Div II Favorite

[ahapplet]

"The path to the American Dream, and success is not only by private schools. If you don't believe me think of the President, Vice-President, and current Supreme Court Nominee, to name a few, who have experienced great success without the benefit of a private school education. A good education and good coaching can be found in public schools too."

 

 

Although I am not disputing your premise, I can't let this statement pass by unremarked. There are plenty of examples that you could have used to make your point, but the examples that you did use are incorrect. President Obama went to Punahou School http://www.punahou.edu/; Vice President Biden went to Archmere Academy http://www.archmereacademy.com/ and Judge Sotomayor went to Cardinal Spellman High School http://www.cardinalspellman.org/ -all private schools.

 

 

Darn it, you're right! I should have checked that. Thanks for the correct information. I assumed they attended public schools because they are Democrats. I've been researching this topic a bit. Even Bill Clilnton attended a Catholic school for a while.

[AP.battleground.59]

I don't feel all that ripped, but good try. Your comments in the first paragraph are exactly what I have been trying to express in my posts about Division II football. My compliments to your English teacher.

 

The rest of your post fits in the category of ravings by a stereotypical private school brat. I don't think that private school students fit into this stereotype, but as the "younger, out of high school DII poster", it sounds as if you might. First of all, why do you think that all black athletic students would need a scholarship. This is an ugly, prejudiced thing to say. The path to the American Dream, and success is not only by private schools. If you don't believe me think of the President, Vice-President, and current Supreme Court Nominee, to name a few, who have experienced great success without the benefit of a private school education. A good education and good coaching can be found in public schools too.

 

You also completely lost the argument, when you stated that the two best players at BGA were probably recruited. I guess that is why Division I and II are no longer playing each other in the play-offs. My opinion is that Division I football is more interesting to people, because students come from a variety of backgrounds, and are able to come together and make a team. You can type until your little fingers are blue and I will keep this opinion. Your post has only reinforced it. You testify to the superiority as to the caliber of play in Division II and then you have the nerve to say that your best players were "probably" recruited and even tell the names of the public schools that lost their talented players. You have a lot of reason to brag, except what's happened to BGA? Is Columbia not sending you as many recruits?

 

Listen, Junior, if you want me out of your "private" forum, then don't engage me further. I will miss the fun. Now go drink some more Red Bull.

 

 

 

Eh, again how wrong you are. Nice try pulling the race card lol. I think it's slightly rude you decide to get personal within the post, seeing as all I referred to was high school football. Now if taking cheap shots on a message board is your cup of tea, thumbs up for you. I just thought it was funny that someone had polar opposite opinions to mine. Now, you made it sound as though DII was uninteresting because it was like a college, with recruiting etc. I was saying that if there is/was/etc recruiting, it does lead to a diversification in student body, and it honestly does no harm if done in a correct and controlled manner. It's not a race issue like you made it. I wouldn't have gone to BGA without financial aid (very private school brat right?). Now in referring to BGA "recruiting" as well as all private schools, THEY ALL DO IT. Commercials, ads in the paper, etc are all forms of recruiting. The point of a private school is to provide a top notch experience to people from all locations, backgrounds, etc. Seems as though you missed the point of my post.

 

But yea, don't try to get personal just because you have some pretty bitter sounding pre-conceived notions about "private school" people. I actually kind of agreed with you about the pros of DI, I just resoundingly disagree with how you characterized DII.

 

And you said you're opinion won't change no matter what...so doesn't that make you ignorantly stubborn for no reason what so ever? I would listen to you and probably take you're advice if you gave me your opinion on being grumpy, so why not listen to the multiple people on here that know much more about the topic at hand than you do?

 

Oh and oh dear, the little "junior" and "little" jabs...cmon, I could easily have made my display name "williamson co is cool xoxo!" and said I am 40, but I think being fairly public with who I am provides some validity to what I have to say, whether you agree or not.

 

 

Thank you for putting "AP" in his place. He is an arrogant little short guy that stood on the sidelines 99% of the season for all of his 4 years of high school. His playing time was limited to games that were already won and done. His contribution to the team was handing out water during timeouts on the playing field. Now that he has graduated he feels that he is an authority on DII football. What a joke!

