Coaches starting to blow the whistle on st.Thomas

[Ibis Wingz]

The GHSA would not put up with the recruitment St Thomas does. They are clearly paying players by giving them scholarships to player football.

Not true. They have partial financial aid packages based on financial wherewithal that are available to all students with the same criteria.

 

[Hegemon]

They have two losses or do my eyes deceive me?

 

[Hegemon]

The GHSA would not put up with the recruitment St Thomas does. They are clearly paying players by giving them scholarships to player football.

Ignorance is bliss even for Admins.

 

[San Amaro Dr]

The GHSA would not put up with the recruitment St Thomas does. They are clearly paying players by giving them scholarships to player football.

Not true. They have partial financial aid packages based on financial wherewithal that are available to all students with the same criteria.

There is nothing wrong with a kid from a poor family being given an opportunity to go to a better school than what he is zoned for in the public sector. It isn't that kids fault that he was born into a certain situation.

The financial aid thing is just a gimmick. If you think a football player and a non-athlete with similar household income are paying the same per month in tuition than you're playing stupid. It is what it is, sports bring in alot of revenue at a place like STA and the administration gets it.

 

[Ibis Wingz]

The GHSA would not put up with the recruitment St Thomas does. They are clearly paying players by giving them scholarships to player football.

Not true. They have partial financial aid packages based on financial wherewithal that are available to all students with the same criteria.

There is nothing wrong with a kid from a poor family being given an opportunity to go to a better school than what he is zoned for in the public sector. It isn't that kids fault that he was born into a certain situation.

The financial aid thing is just a gimmick. If you think a football player and a non-athlete with similar household income are paying the same per month in tuition than you're playing stupid. It is what it is, sports bring in alot of revenue at a place like STA and the administration gets it.

I don't think that, I know it. Carry on.

 

[Ibis Wingz]

Some schools see the value in having a top notch athletic program. St. Thomas and Heritage are among them. Gibbons is now making a push to improve in football. They are really working on it, in fact. Donnell Bennett is the Head of Football Operations over there and they are making a major push.

Interestingly, a lot of kids are shying away from the competition at STA and going to other schools in a quest for earlier playing time (to build their film). STA's freshman football team had their smallest turnout in a long time this season. A lot of coaches at competing schools are using STA's depth against them in trying to sway kids to go to their school and then telling the kid, that if the kid is really good, STA will recruit them to come in as juniors anyway.

There were coaches from Chaminade-Madonna, Western, Heritage, Archbishop McCarthy and STA at my son's Davie Broncos' practices every week this past season.

Sta will get who they want from the optomist programs. Harriott was at my super bowl championship two weeks back in plantation.

Venice is just soft, coach included. Teams in broward play Sta tough every year..and they lost to BTW this year. Miramar beat them a few times, Deerfield always plays them tough.

Harriott will recruit Harder than smith ever did, because he has to stick the deck wherever he is. But it the new rule change..some broward publics might get back right. I miss the days of plantation and dillard being power houses. Deerfield is bck strong now...Ely will always have talent.

What park and age do you coach?

Roger will get his players from Optimist parks, but the question is how many will stick with him for 4 years?

Miramar..probably the best overall park in the ayfl

Possibly, but my sons' teams put Miramar's teams out of the playoffs in their respective divisions.

 

[gogeta4]

Some schools see the value in having a top notch athletic program. St. Thomas and Heritage are among them. Gibbons is now making a push to improve in football. They are really working on it, in fact. Donnell Bennett is the Head of Football Operations over there and they are making a major push.

Interestingly, a lot of kids are shying away from the competition at STA and going to other schools in a quest for earlier playing time (to build their film). STA's freshman football team had their smallest turnout in a long time this season. A lot of coaches at competing schools are using STA's depth against them in trying to sway kids to go to their school and then telling the kid, that if the kid is really good, STA will recruit them to come in as juniors anyway.

There were coaches from Chaminade-Madonna, Western, Heritage, Archbishop McCarthy and STA at my son's Davie Broncos' practices every week this past season.

