rd grade, the value of football success starts to be positively reinforced by the entire community.  What position do you play?  Did you win this weekend?  Congratulations on your city championship.  Subtle interactions like this with the adults in the community constantly reinforce the importance of football success.  (This isn’t to say that other things are not reinforced; academics, charity work, appropriate behavior, and participation in the church and school are all reinforced as well.  But when it comes to athletics, football is important in the Catholic community.  It’s just the way it is.)

That isn’t true for all schools where other sports such as basketball, soccer, baseball, etc. may draw athletes away from football.  That also isn’t true of schools where the community isn’t athletics focused or in communities where the students are expected to work at home or have other responsibilities.   The football culture is the single largest advantage that any school can have (excluding enrollment).  But there isn’t one variable that one can point to which defines it.  Some of the variables are inherent and some are earned.  But it is impossible to separate the variables that give one community a strong football culture and others not.   

Now, in my opinion, the most important manifestation of this culture is a very strong youth program.  The most direct relationship for success is the quality of the youth program in the community.  One can look at non-Catholic schools who are similar in size and circumstances to see the difference in success based on the quality of youth programs.  There is a reason that Indpls. North Central is consistently inferior to Warren Central.  Warren’s youth program is very good.  North Central’s is not.  I would bet that there are very few successful programs who do not have a well developed youth program.   

                Another aspect of football, in general, that is very difficult to explain but is probably inherent in football success is that, for some reason, football lends itself to dominance by small groups.  Look at past champions of NCAA Div II, Div III, NAIA, and even Division I to a lesser extent.  A small group of schools, usually around 10% – 20% win a significant majority of the championships.  This aspect of football seems to be inherent in the sport. 

What we will inevitably find is that the variables which lead to football success are many, varied, and non-linear.  Ultimately, the “system” which creates the success is extraordinarily complicated; much too complicated to accurately model.  Nassim Taleb, in his work, The Black Swan, spends considerable effort discussing the attempts by people (mostly economists) to model systems which are extremely complicated and are ultimately based on human behavior.  The one thing all of the models have in common is that they inevitably fail (see e.g.: financial crisis 2008).  I believe that Mr. Taleb would probably say that this system is simply too complex to attempt to model.  

                I can certainly see why the IHSAA would want to avoid the difficult discussions involved in attempting to parse out which variables should be used, and to what extent, to determine class realignment.  So, what we are left with is the success factor system.  All of the difficult variables (the causes) are eliminated and it is only the end result, regardless of how it is achieved, that is used to realign the classes.  Is it an honor or a punishment?  The beauty of that is in the eye of the beholder.  I think that the Success Factor with a few tweaks can resolve most of the issues.  For instance, I’d like to see 4 year cycles instead of 2 and fewer points needed to stay in a higher class.  But, this is a system that will work much better and more fairly than multipliers, automatic bumps, or a separate tournament. 

Finally, it is important to remember that we are dealing with very small sample sizes.  The current class system has only been in place for just over 30 years.  There were periods of time where public schools had much more success than they are having now.  Over the next 30 years, some programs will improve over that time and some will decline.  The cultures of communities change over time, populations shift, incomes are redistributed, and priorities change.  In a generation, there could be a completely different discussion which dominates this forum, such as why the participation in football has diminished to the point where football is nearly irrelevant.  I fear that that is our greater enemy.  As we argue with one another over the thing we enjoy so much, it is disintegrating around us."

If Cow Bell actually tries to read this, I’m pretty sure his head will explode. 🤯

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3 hours ago, FBO said:

Southridge beat 3 private schools (Mater Dei, Providence, and Scecina) on their way to a State Championship two years ago.  A southern Indiana team winning a state championship and beating 3 private schools.  It can be done....

Yes it can be done...even a blind squirrel will find a nut once in a while. Plus there is bad recruiting years. 

Alabama lost this weekend. 

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4 hours ago, George Orwell 2 said:

Here a post I made about 4 or 5 years ago.  

"I must say there have been a lot of intelligent statements made in this thread and for the most part I am impressed by the civility of the discussion.  Although the old public-p/p discussions (pre-Success Factor), were much more entertaining.  The difficulty in this debate is that the inherent advantages of private schools simply cannot easily be separated from the earned advantages of certain private schools.  Everyone recognizes that there are certain inherent advantages but everyone also recognizes that there are earned advantages that certain schools (many, but not all, private) have attained.   

