Father Ryan 2008 Schedule

[Ole Dad]

I'll turn my spell check on for you next time so it doesn't confuse your fragile little mind.

 

Ole Dad

 

Maybe the Father Ryan administration should be more concerned with keeping up with an ACADEMIC reputation than a an ACEDEMIC reputation.

[pking34]

If only there were a school available to parents and students that could strike that delicate balance of academic and athletic excellence...

 

 

 

LOL. I think the school to which you slyly refer is a school that doesn't take a back seat to anyone as far as academic rigor. Decent football too. I remember when Ryan was this school's main rival (Brentwood Academy didn't exist yet).

[rollredroll]

LOL. I think the school to which you slyly refer is a school that doesn't take a back seat to anyone as far as academic rigor. Decent football too. I remember when Ryan was this school's main rival (Brentwood Academy didn't exist yet).

 

 

I remember, too, and particularly a time in my years when we had to endure six straight losses to Ryan (the schools played twice in the regular season in '81 and '82) before breaking into the "W" column. When one of the schools goes on a long-winning streak against the other, it diminshes the rivalry somewhat - at least from the streak holder's perspective. I think FRHS's move to Franklin Road impacted it as well. The Irish were just a few miles down the road (and vice versa) if a mid-week "rumble" was necessary.

 

It's still a good rivalry, though, and the cannons still must be protected.

[KWoodroof]

I remember, too, and particularly a time in my years when we had to endure six straight losses to Ryan (the schools played twice in the regular season in '81 and '82) before breaking into the "W" column. When one of the schools goes on a long-winning streak against the other, it diminshes the rivalry somewhat - at least from the streak holder's perspective. I think FRHS's move to Franklin Road impacted it as well. The Irish were just a few miles down the road (and vice versa) if a mid-week "rumble" was necessary.

 

It's still a good rivalry, though, and the cannons still must be protected.

 

Your first post badly overheated my sarcasm meter.

 

In my six years at MBA, we lost every varsity game with Ryan, and if memory serves, every freshman game as well (including mine, on a kick-off return with two minutes left in the game,capping a 4th quarter with 4 lead changes). Three of the losses were major beatings, on the order of 48-0, 49-7, 50-21.

[cbg]

You can't do it all with hard work and coaching. You actually have to be able to get some competitive talent to compete with their talent. If the "Irish Faithful" want to compete with BA and MBA they need to step up and offer the cash for the same financial assistance to athletes that brings that same quality of great athletes to those two schools, because currently it is not even close. You have to walk the talk and right now the admin at FRHS is more concerned with keeping their reputation as an academic school and not an athletic one. When they get their stadium built and some funds for athletic financial aid they can win against the two you mentioned.

 

Ole Dad

 

Ole Dad

 

Are you saying that FR does not get the same quality athletes that MBA & BA get due to not offering the same amount of financial aid? Why is FR able to win in the sports other than football with the same athletes that participate on the football team? They compete and win championships in basketball, baseball, soccer, etc... and everyone knows what their accomplishments are on the wrestling mat. So what are the true problems with football and how should they be fixed? Does the board not want to win state championships in football?

[Ole Dad]

Look at the number of athletes necessary on a team in the sports that you named compared to what you need for a great football team. Didn't you ever notice that Vandy, Duke, Marquette, Villanova, etc. can compete in basketball, soccer, lacrosse, etc. because of the number of truly great athletes required for those sports is much smaller. The fact is that MBA and BA give many times more financial aid to football athletes than FRHS. By the way, football has turned around at FRHS, but to get back to the next level in today's environment requires funds.

 

Ole Dad

 

Are you saying that FR does not get the same quality athletes that MBA & BA get due to not offering the same amount of financial aid? Why is FR able to win in the sports other than football with the same athletes that participate on the football team? They compete and win championships in basketball, baseball, soccer, etc... and everyone knows what their accomplishments are on the wrestling mat. So what are the true problems with football and how should they be fixed? Does the board not want to win state championships in football?

