MBA vs. Riverdale

[Antwan]

Don't even try to pretend MBA has never had or doesn't have athletes on financial aid becasue you know it is not true and I know it is not true. I could name 3 right now but I won't.

If you want to go by that logic, I was a scholarship athlete at MBA.  The fact of the matter is that I only played one year of basketball, and at that, I rode the bench the entire year.  All students are given the opportunity for financial aid at MBA if they meet the requirements of an independent agency that determines each student's eligibility.  Just because I got some alumni money and happened to participate in competitive athletics for a year doesn't mean I was recruited.  I think I could count on one hand the number of kids at MBA right now who have any chance of being potential recruits...

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If MBA has so few aid players...why not do away with aid and play in DI? You could play Riverdale every year.

Edited October 22, 2004 by Antwan

[AintSkeerd59]

I don't think they'd want MBA taking over 5A.

[TDCman]

We have this thread about 4-5 times a year and we still haven't settled it. Doesn't say much for our negotiating skills.

[bud]

I don't think any team would take over 5A.

[WesVLT]

If MBA has so few aid players...why not do away with aid and play in DI?  You could play Riverdale every year.

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Coach Rankin of Riverdale and Coach Crawford of Brentwood would petition to move their teams down to 4A if MBA or BA were back in 5A.

[Antwan]

Coach Rankin of Riverdale and Coach Crawford of Brentwood would petition to move their teams down to 4A if MBA or BA were back in 5A.

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I think it's comical everyone thinks Rankin has so much pull. Man...I wish I had told him to get all the privates out of DI. Rankin didn't do it. You did by offering aid to your players. Stop the aid...and DII could go away. Instead...you have put even DI privates in jeopardy of being moved. You made your own bed.

Now...it's whining and crying about why Riverdale won't play you. Why should they?

Edited October 22, 2004 by Antwan

[Guest Oakland]

Coach Rankin of Riverdale and Coach Crawford of Brentwood would petition to move their teams down to 4A if MBA or BA were back in 5A.

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a sense a little bitterness. if rankin were petition to move down to 4a, the boro schools would give more crap than anybody else. bring back the aplhabet schools if they want to, but riverdale and brentwood will still be there

[WesVLT]

I think it's comical everyone thinks Rankin has so much pull.  Man...I wish I had told him to get all the privates out of DI.  Rankin didn't do it.  You did by offering aid to your players.  Stop the aid...and DII could go away.    Instead...you have put even DI privates in jeopardy of being moved.  You made your own bed. 

Now...it's whining and crying about why Riverdale won't play you.  Why should they?

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I didn't say they'd successfully change the rules -- I said they'd try, based upon their record of action in the past and their refusal to play private schools.

 

Stop the aid...and hundreds of kids across the state don't attend school where they choose, and the missions of schools like Brentwood Academy and MBA take a severe hit. In addition, private schools would truly become the elitist institutions folks like you already think they are. Doing away with financial aid would completely divide education by classes of wealth -- something I'm sure neither of us want to see.

 

I understand the public schools' objection to schools who can accept whomever they choose, and who can objectively provide aid so that anyone who can make the grades is able to get an education there. Still, when less than 10% (and that's a generous percentage) of most teams consist of students on aid, I don't understand why public schools still flaunt financial aid as an excuse not to play the privates.

 

This is turning into a public/private debate, and I'm sure it'll probably move to that board soon.

[Letsplayball]

I dont think we should lump MBA and BA together when talking about private schools. The schools clearly have different objectives in the field of education and athletics.

[WesVLT]

I dont think we should lump MBA and BA together when talking about private schools. The schools clearly have different objectives in the field of education and athletics.

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Both schools are different in their fundamental ideologies, but not so far apart on their "objectives in the field of education and athletics." Both are fabulous educational institutions, though MBA certainly holds a little more prestige due to their having been around for 150+ years, and as a result often attracts the top tier of students in Nashville.