Contrary to many views expressed on the forum, there aren’t one or two or even a few specific variables that one can point to which lead to long term, significant football success.  The fact is that the variables involved are so numerous and so complex that it is nearly impossible to identify all of them or to determine how much each lend to the success of the program.  In addition, some variables may lend more to the success of certain programs and other variables may lend more to the success of others.  Also, some variables are inherent in a community and others are developed over time. 

The attribute which has the most direct correlation with football success is enrollment size.  The size of the school has a stronger correlation with having a better football team than any other variable.  If you use Sagarin rankings as the measure of quality, larger schools, on average, are consistently ranked higher than smaller schools.  As we all know, although size matters, it isn’t necessarily the determining factor.  In fact, there are numerous variables which seem to have a correlation to football success but are not absolute determining factors.  How about simply being a private school? On the other hand, there are many private schools that are not very good at football at all.  What about being located in a densely populated area?  Once again, lots of schools located in densely populated areas aren’t very good.  The opposite is also true.  There are some very good rural programs.   Being Catholic versus other religious schools versus completely secular private high schools?  Same thing.  Some Catholic schools are good, some are not, some non-Catholic private schools are good, some are not.  There also seems to be consensus that average household income has some effect on success.  I don’t know if there are any studies on this but I question the significance of this variable.  My suspicion is that at some income levels the difference isn’t very significant.  For instance, the difference in the success effect between enrollment populations with very low average incomes as compared to slightly above average incomes is probably much greater than the difference between enrollment populations with average incomes versus above average incomes.  In fact, there is probably a point at which increasing income levels decreases football success as very high income households may dissuade their children from football participation.

Of course all of this begs the question as to why certain schools have achieved a level of dominance over the others?  I have read some posts which insist that the Catholic schools (or more correctly, the Catholic schools which are dominant) have better players than their private school counterparts.   For the sake of argument, let’s assume that that is true (at least at game time).  In fact, let’s assume that this is true of all schools which have experienced significant football success regardless of whether they are public or private.  Why is it that the athletes on the field would be better at one school of similar size than another?  The obvious answers are 1) a higher percentage of the population desires to play, 2) they start playing earlier, 3) they receive good instruction from a young age, and 4) the players develop a team oriented identity from an early age. 

When you get down to it, football (all sports really) is a math game.  The more students a school has to choose from, the more quality athletes will be in the pool.  Why does the German national soccer team beat the US national team every time they play?  The German national team has better players than the US national team.  Why?  The German national team has the 25 best athletes in the country on the team.  They started playing at a very young age.  They received good instruction from an early age, they developed a team oriented identity when they were very young, and they devoted themselves to soccer success.  The US national team doesn’t have the country’s best athletes on the team.  There are some very good athletes on the team; some that may be the top athletes in the country.  But not all of the best athletes in the US play soccer, nor do they get the same level of instruction as German youth players, etc.   

                So the first, and probably most important variable, is that every one of the good athletes in the community must have a strong desire to play football from an early age and to devote themselves to the success of their team.  Understand that this variable isn’t inherent in a Catholic school, a public school, a city school, a country school, a rich school, or a poor school.  This is a variable that is a by-product of the identity of the community. 

                Certain communities value football participation (and by extension, success) more than others.  The Indianapolis Catholic community (of course, there are others but this is the one of which I am most familiar) has taken great pride in their football success for generations.  Football was a sport that lent itself to the blue collar, mostly immigrant, and less sophisticated Catholic communities in the early part of the 20th century.  At the time, football was a poor man’s sport.  It was tough and violent and there were a lot of serious injuries.  The type of activity that poor, uneducated immigrant kids and young adults would not be dissuaded from.  It just so happened that there were a lot of poor Catholic kids in Indianapolis at that time and a great many of them starting playing football.  That developed into football success and a certain pride what went with it.  In a community that had no other way to favorably compare themselves to the majority, athletic success, especially in football, became part of its identity.  The resulting pride in that success was passed down from generation to generation.  It became part of the culture of Catholic school education.  

