CPA4Ever

First, I have not posted about CPA's disadvantages. i have refuted those who criticized the system even though the multipier is in force which is designed to offset some advantages. I accept the system, but there are those who refuse to believe privates play fair regardless of the system or the truth. Second, my previous points were that attracting students, athletes or not, is essential to a private school to survive. Only about 30% of CPA HS male students play football or basketball, so obviously athletic ability is not the key to admission, plus probably 80% plus of football and basketball players started at CPA before they became good athletes. Another point was that any advantage they have has been handled with the multiplier. Another point was that privates lose students to privates just like publics do. Lastly, i did not respond to the dad coaching issue because i do not know. However, this happens in publics as well. Dads who are good coaches want their kids in good programs. Whether they are paid or not, if they contribute to the quality of the school what is wrong with that?

Congrats to CAK. They were a great team; HOWEVER, they had a lot of sophomores back who became a great junior class that no one expected to be as great as they became. That same thing could happen at another school this next year. Returning players are important, but young players can change team's prospects a lot in a year. Too early to crown a champ yet. If I remember correctly, everyone had crowned Alcoa in advance a year ago.

Made me laugh out loud, do you honestly expect us to believe that with all of the Maddux and CPA "haters" that are in the publics that the TSSAA would have shut CPA down if there was illegalities? Sure, these kids know Maddux and the program at CPA, but you are naive if you think they don't keep up with where the best coaches and programs are. Who are you to tell a parent or kid they are wrong to make a decision about what school is best for their future, either in school, environment, or sports? If they are attracted to CPA and that is what they think is best for their family, who are you to tell them they should stay where they are? My son had a good friend at CPA for grades 1-8 whose family decided Ensworth was better for him than CPA, so he went there for HS and became a great football player who now plays for Ole Miss. i don't blame Ensworth for "recruiting" him. it is a free country and the parents felt it was best for him to go to Ensworth, and it was.

I am not naive (spellcheck), but you are if you think private schools do not have to do all they can do to attract students, whether they are athletes or not. Otherwise, why would any parent spend thousands of dollars to buy the private school product versus free public education? Have you ever seen a public school running newspaper or magazine ads or holding open house tours to sell their product? Private schools have to attract (recruit) parents and students (sell their product) or they go out of business. They have to have attractive academics, fine arts, programs, athletics, values, etc. that justify the tuition fees or they do not attract any customers (parents). What would you have them to do? Have an average programs, sit back, and just hope parents and kids are stupid enough to pay extra for that? CPA has an attractive basketball program and a good coach. People know it and it attracts good players.

I've seen them 3 times and, at this point, they are a work in progress, but show great promise. They have all the elements you need to win - long bench with size, VERY quick, depth at all positions, strong senior leadership, zone-busting shooters. It's too early to worry about their weaknesses because the football players just started back, and 2 of the top 10 players are out for a while longer injured. In the games I saw, their pressure and depth were amazing, but they showed weakness defending the drive and post-up play. Our 5 man right now is a freshman, so he is learning and should get better and another 5 is one of the injured. The also missed a lot of freethrows. I think their biggest need is to get some games under their belt, get everyone back, and get used to playing with each other. It will come. INO, they are a favorite for state champs.

Wasn't whining and your post isn't even relevant to the subject at hand. CPA's success, as a 347 student school in a district with schools over 1,000 and a division with schools over 700, isn't due to recruiting or violating the rules - it is due to a dedication to success, hard work by the kids, and a tradition that stands for excellence. Some places have these things,both public and private, other don't. CPA has success because they accept the situation they are in, and work to make the best of it. Win or lose, that commitment is what prepares kids to face the challenges of life after high school.

The problem with your argument is that the above statement is not true. In Nashville, there are dozens of private schools - some D1 and some D2. Parents looking to send their child to a private school instead of public have a lot of choices, so CPA (for example) does not get "its pick" of those going to privates instead of publics. Not only that, but D1's are at a disadvantage in that if an athlete wants to go to a private school, CPA cannot offer them aid, but D2's (Ensworth, BGA, MBA, etc.-all less than 10 miles from CPA) can offer them aid. So privates do lose players, both to other privates (for many reasons) and publics (if the player cannot meet the academic or discipline guidelines of the private). I have been following CPA athletics closely for almost 20 years, and I could specify dozens of athletes CPA lost to other privates and publics alike. Yes, rural publics like Smith Co. and Milan have a closed community to field their teams from, but they also rarely lose players to other schools unless those kids change residence according to TSSAA rules. I think one thing that gets lost in this discussion is that the purpose and mission of private schools is not athletics - it is offering an alternative to government and union controlled educational cirriculum. Many parents of good athletes want that environment in the best interest of their child.