Sta will get who they want from the optomist programs. Harriott was at my super bowl championship two weeks back in plantation.

Venice is just soft, coach included. Teams in broward play Sta tough every year..and they lost to BTW this year. Miramar beat them a few times, Deerfield always plays them tough.

Harriott will recruit Harder than smith ever did, because he has to stick the deck wherever he is. But it the new rule change..some broward publics might get back right. I miss the days of plantation and dillard being power houses. Deerfield is bck strong now...Ely will always have talent.

What park and age do you coach?

Roger will get his players from Optimist parks, but the question is how many will stick with him for 4 years?

Miramar..probably the best overall park in the ayfl

Possibly, but my sons' teams put Miramar's teams out of the playoffs in their respective divisions.

Not my age group...we ran the score up on davie. Beat them 30-0. We had 3 teams in the super bowl from our park I believe. I think davie's older kids were ok and maybe the 11 or 12 u..whatever team Jason taylor coaches I think they made the chip. Im 10u. And we lost to ppo in the super bowl. We beat them in the season but lost 6-0 in the superb owl after fumbling on the two yardline going in to win the game with 45 seconds left.

 

[San Amaro Dr]

The GHSA would not put up with the recruitment St Thomas does. They are clearly paying players by giving them scholarships to player football.

Not true. They have partial financial aid packages based on financial wherewithal that are available to all students with the same criteria.

There is nothing wrong with a kid from a poor family being given an opportunity to go to a better school than what he is zoned for in the public sector. It isn't that kids fault that he was born into a certain situation.

The financial aid thing is just a gimmick. If you think a football player and a non-athlete with similar household income are paying the same per month in tuition than you're playing stupid. It is what it is, sports bring in alot of revenue at a place like STA and the administration gets it.

I don't think that, I know it. Carry on.

LOL K.

 

[Jassid82]

STA isnt unbeatable. The problem with alot of these central FLA schools is that they just cant compete with ANY school in SoFla regardless if its STA or not. Most schools in SoFla recruit the best kids to their school while a school like Venice and Apopka do it the old fashion way of using their little league farm systems and dont recruit. They are still in the stone ages. Cant win like that anymore. .

Ehhhh, not entirely true. Venice's two best players are supposed to go to other schools. You think that Venice team we saw against STA looked weak, imagine them without Laroche. (he belongs North Port)

Same thing happens here in Manatee County. Some kids that are supposed to be at our school are at Palmetto, Manatee and Braden River instead.

It happens all over the state, just not at the level of South FLA.

You are right. But doesnt that make my point as well? Venice had 2 recruited players. A good source told me that Deerfield had **** near 15 kids playing for them that didnt belong there. Ely still thinks they can recruit the Pompano Cowboys and Pompano Chiefs optimist league players and still compete. The basketball coach (Melvin Randall) is WAY ahead of the curve. He is the STA of basketball. Has 5-6 state titles and recruits kids from all over Broward county to play for him. He aint stupid.

Unless schools in CenFla keep up, they wont stand a chance in a few years esp when this "go to whatever school you phuckin' want!" rule kicks in next year.

 

[Ibis Wingz]

Sta will get who they want from the optomist programs. Harriott was at my super bowl championship two weeks back in plantation.

Venice is just soft, coach included. Teams in broward play Sta tough every year..and they lost to BTW this year. Miramar beat them a few times, Deerfield always plays them tough.

Harriott will recruit Harder than smith ever did, because he has to stick the deck wherever he is. But it the new rule change..some broward publics might get back right. I miss the days of plantation and dillard being power houses. Deerfield is bck strong now...Ely will always have talent.

What park and age do you coach?

Roger will get his players from Optimist parks, but the question is how many will stick with him for 4 years?

Miramar..probably the best overall park in the ayfl

Possibly, but my sons' teams put Miramar's teams out of the playoffs in their respective divisions.

Not my age group...we ran the score up on davie. Beat them 30-0. We had 3 teams in the super bowl from our park I believe. I think davie's older kids were ok and maybe the 11 or 12 u..whatever team Jason taylor coaches I think they made the chip. