Mutliplier Disqualified?

[Indian]

Boyd's Peardon was as dominant a player at the Class 1A level as South Pittsbuirg's Moore, though not the level of college prospect and not an NFL talent.

 

In the last 20 years, Bledsoe (Sells to Memphis), Sequatchie (Cates to Air Force then Vanderbilt), Grundy (Mainord to South Carolina), Marion (Westmoreland to Tennessee), South Pittsburg (Moore to Tennessee) had one Division 1-A signee apiece, that's on state championship teams and for Sequatchie, a couple of teams that could compete with most any in any class. If you want to be technical, Kenny Smith played two years at Marion and later signed with Alabama, I think he was from South Pittsburg anyway.

[OLD PIRATE]

Boyd's Peardon was as dominant a player at the Class 1A level as South Pittsbuirg's Moore, though not the level of college prospect and not an NFL talent.

 

In the last 20 years, Bledsoe (Sells to Memphis), Sequatchie (Cates to Air Force then Vanderbilt), Grundy (Mainord to South Carolina), Marion (Westmoreland to Tennessee), South Pittsburg (Moore to Tennessee) had one Division 1-A signee apiece, that's on state championship teams and for Sequatchie, a couple of teams that could compete with most any in any class. If you want to be technical, Kenny Smith played two years at Marion and later signed with Alabama, I think he was from South Pittsburg anyway.

 

Old Pirate says Indian is right on target, good job. OP says Kenny Smith was a product of SP that jumped fence to Jasper and later jumped another fence to North Jackson, Ala. where he had the local support of Ala. boosters. Great athlete, but not very smart. He should be playing on Sundays now.

[Indian]

I forgot to add my point in all of that. It's not a good comparison, college players at Boyd-Buchanan to the teams in their region and former 1-A region, when a few are twice the size and all have had established programs for decades. As said on here before, Boyd-Buchanan was nothing until 10-12 years ago.

[Antwan]

I forgot to add my point in all of that. It's not a good comparison, college players at Boyd-Buchanan to the teams in their region and former 1-A region, when a few are twice the size and all have had established programs for decades. As said on here before, Boyd-Buchanan was nothing until 10-12 years ago.

 

 

Yes...Akins really made that program in a short period of time. They still have a great program.

[supersteve17]

Yes...Akins really made that program in a short period of time. They still have a great program.

 

 

With all due respect to coach Akins, the program was on the rise before he took over. A couple of things have factored into the success in the recent past (since mid-nineties).

 

First, Conley Hathorn, Akins' predecessor, got more kids out for football and instituted a year-round weight training program. These two factors alone -- numbers and year round emphasis -- help make for football success at any program. The year before Akins took over, Hathorn's Bucs lost eight games but about five or six of those were by one TD or less. They were on the up-swing. Akins did a good job but he was also right place, right time. Hathorn doesn't get enough credit for laying the foundation.

 

Another factor in the program's success was the influx of new students and the expansion of the school during the County/City merger of the nineties. Again, numbers help promote success in football like no other sport IMHO. Frankly there was a small but significant influx of talented football players in that expansion (like Peardon, et. al.) May have been something "underhanded" going on but I seriously doubt it. I have attributed it to "success breeds success" as much as anything. Chris Talley from the Valley had a lot of success at BBS in basketball and football and a few Valley kids followed his lead. I'm not naive, but this happens many places, both public and private.

 

If you will recall, in the early to mid nineties no small private Christian school in Chattanooga played football except BBS. Temple, Grace, Silverdale, David Brainerd and CCS had not instituted their football programs or simply were not in existence. BBS was the only small private Christian alternative for kids that wanted to play football. I think that was a factor in their success and is a factor that makes it tougher for them now. (I know about ND but to me they fit into their own unique category -- parochial -- that many will only consider and some will never consider.)

[supersteve17]

Sorry to ramble. I forgot to make my point also!

 

It is simply this: Many factors go into making a good football program. Some of those factors at BBS contributed to the "perfect storm" that occurred. I'm confident that Grant Reynolds and company will keep BBS on good footing with a solid program, but those factors may never be duplicated.

 

To say that their success was/is simply because they are a "private school with unfair advantages" would be a little bit of an oversimplification.

[big red big blue]

Sorry to ramble. I forgot to make my point also!

 

It is simply this: Many factors go into making a good football program. Some of those factors at BBS contributed to the "perfect storm" that occurred. I'm confident that Grant Reynolds and company will keep BBS on good footing with a solid program, but those factors may never be duplicated.