Most of CPA players have been there since elementary school as well. One thing that is often overlooked by those crying over the advantages of private is that privates do not get their pick of players from the community. In Nashville, for example, athletes who want to go to private schools can choose from over 20 in the area, not just CPA, and some of them (MBA, BGA, Ensworth, etc.) offer them aid to get them in school, which CPA cannot do. The multipier is a significent "equalizer". CPA has 327 students playing in 3A where the smallest school has 520. This year they played: Milan - 626 students Cheatham Co.-712 Pearl Cohn(2)-675 (who pick up players from magnet schools who don't have football) Goodpasture(2)-347 Stratford-929 David Lipsomb-538 Maplewood -1018 Whites Creek-1043 Other statewide top 3A teams enrollment: CAK - 408 Alcoa-544 (OZ) Austin East-741 Sullivan No.-638 Smith Co.-667

Need to meet you someday at CPA game, Coachrus. Enjoy your posts. Agree with you about CPA's inside game. Their full court and man pressure is impressive, but the defense seems to break down when their lane is penetrated. With their size, it seems they would be better served with full court pressure, then switching to a zone-trapping D after the opponent gets past halfcourt. They also do very little posting up despite their size advantage inside. Lindsey has no post up game in their offense, Howell does however, and they suffer on the boards the way Lindsey plays outside.He does not need to be shooting 3's when we have others who can and it takes him away from the offensive boards. I will say Wharton is a pleasant surprise.

Not so fast. First, Alcoa posters were saying they were unbeatable a couple of years ago. How'd that work for you? And secondly, CPA is in the west and they are on the rise, maybe even next year. CAK is great and returns a ton of talent, but CPA is in the same situation. If CPA QB hadn't broke his foot in the 1st half against Milan, CAK would have faced a much tougher pass defense yesterday. Still think they would have won, but not with 7 pass TD's.

Good job! Congrats!

Congrats to CAK after years of good play but not being able to get over the hump (Alcoa). Very impressive win. Good year by Milan but no answer for CAK's passing game. High should be a big time prospect next year. What surprised me was the size and skills of CAK's linemen. There will be lots of good 3A teams next year that were young this year with CAK premier among those. Alcoa, CPA, Milan, Cheatham Co. to name just a few.

#3 was the starting RB against CPA, then lost the fumble on the drive that resulted in the CPA long return for TD. IMO, Milan coaches soon realized you have better success trying to pound CPA (#29) than to try to outrun them (#3). Coleman (#29) was more effective against CPA because of CPA's speed on defense, but both are good backs. Coleman is a great player on defense as well and got a bit tired in the 2nd half, so he did not run as much as the armchair QB's thought he should. A great runner who is tired is an average runner, so there is no use running him, as proven when he was stopped for no gain a couple of times in the 2nd half.

Went to the CPA/PC game last night. CPA controlled the game throughout, but PC made a nice run after getting down almost 30 early to cut it to about 15. PC made their run by dribble penetration in the lane and making some nice shots while CPA got a bit impatient and sloppy on offense. CPA switched to zone defense, PC couldn't adjust, and CPA wins by 37. This was 1st game with most football players and Bradshaw in the lineup. Richard and Brown were still not dressed. CPA goes 12 deep with players on the bench that would start for most teams and they pressure full court for 32 minutes. Wharton had a great game after only 2 days of practice after football. Lindsey looked good. Bradshaw was steady as usual. They will be hard to beat if they avoid injuries.

Wow! So sad about his brother. Hopefully, he will be able to overcome, get a degree, and have a great life. Heck of an athlete, and will be a key in the CAK game. Milan has some great players back next year, and will be a factor again for state.

I know I should know this, so sorry for the question, but what year is Coleman? He, IMO, is a D1 prospect. What kind of student is he?

Yeh, what was with all the timeouts? I think it was the play clock not setting or resetting right. it's great that you have play clocks, but HS refs aren't used to them.

No apology needed, but my point is that if you are a Final 4 team and you are defending a team that loses their starting QB, and is totally one-dimensional in their attack, you should hold them scoreless. If you don't, you aren't very good. What was amazing was CPA defense being backed up the whole 2nd half with Milan dominating time of possession, and CPA defense didn't give up a score against a Milan team at full strength. Don't mind you braggin', so I am as well. Good luck next week. Work on your pass defense. It will have to be good against CAK.