 

 

Well seeing as you know me, I assume you know you're wrong about everything in that post except me being short lol (well I guess you are right, I didn't get in very often freshman year, and I did sit out 9 games after I started week zero junior year after I broke my back...good point you made). But hey, as long as you feel cool hiding behind a name on a message board, go right ahead. You're cool!

 

Darn it, you're right! I should have checked that. Thanks for the correct information. I assumed they attended public schools because they are Democrats. I've been researching this topic a bit. Even Bill Clilnton attended a Catholic school for a while.

 

And I voted Democrat? You really are bad about stereotypes aren't you?

[doct]

What you are saying is absolutely false, NO ONE who plays at the Varsity Level of a TSSAA Sport can get a full ride, period. There are no athletic scholarships, they are all need based. Every family has to turn in TAX Forms to the school, don't quote me on it but every family has to pay a percentage based on their income. Don't be so sure Bullard didn't get some aid, no matter how small or larger of an amount. 60% of all kids who attend DII schools receive some aid, whether they play sports or not.

 

 

False, approximately 18% of kids at BA are on some sort of Financial Aid

[doct]

And that is absolutely false. As everyone has said, the financial aid is run through Princeton, etc etc. The only people that go to BGA on a full ride can not play Varsity sports. Seeing as all of these Northern Williamson Co. and Davidson Co. schools have multiple football players from farrrrrrr outside their "zone" it can be be fairly assumed that some grade of "recruiting" goes on. The problem arises when those players are treated much differently than other students and when the acquisition of these athletes becomes the focus of the school over education. The academics of BGA (and I'm assuming BA, Ryan, and MBA are the same) aren't as prestigous as they once were, so obviously the obsession is having its effects. And when Ensworth just stumbles upon a behemoth from Mt. Pleasant...well sorry, get off of the kool-aid, that isn't coincidince.

 

 

I think that BA wasn't exactly their traditional "good" this year. But in high school, when a team has such an excess of size, it is hard to match up with unless extreme depth in in place(MUS).

 

Meaning I don't think BA was very good this year as an actually team, they simply won due to size, etc.

 

 

AP.battleground, if you reference academics in your post with an obvious swipe at BA, please use proper grammar (your last sentence). Doesn't BGA have a fair number of kids from Maury County? Not exactly in the neighborhood

[soccerpro1]

The longer Potter is coaching at BA, the better they should become. Potter's offenses are relatively complex. At McCallie, the middle school coaches started running some of the offense used in the high school. Of course Potter had much better students at McCallie but not nearly as many athletes as he has at BA.

[AP.battleground.59]

AP.battleground, if you reference academics in your post with an obvious swipe at BA, please use proper grammar (your last sentence). Doesn't BGA have a fair number of kids from Maury County? Not exactly in the neighborhood

 

 

Yes, the "haha" was a swipe at BA, but in good fun. The grammar was suitable for a message board. And I have always recognized BGA's "recruiting." In fact, I acknowledge all private schools' recruiting. So don't preach to the choir on that one.

 

And it really is lame when a topic on who is the favorite this year devolves into what is basically a public-private debate, and now private in-fighting. Chill out everyone /tongue.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":P" border="0" alt="tongue.gif" />

 

And even when someone might come of as a bit harsh in their critique of another school (yes, I have been guilty of this), it's all in good fun 99.999999% of the time. We are part of a small group of schools that strive for excellence on and off the field, so a little friendly jabbing is natural. BGA will be called hopeless, BA will be called cheaters, Ryan will be called dirty, and etc, etc, down the line. The beauty of it though is all the schools are pretty much the same. Since the entire class is one big rivalry, there has to be something to rip on each other for in the off season. I think we all root for each other when we play D1 schools, and I don't think there is a really bad relationship between any of the schools. Just take the arguments with some sugar and remember we really are all in the same boat.

 

Again, and let's get this part started again, MUS beats BA. The Mountaineer leads the Owls to back to back titles.