[my2cents]

Are you saying that FR does not get the same quality athletes that MBA & BA get due to not offering the same amount of financial aid? Why is FR able to win in the sports other than football with the same athletes that participate on the football team? They compete and win championships in basketball, baseball, soccer, etc... and everyone knows what their accomplishments are on the wrestling mat. So what are the true problems with football and how should they be fixed? Does the board not want to win state championships in football?

 

They are doing everything they can to help the football team. Lussier is as good a coach as they could want. They have cleaned out the female sports coaches from the PE department (probably wasn't crazy about both of them coaching recent state championship teams) so that should help them get more football coaches in there since Lussier is the head of that dept. I have heard Ryan only gives 1/2 of what a student qualifies for in financial aid. Don't know about BA and MBA, I would guess they give it all if that is what they qualify for. Football is in a lot better shape than it was before Lussier that is for sure. Just not sure if they can overcome BA and MBA.

[big red big blue]

Look at the number of athletes necessary on a team in the sports that you named compared to what you need for a great football team. Didn't you ever notice that Vandy, Duke, Marquette, Villanova, etc. can compete in basketball, soccer, lacrosse, etc. because of the number of truly great athletes required for those sports is much smaller. The fact is that MBA and BA give many times more financial aid to football athletes than FRHS. By the way, football has turned around at FRHS, but to get back to the next level in today's environment requires funds.

 

Ole Dad

 

 

It's really a shame that Ryan lacks sufficient alumni either willing or able to pony up the money to make FRHS competitive when it comes to giving out financial aid, especially when you consider how much tradition FRHS has. It must really be unsettling for the folks at Ryan to have been passed by BA in this department. It's one thing to be at a disadvantage to MBA, Baylor, or McCallie, all tradition-rich schools with decades of alumni giving behind them. But for Ryan to fall behind BA, a school that is much smaller and just over 30 years old, must really be depressing. I guess you could try to convince yourself that MBA and BA are recklessly throwing this money around in financial aid at the expense of more serious things, but one look at either campus would tell you that's not the case. I guess Ryan will just have to really work hard to do "more with less" but I agree--it's going to be tough in this environment, especially now with EHS on the scene.

[cbg]

From the outside looking in it seems as if MBA & BA have taken the necessary steps to win at the highest level in football. BA has also been very strong in basketball, track & baseball (all winning recent state titles) while MBA looks to be focused on football and is competitive in all sports but not having state championship calibur teams on a consistent basis other than football. Father Ryan on the other hand seems to compete for state titles in all sports with the exceptition being football. Maybe the Father Ryan board has taken the position that they would rather use their financial resources in areas other than football? After winning the first state championship in D2 football the Father Ryan football program started a slow decline and shows no sign of being able to compete at the highest level in the near future. You may very well be correct that before D2 was formed and schools could only have 3 financial aid students participating in football, Father Ryan did very well but now that schools may offer unlimited financial aid the Irish are simply overmatched due to a lack of funds.

[DS2001]

From a Father Ryan perspective, there is no doubt that the football program has been on the bottom to mid-pack looking up for the past 10 years.....This has been dissected in many quarters for some time....It has been painful to observe and to be fair there were several "factors" that all came together within a couple of years to put us in the situation we find ourselves trying to rebuild from.

The financial aid situation at Ryan is designed to assist ALL students regardless of whether they participate in sports. It is being looked at to see if more funds can be offered to a student who is truly deserving of more. Right now, as stated earlier the most you can receive is 50% of tuition costs.

The former principal at Father Ryan Jack Langton, paid little more than lip service to the Athletic Dept. He and Former Coach Kurt Page locked horns on this very financial aid issue and Kurt wound up saying "Adios".

About that time, Pope John Paul II was opening and enrollment at Ryan took a nosedive. Langton hired Robert Jemison off of the current staff. Robert was a good guy, but not qualified to be head coach . Things went from bad to worse as our DIV II bretheren were really improving their programs and we were heading in the opposite direction.......