I disagree that 3A is down. As a matter of fact, I believe it was the strongest year ever in the Top 8 teams. Granted, Alcoa wasn't as dominant, but CPA only lost by 1 to 4A finalist Maplewood and are not even in the 3A finals. Alcoa only lost by a TD to a Top 25 USA Today team and didn't even make the final 4 in 3A. Smith Co. blew out a 4A team that won 2 playoff games and SC didn't even win a playoff game. There is no basis for your statement that 3A is down.

As YOU said, we don't want to take anything away from the other team; however, CPA moved the ball very well against Milan and our QB had over 60 yards rushing in the 1st half and was throwing well until he got hurt. Milan's defense did play well, but when you don't have to defend the pass or the best QB running the offense and his All-state WR banged up, you should play well. Milan has good coaches that are going to be hard to beat if you are one-dimensional. The Finch fumble was caused by a big hit, and the Wharton return was a play not too many high school kids make. To say Milan's defense (only giving up one TD) did better than the score suggests is implying CPA, at full strength, would have been shut out. Do you really believe that after CPA went right down the field in the 1st half before the injuries?

Thanks. Appreciate you and the Milan fans' passion and tradition. Thought we were going to get the win until Mitchell got hurt. Everything was shaping up in 1st half with running game established and not having to pass, using a lot of clock (which is what we like to do), and knowing we were getting the KO in the 2nd half and wind in the 4th quarter for passing or if we needed a FG. When we held on 4th late, I believe 2 first downs and our kicker could nail a 50+ yarder with the wind at his back if needed. But Milan is too good a defense to try to beat with a one-dimensional offene we were forced to use. I was a bit surprised we never ran a halfback pass with Mitchell pitching to Wharton late which is in the playbook and Wharton is a pretty good passer. But, hey, our coaches are awesome and know better than me. I predicted CPA win 24-21. Was confident our D wouldn't give up more than 21, but didn't anticipate a half without any offense. Good luck in Cookeville.

I know it sounds like "sour grapes" but in all honesty - Milan is a great place for HS football with an incredible tradition. In an environment like that, everything should be first rate, regardless of what other teams do at their place. It is bushleague and out of character to have an announcer leading cheers - which he was. He can be a "homey" and still work within the protocol of what a good announcer should do. Great football tradition and respect require certain protocol. I'm sure he is a great guy and he does a great job when he is not leading cheers. Someone needs to talk with him.

Great atmosphere, great stadium and great Milan hosts. Milan was the best offense we have seen this year, IMO, including Maplewood because Milan was more versatile. Very impressed with QB (smart and good arm) and Coleman is a beast running the ball. CPA's defense was incredible, especially considering they had basically no offense in the 2nd half with QB hurt, and had their backs to the wall the whole half without surrendering any points. Not being able to throw won't get it done against a good defense like Milan. I do believe CPA would have won with Mitchell healthy but, no excuses, Milan is a great team and they won and deserved it. The only negative of the trip for me was a few classless adult Milan fans "bulldog barking" at the CPA players as they went to the dressing room after a tough loss. How about some class and respect for the young men who left it all on the field? Should be a great championship game.

It's all good and all part of CoachT. The problem with trashtalking in writing is that many times it comes back to bite you, and you lose credibility. I'm all for analyzing the game and trying to be objective. Even then, no one knows what will happen before it does. If I did, I would be in Vegas Friday, not Milan. But here is my guess. These two teams are very good and I predicted at the first of the year Milan would be in Final 4. CPA has exceeded my preseason hopes, but I didn't know how the new coaches would do, didn't know how good Wharton would be, and didn't know we would avoid major injuries. CPA's defense is VERY stout, and I would be shocked Milan would score more than 21, unless it is on turnovers, short fields, or long kick returns. CPA's offense is good, and very good if you let them pass well. If you have speed in the defensive backfield, you can hold them below 3 offensive TD's, but their kick return game is dangerous with Wharton. I believe it will be a 24-21 type of score. Gotta go with CPA.

I agree. How we ever beat a PC team twice that beat 4A semifinalist Maplewood is a fluke. CPA's whole season at 12-1 has been a fluke, especially considering we never practice. The interesting thing is I have been doing this CoachT thing long enough to remember these same Milan posts prior to the Goodpasture game they lost.