Now, this history isn’t unique to the Catholic community.  There are other communities throughout the state, which are not necessarily Catholic, which have developed a “football culture.”  The fact, though, is that it takes generations (not years or even decades but generations) to develop the type of football culture that leads to dominance at the high school level.   But it is this “football culture” that most strongly drives the success of the community’s football programs. 

The result is that when teams like Bishop Chatard, Roncalli, Cathedral, Andrean, LCC, etc. take the field, the 50 or 60 best athletes in the school are on the football team.  Not only that, but they have been preparing to play for the high school team for years before they even get there.  Most of the kids have played together for eight to ten years by the time they are seniors.  From the time they are in the 3rd grade, the value of football success starts to be positively reinforced by the entire community.  What position do you play?  Did you win this weekend?  Congratulations on your city championship.  Subtle interactions like this with the adults in the community constantly reinforce the importance of football success.  (This isn’t to say that other things are not reinforced; academics, charity work, appropriate behavior, and participation in the church and school are all reinforced as well.  But when it comes to athletics, football is important in the Catholic community.  It’s just the way it is.)

That isn’t true for all schools where other sports such as basketball, soccer, baseball, etc. may draw athletes away from football.  That also isn’t true of schools where the community isn’t athletics focused or in communities where the students are expected to work at home or have other responsibilities.   The football culture is the single largest advantage that any school can have (excluding enrollment).  But there isn’t one variable that one can point to which defines it.  Some of the variables are inherent and some are earned.  But it is impossible to separate the variables that give one community a strong football culture and others not.   

Now, in my opinion, the most important manifestation of this culture is a very strong youth program.  The most direct relationship for success is the quality of the youth program in the community.  One can look at non-Catholic schools who are similar in size and circumstances to see the difference in success based on the quality of youth programs.  There is a reason that Indpls. North Central is consistently inferior to Warren Central.  Warren’s youth program is very good.  North Central’s is not.  I would bet that there are very few successful programs who do not have a well developed youth program.   

                Another aspect of football, in general, that is very difficult to explain but is probably inherent in football success is that, for some reason, football lends itself to dominance by small groups.  Look at past champions of NCAA Div II, Div III, NAIA, and even Division I to a lesser extent.  A small group of schools, usually around 10% – 20% win a significant majority of the championships.  This aspect of football seems to be inherent in the sport. 

What we will inevitably find is that the variables which lead to football success are many, varied, and non-linear.  Ultimately, the “system” which creates the success is extraordinarily complicated; much too complicated to accurately model.  Nassim Taleb, in his work, The Black Swan, spends considerable effort discussing the attempts by people (mostly economists) to model systems which are extremely complicated and are ultimately based on human behavior.  The one thing all of the models have in common is that they inevitably fail (see e.g.: financial crisis 2008).  I believe that Mr. Taleb would probably say that this system is simply too complex to attempt to model.  

                I can certainly see why the IHSAA would want to avoid the difficult discussions involved in attempting to parse out which variables should be used, and to what extent, to determine class realignment.  So, what we are left with is the success factor system.  All of the difficult variables (the causes) are eliminated and it is only the end result, regardless of how it is achieved, that is used to realign the classes.  Is it an honor or a punishment?  The beauty of that is in the eye of the beholder.  I think that the Success Factor with a few tweaks can resolve most of the issues.  For instance, I’d like to see 4 year cycles instead of 2 and fewer points needed to stay in a higher class.  But, this is a system that will work much better and more fairly than multipliers, automatic bumps, or a separate tournament. 

Finally, it is important to remember that we are dealing with very small sample sizes.  The current class system has only been in place for just over 30 years.  There were periods of time where public schools had much more success than they are having now.  Over the next 30 years, some programs will improve over that time and some will decline.  The cultures of communities change over time, populations shift, incomes are redistributed, and priorities change.  In a generation, there could be a completely different discussion which dominates this forum, such as why the participation in football has diminished to the point where football is nearly irrelevant.  I fear that that is our greater enemy.  As we argue with one another over the thing we enjoy so much, it is disintegrating around us."

GO, 

I read this back when you originally posted it and in rereading it again, it remains probably the most thoughtful post I have ever seen on the matter.