In the past couple of years things have improved with the hiring of Coach Lussier. Our current principal Jim Mcintyre at least understands the importance of having a competitive football program.....It looks as if we may finally be getting our own football stadium and improved weightroom facility as fundraising for that project seems to be going well....... Enrollment at the school has stabilized at around 850...... Our incoming Freshman class will be right around 250.....Still, it will always be a challenge for us to keep raising the financial resources needed to pay teachers competitively and keep tuition affordable for the diverse Catholic population we serve......In the long term, we compete in the toughest division of high school football in Tennessee. That in itself is is very different from our successful days of the past....Now, there are no Div. II games on our schedule that aren`t dogfights......We will have to work harder and continue to build on successes. It will always be a challenge for us to compete with the upper teams in our division...I`m proud of the fact that we do have a balanced athletic program and try to offer something for everyone... In the state of Tennessee, only Baylor fields more athletic teams than Father Ryan.....I`m optimistic our football program will continue to improve....Hopefully our dark period is behind us.

[KWoodroof]

From a Father Ryan perspective, there is no doubt that the football program has been on the bottom to mid-pack looking up for the past 10 years.....This has been dissected in many quarters for some time....It has been painful to observe and to be fair there were several "factors" that all came together within a couple of years to put us in the situation we find ourselves trying to rebuild from.

The financial aid situation at Ryan is designed to assist ALL students regardless of whether they participate in sports. It is being looked at to see if more funds can be offered to a student who is truly deserving of more. Right now, as stated earlier the most you can receive is 50% of tuition costs.

The former principal at Father Ryan Jack Langton, paid little more than lip service to the Athletic Dept. He and Former Coach Kurt Page locked horns on this very financial aid issue and Kurt wound up saying "Adios".

About that time, Pope John Paul II was opening and enrollment at Ryan took a nosedive. Langton hired Robert Jemison off of the current staff. Robert was a good guy, but not qualified to be head coach . Things went from bad to worse as our DIV II bretheren were really improving their programs and we were heading in the opposite direction.......

In the past couple of years things have improved with the hiring of Coach Lussier. Our current principal Jim Mcintyre at least understands the importance of having a competitive football program.....It looks as if we may finally be getting our own football stadium and improved weightroom facility as fundraising for that project seems to be going well....... Enrollment at the school has stabilized at around 850...... Our incoming Freshman class will be right around 250.....Still, it will always be a challenge for us to keep raising the financial resources needed to pay teachers competitively and keep tuition affordable for the diverse Catholic population we serve......In the long term, we compete in the toughest division of high school football in Tennessee. That in itself is is very different from our successful days of the past....Now, there are no Div. II games on our schedule that aren`t dogfights......We will have to work harder and continue to build on successes. It will always be a challenge for us to compete with the upper teams in our division...I`m proud of the fact that we do have a balanced athletic program and try to offer something for everyone... In the state of Tennessee, only Baylor fields more athletic teams than Father Ryan.....I`m optimistic our football program will continue to improve....Hopefully our dark period is behind us.

 

You make some very compelling points, and clearly have a good knowledge of the situation at Ryan. What was the lowest level for enrollment? Assuming that half your student body is male, you still have a larger male enrollment than MBA, and I suspect BA as well. Further, you have a good feeder system in the parochial school system. Certainly the opening of JPII cut into that demographic, but I think for the most part, only the kids who live in the St. Joseph area see a distance benefit in that area.

 

On the positive side, I hear good things about the new principal from people in a position to know. Moreover, their comments suggest that he is improving the school in every facet. And let's be adults here: as much as we love football, the goal is first and foremost to provide a good educational experience.