 

To say that their success was/is simply because they are a "private school with unfair advantages" would be a little bit of an oversimplification.

 

 

of course you are right, and that's what exasperates so many people that care at all about this debate. When private schools succeed at something, it's instantly "because they are private." When public schools do it, there isn't much said at all.

 

I again point out the two newest Williamson County Schools, Ravenwood and Independence. How many large schools have been in existence for years and years around the state without having sniffed the state title. And yet these two, with fewer than 10 years existence between them total, already have 3 title game appearances and 1 title. That's a distortion in results. I simply refuse to believe that the administrators/coaches/architects of those programs are just that much smarter than the dozens of their peers around the state. Don't get me wrong--I have no doubt that they are hard working and talented...but two Williamson County schools? And that doesn't include Brentwood High who won the 5A title in '02.

[Indian]

Class 2A and 3A privates, all moved up by the multiplier, managed to win 67 percent of games against public schools last fall. That's despite being half the size of the opponent in most cases. Many of the losses were to strong teams such as Alcoa and larger schools such as Red Bank.

[supersteve17]

Class 2A and 3A privates, all moved up by the multiplier, managed to win 67 percent of games against public schools last fall. That's despite being half the size of the opponent in most cases. Many of the losses were to strong teams such as Alcoa and larger schools such as Red Bank.

 

 

Do you think the best 2A and 3A teams could compete against anyone in any classification -- public or private? Some have advocated a "merit system" of some sort or another and it seems that would be the BEST solution to competitive balance. I'm pretty sure that it won't happen because of the problems associated with such plans (others have outlined those problems like scheduling, disparity of ability in other sports, etc.). Unless we can come up with a merit system that applies only to football (where there seems to be the most controversy) a multiplier is probably what we will all have to live with.

 

It is still noteworthy to me that the most dominant teams in classes A, AA and AAA were all public schools, namely South Pittsburg, Alcoa and Knox Fulton. Perhaps overall the percentages are as you state above, but the fact that some can be more than just competitive, even dominant, indicates to me that it can be done in the public sector.

[OLD PIRATE]

Sorry to ramble. I forgot to make my point also!

 

It is simply this: Many factors go into making a good football program. Some of those factors at BBS contributed to the "perfect storm" that occurred. I'm confident that Grant Reynolds and company will keep BBS on good footing with a solid program, but those factors may never be duplicated.

 

To say that their success was/is simply because they are a "private school with unfair advantages" would be a little bit of an oversimplification.

 

Old Pirate says, supersteve your statement "significant influx of talented football players in that expansion (like Peardon, et. al.) May have been something "underhanded" going on " supports the general belief that most publics feel/know exists. Peardon was part of a very good group that would have made a strong bid for a state championship for the warriors if he had not transferred with a few others. It was not that he was not part of something special at Jasper. The Jasper folks know all too well what went on and refused to play BB while he was a player at BB.

[supersteve17]

Old Pirate says, supersteve your statement "significant influx of talented football players in that expansion (like Peardon, et. al.) May have been something "underhanded" going on " supports the general belief that most publics feel/know exists. Peardon was part of a very good group that would have made a strong bid for a state championship for the warriors if he had not transferred with a few others. It was not that he was not part of something special at Jasper. The Jasper folks know all too well what went on and refused to play BB while he was a player at BB.

 

 

I wish I knew "what went on." You are very good at implication without specification. If I were a district attorney I might bring charges against you for attempting to incite a riot!

 

BTW, during that time, didn't the Warriors have a great deal of coaching turnover/turmoil? It's pretty easy for you to say what they would have done had Peardon "not transferred with a few others." I'm not sure they would have won anything if Eric Westmoreland had been playing during that time! Who can say and how can anyone know for sure? (I'm not knocking the Warriors or the kids that played during that time. I'm just speculating the same way you have. It's pretty easy to do that, actually!)

 

One more BTW...Jasper would not have been able to "refuse to play" BBS under the current multiplier rules -- at least not without a forfeit.

[supersteve17]

Old Pirate says, supersteve your statement "significant influx of talented football players in that expansion (like Peardon, et. al.) May have been something "underhanded" going on " supports the general belief that most publics feel/know exists. Peardon was part of a very good group that would have made a strong bid for a state championship for the warriors if he had not transferred with a few others. It was not that he was not part of something special at Jasper. The Jasper folks know all too well what went on and refused to play BB while he was a player at BB.

 

 

One more BTW...Not all the "influx" was from Jasper. Some of the key kids came from other schools where they were either lost in the shuffle, would not have made a significant impact or did not participate at all.