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4 hours ago, Lysander said:

Honestly, it’s time to fess up.  

You’re some kid at Chatard bored in computer class (don’t know if they actually have a computer class at Chatard since that would cost $$....maybe a Cathedral kid, then) having some fun at my expense.

Seriously, time to be honest.

 

Born on Beach Creek, Clay co KY.

Moved to Indy. Went to IPS 78 until bussing started then across town to 38.. ( finally indoor plumbing  ) momma got sick, daddy got down.

Back to Beach creek a couple years.

Then finished at Arsenal Technical high schools.

Explains grammer and computer skills.

HONEST

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4 hours ago, Cow Bell said:

With out the SF how many private school are in 6A or 5A.

LaSalle in Ohio could never win a state championship at D1.

They dropped there enrollment to D2 and now dominate.  

They have no plans at raising there enrollment now.

The same reason that there are two private schools, LCC and Faith Christian, with high schools in the Lafayette area that are IHSAA members and both are 1A ... demand or lack thereof. 

It's the same reason that the Lutheran school in town ends at 8th grade.  Same with one of the other Christian schools, Lafayette Christian School.  Of course there's Apostolic Christian Academy, which has a total of 10 students.  The 7th Day Adventist school which goes from K-6 and has under 50 students.   And before there are any platitudes about capping enrollment for football, note that one of private schools in town doesn't play football ... the smallest one ... and traditionally gets smacked around in many sports that they play.  Also, a bit of history on LCC ... the school was scheduled to be closed by the diocese in 1990 until an 11th-hour appeal saved the school from closure ... https://www.lcss.org/advancement/looking-back-25-years/.

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19 minutes ago, Cow Bell said:

Born on Beach Creek, Clay co KY.

Moved to Indy. Went to IPS 78 until bussing started then across town to 38.. ( finally indoor plumbing  ) momma got sick, daddy got down.

Back to Beach creek a couple years.

Then finished at Arsenal Technical high schools.

Explains grammer and computer skills.

HONEST

Ok.  Cool.  I’m down with that.  

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4 hours ago, Footballking16 said:

Through all your inaudible rambling this is up there for post of the year. No private or parochial is capping their enrollment to pad their trophy case. Less student=less tuition dollars which is the biggest source of income these schools take in. Don't be ridiculous.

Not RIDICULOUS 

Private schools drops enrollment, cut teachers. Win win

Private schools pay their teachers less. Win win

Football team wins championships. Win win

More prominent people want there kids to be apart of that. Low enrollment higher the tuition..

It's what you would call Supply and Demand

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29 minutes ago, Coach Nowlin said:

RCHS in 2014 

Beat LCC week 8 for Conference title

Beat P/P week 1 Sectional

Beat Charter week 2 Sectional 

Beat LCC Semi State

Beat Mater Dei State

Not one time did we discuss anything to our team other than ways to beat them on the field.  

Between this game or the New Pal loss can't tell what game I liked best. 

Never said public can't win.

Just private win More state games.

A lot less private school then public. True or False  

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Since 2000 the number of private school state championships per class.

Going from 1A to 4A since no private school has the enrollment for 5A or 6a

They would be in those classes do to the Succes Factor 

4A  13 out of 18

3A  12 out of 18

2A  11 out of 18

1A    7 out of 18

Public schools way out number Private

Please correct me if I am wrong with my numbers

COWBELL DROPS HIS COWBELL 

DINGGGG

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7 hours ago, Cow Bell said:

Since 2000 the number of private school state championships per class.

Going from 1A to 4A since no private school has the enrollment for 5A or 6a

They would be in those classes do to the Succes Factor 

4A  13 out of 18

3A  12 out of 18

2A  11 out of 18

1A    7 out of 18

Public schools way out number Private

Please correct me if I am wrong with my numbers

COWBELL DROPS HIS COWBELL 

DINGGGG

😴

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8 hours ago, Cow Bell said:

Since 2000 the number of private school state championships per class.

Going from 1A to 4A since no private school has the enrollment for 5A or 6a

They would be in those classes do to the Succes Factor 

4A  13 out of 18

3A  12 out of 18

2A  11 out of 18

1A    7 out of 18

Public schools way out number Private

Please correct me if I am wrong with my numbers

COWBELL DROPS HIS COWBELL 

DINGGGG

The problem in the analysis is that you are actually talking about programs and not groups/categories winning.