 

I will quibble with your analysis of the state of affairs in "the successful days of the past." In the time between the establishment of the district play-off system and the move to 5 division (also known as the beginning of a new and terrible dark age, when the successful programs were cast into the pit), Ryan played in 11-AAA. This was probably the best district in the state. Some districts had better individual teams, but there was no dogfight like the ones in 11-AAA. In addition to Ryan and MBA, you also had Overton under Nick Coutras, a perennially good team at Pearl (before the merger with Cohn), and Antioch under another of the best coaches in Nashville, Warren Dunn. The only weak teams in the district were Hillwood and Hillsboro, and thet weren't that bad. The survivor of the district competition (only one team qualified) generally faced Maplewood under Wes Elrod, followed by Calvin Short's Gallatin. It's apples and oranges at this point, but I certainly belive that was as competitive an era as this one. Of course, as it was pointed out to me last fall, I'm old, so what do I know?

[fiftyfifty]

From a Father Ryan perspective, there is no doubt that the football program has been on the bottom to mid-pack looking up for the past 10 years.....This has been dissected in many quarters for some time....It has been painful to observe and to be fair there were several "factors" that all came together within a couple of years to put us in the situation we find ourselves trying to rebuild from.

The financial aid situation at Ryan is designed to assist ALL students regardless of whether they participate in sports. It is being looked at to see if more funds can be offered to a student who is truly deserving of more. Right now, as stated earlier the most you can receive is 50% of tuition costs.

The former principal at Father Ryan Jack Langton, paid little more than lip service to the Athletic Dept. He and Former Coach Kurt Page locked horns on this very financial aid issue and Kurt wound up saying "Adios".

About that time, Pope John Paul II was opening and enrollment at Ryan took a nosedive. Langton hired Robert Jemison off of the current staff. Robert was a good guy, but not qualified to be head coach . Things went from bad to worse as our DIV II bretheren were really improving their programs and we were heading in the opposite direction.......

In the past couple of years things have improved with the hiring of Coach Lussier. Our current principal Jim Mcintyre at least understands the importance of having a competitive football program.....It looks as if we may finally be getting our own football stadium and improved weightroom facility as fundraising for that project seems to be going well....... Enrollment at the school has stabilized at around 850...... Our incoming Freshman class will be right around 250.....Still, it will always be a challenge for us to keep raising the financial resources needed to pay teachers competitively and keep tuition affordable for the diverse Catholic population we serve......In the long term, we compete in the toughest division of high school football in Tennessee. That in itself is is very different from our successful days of the past....Now, there are no Div. II games on our schedule that aren`t dogfights......We will have to work harder and continue to build on successes. It will always be a challenge for us to compete with the upper teams in our division...I`m proud of the fact that we do have a balanced athletic program and try to offer something for everyone... In the state of Tennessee, only Baylor fields more athletic teams than Father Ryan.....I`m optimistic our football program will continue to improve....Hopefully our dark period is behind us.

 

The principal of Father Ryan is Paul Davis. The President is Jim Mcintyre. You stated that you are proud of the fact that Father Ryan has a balanced athletic program. You also stated that they are looking at financial aid to see if more can be offered to those who deserve more. I would think that even if more were offered that the impact on football would be mild. I say this with the understanding that if more financial aid was offered, that this would include all sports and all students, athletes or not, and not be unfairly distributed among some students who happen to play football. As another poster has already stated, they already have dismissed two girls coaches and took the money and put it in football. They extinguished the P.E. job of Paula Jackson and put the money in football. Lussier heads up the P.E. dept at Ryan. While this doesn't fall under the discussion of financial aid, it should be included in any discussion of fairness and equality among all students when it comes to financial aid. If all sports are looked at by Ryan as being played by their students and therefore important, then Ryan's reputation will be great whether they ever win another championship or not. Their greatness will show in the faces of all the students who know that they are important and treated fairly by a school that preaches just that on a daily basis. PS, does being successful in any sport depend on how much money you have? If so, perhaps the biggest banner that Father Ryan could hang at their school is that they have refused up to the recent past to focus too much on one sport at the expense of all the other sports, especially women's sports. /smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile.gif" />