 

Brentwood Academy also has outstanding academics. I went there, and can attest to how difficult and engaging the classes are; plus, when added to the spiritual edification students receive, Brentwood Academy is one of the top schools in the state, without question. People who say otherwise simply don't understand what BA is all about because they haven't experienced it firsthand.

 

Both schools hold sports as essential to the development of any student; after all, both MBA and BA place physical growth as one of their fundamental objectives: MBA says "Gentleman, Scholar, Athlete" while BA says "Academic, Athletic, Spiritual." Their objectives are the same: to develop young men (and, for BA, women) while fielding successful sports teams. Both schools have top-notch coaching and facilities in place to do just that.

[AintSkeerd59]

well said wesvols. and i don't see any circumstance under which private schools would stop giving financial aid. If that were to happen, then a certain population of students wouldn't attend those schools and then all the DII-haters would talk about how private schools are just rich white kids.

[rollredroll]

I think many people do not understand why schools like MBA offer financial aid. Anyone who thinks it’s solely for athletic purposes is largely disillusioned.

 

MBA’s Form 990s are available for free on the internet. For fiscal year 2003, the average student receiving financial aid at MBA was still paying well over $7,000 out of his own pocket to attend school at MBA. That’s a high price to pay for what, a 3-5% chance to play college ball. The general consensus from the uninformed out there is that financial aid students are lavished with “freebies”. That’s the farthest thing from the truth. I have a hard time buying into the presumption that MBA has the pick of the litter for athletes given the academic requirements and the financial requirements (even after need for aid is assessed and applied) at the school.

 

MBA has had some players on aid over the years, of course. There’s no denying what has been public record. However, take those select few out of the mix, and many of you would be shocked at who remains on the teams. Teams still would have had to contend with a high-school All-American QB who was on all the big school recruiting lists and would eventually start for a SEC powerhouse before being “Zooked” away to the 1-AA ranks. Teams still would have had to contend with a LB who is currently starting for the Chicago Bears and who, after his years of making that god-awful two-mile drive to MBA, would become the leading tackler in the SEC his senior season and would be Vanderbilt’s first first-team Academic All-American in 20 years. Teams still would have had to contend with a FB who, after his four years of being student body president at MBA, would become a valuable member of a UT football team that would win a national title in football. The list goes on.

 

I have done (and provided on this site) exhaustive work on where MBA kids live, yet people still find a way to ignore this data and toot about MBA “scanning the globe” for talent. I have provided information (and information that could be readily gleaned from MBA’s website, at that) about the academic accomplishments of MBA’s athletes (e.g., over the past two years, roughly 20% of the senior football players have been named National Merit Semifinalists or Commended Students), yet people somehow conveniently ignore the question of what schools can boast similar statistics for their entire male, senior student bodies that match those of just MBA’s athletes. While not every player who has ever played ball at MBA is a future Rhodes Scholar who lives on Golf Club Lane, I think MBA has earned the benefit of the doubt in determining the typical profile of its student-athletes.

 

MBA is not perfect – far, far from it, and I hope people understand that some of us carry the banner for MBA not in a boastful way – although it may appear that way to some – but more so for defensive purposes because of the constant potshots (and in some cases, libel) by naysayers. And we certainly did not invent the game of football (I think we all know by now that Maryville and that “GQ” guy did, though). But, while I’ve given up any hope that people on the other side of the fence will change their opinions of private schools and the way they operate, I do remain hopeful that the people on that other side of the fence may start differentiating between how different private schools operate. Not all private schools are created the same. The actions, perceived or real, of a few are not automatically transferable to others.

 

To the topic hand, Riverdale vs. MBA would be a great annual matchup. Heck, MBA vs. D-B was a great two-year series a few years ago that was friendly, evenly-matched, and well-attended. I’d welcome either or both of those matchups, and, despite my allegiances, know that they would be good, hard-fought matchups each year.

 

As guilty as I am for public/private overtones, we need to move back to the topic.

Edited October 22, 2004 by rollredroll