[doct]

The longer Potter is coaching at BA, the better they should become. Potter's offenses are relatively complex. At McCallie, the middle school coaches started running some of the offense used in the high school. Of course Potter had much better students at McCallie but not nearly as many athletes as he has at BA.

 

 

Soccerpro1, what exactly do you mean that "Potter had much better students at McCallie"...where are you going with this? On what basis do you make this statement?

[AP.battleground.59]

Soccerpro1, what exactly do you mean that "Potter had much better students at McCallie"...where are you going with this? On what basis do you make this statement?

 

It was a jab at BA's academics. I'd assume the all boys schools have a more challenging academic curriculum than BA, BGA, EHS, FRHS, etc. I could be wrong, but it just seems like the focus on all around (athletic and academic) tradition is more prominent at MBA, MUS, etc.

 

Ugh, and I'll preemptive strike me including EHS; I know that they don't have tradition exactly, but I assume that they are in the same league academically as the schools I grouped them with as opposed to MBA and such. Again I may be very wrong, but at least that's how it seems.

[KWoodroof]

It was a jab at BA's academics. I'd assume the all boys schools have a more challenging academic curriculum than BA, BGA, EHS, FRHS, etc. I could be wrong, but it just seems like the focus on all around (athletic and academic) tradition is more prominent at MBA, MUS, etc.

 

Ugh, and I'll preemptive strike me including EHS; I know that they don't have tradition exactly, but I assume that they are in the same league academically as the schools I grouped them with as opposed to MBA and such. Again I may be very wrong, but at least that's how it seems.

 

At this juncture, I know nothing about Ensworth's academics (and don't read anything into it; I know nothing about things out there now). In my day, 30+ years ago, the boys from Ensworth who came to MBA in the 7th or 9th grade were quite adequately prepared to handle the demanding workload at MBA. Given the fact hat they have almost endless money and a lot of space, and coupled with the fact that they're keeping their enrollment at about 120 students per class, I would guess that they have made the expansion to a senior high school without any sacrifice of academic quality or integrity.

[AP.battleground.59]

At this juncture, I know nothing about Ensworth's academics (and don't read anything into it; I know nothing about things out there now). In my day, 30+ years ago, the boys from Ensworth who came to MBA in the 7th or 9th grade were quite adequately prepared to handle the demanding workload at MBA. Given the fact hat they have almost endless money and a lot of space, and coupled with the fact that they're keeping their enrollment at about 120 students per class, I would guess that they have made the expansion to a senior high school without any sacrifice of academic quality or integrity.

 

That's really interesting, and also impressive about them keeping the class size down. It seems like most schools are aiming at growing enrollment, so that's a pleasant surprise. And just curious, but what is MBA's enrollment currently, as well as compared to the past. It always seems when conversations about the Williamson/Davidson Co. private schools pop up, there's never anything negative that is said about MBA. It seems like they've got their ducks in a row.

[KWoodroof]

That's really interesting, and also impressive about them keeping the class size down. It seems like most schools are aiming at growing enrollment, so that's a pleasant surprise. And just curious, but what is MBA's enrollment currently, as well as compared to the past. It always seems when conversations about the Williamson/Davidson Co. private schools pop up, there's never anything negative that is said about MBA. It seems like they've got their ducks in a row.

 

I'm not the authority, but classes now are around 100. They expanded a few years back (within 10 yrs, say, but not sure exactly when). They had also expanded the physical plant and the staff sufficiently to accomodate the growth; I don't think the number of students in a given classroom has risen any. Prior to the expansion, a class was between 70 and 80 boys. Mine was 75 or 77.

[matt86]

I'm not the authority, but classes now are around 100. They expanded a few years back (within 10 yrs, say, but not sure exactly when). They had also expanded the physical plant and the staff sufficiently to accomodate the growth; I don't think the number of students in a given classroom has risen any. Prior to the expansion, a class was between 70 and 80 boys. Mine was 75 or 77.

 

 

MBA's enrollment last year was 1140 (according to the TSSAA website). Guess that averages out to about 285 boys per class.