  • For 1A, five of those seven titles come from one team, LCC, and come over a seven-year period.  The other two were won by the same program, Ritter.
  • For 2A, seven of the eleven come from a single program, Luers.  Two of the most recent ones come from the same 1A team, Ritter, that won two titles in 1A before moving up DUE TO ENROLLMENT.  At this point, we're now talking about fourteen games of a possible 36 won by three programs across two classes.
  • For 3A, nine of those thirteen titles come from a single program, Chatard.  At this point, we are now talking about four programs winning 25 of 54 possible titles across three classes.  
  • For 4A, seven of your thirteen come from a single program, Cathedral, although two of those were in a different class than 4A.  Four others come from another single program, Dwenger, so eleven of your thirteen come from two programs.  

 

More importantly, what you've shown is that a total of 36 of 44 p/p wins, over 80%, that are attributed across four/five classes to a total of six programs.  That's much less an issue of p/p dominance and more an issue of program dominance, which was put forth in @George Orwell 2's nicely presented and informative post.

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13 hours ago, Cow Bell said:

Yes it can be done...even a blind squirrel will find a nut once in a while. Plus there is bad recruiting years. 

Alabama lost this weekend. 

My point is that once you stop making excuses and focus on winning, regardless of who you're playing, your chance of success improves greatly.

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12 hours ago, Cow Bell said:

Not RIDICULOUS 

Private schools drops enrollment, cut teachers. Win win

Private schools pay their teachers less. Win win

Football team wins championships. Win win

More prominent people want there kids to be apart of that. Low enrollment higher the tuition..

It's what you would call Supply and Demand

I can tell you from personal experience that:

Declining enrollment causes program cut-backs and less academic offerings.  It also causes higher tuition, which in turn causes more people to choose the free options.  It's a vicious circle, not win-win.

For a school that has to travel overnight for state (typically schools outside of central IN and typically smaller classes who play early on Friday & Saturday, making state is a big financial drain.  For us, we had to raise a good chunk of money with private donors to help cover costs because the IHSAA reimburses a very small amount of the actual cost of travel, lodging, & food.  

Our enrollment at Memorial has declined significantly in the past 3 years (-200 students) in part due to tuition costs and competition from a nationally ranked charter school and good public schools , all of which are free.  In the past 3 years we have several state title appearances - football, boys soccer, and girls soccer (including winning state in all 3 in 2017), and had tournament success in baseball, b/g basketball, volleyball other non-revenue sports (tennis, golf, etc.).  So, while we have arguably had the best overall HS athletic program in the area for a number of years (5A Castle is also very good overall), it hasn't led to an influx of new students coming in.  

In Evansville, MD and Memorial are fighting for their lives. 

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7 minutes ago, tango said:

I can tell you from personal experience that:

Declining enrollment causes program cut-backs and less academic offerings.  It also causes higher tuition, which in turn causes more people to choose the free options.  It's a vicious circle, not win-win.

For a school that has to travel overnight for state (typically schools outside of central IN and typically smaller classes who play early on Friday & Saturday, making state is a big financial drain.  For us, we had to raise a good chunk of money with private donors to help cover costs because the IHSAA reimburses a very small amount of the actual cost of travel, lodging, & food.  

Our enrollment at Memorial has declined significantly in the past 3 years (-200 students) in part due to tuition costs and competition from a nationally ranked charter school and good public schools , all of which are free.  In the past 3 years we have several state title appearances - football, boys soccer, and girls soccer (including winning state in all 3 in 2017), and had tournament success in baseball, b/g basketball, volleyball other non-revenue sports (tennis, golf, etc.).  So, while we have arguably had the best overall HS athletic program in the area for a number of years (5A Castle is also very good overall), it hasn't led to an influx of new students coming in.  

In Evansville, MD and Memorial are fighting for their lives. 

Enrollment is down across the board at most p/p's. It's damn expensive. But schools aren't intentionally capping their enrollment to pad their trophy cases playing in lower divisions against lesser competition which is what Cow Bell is insinuating. MD and Memorial would take 10,000 students if they could. 

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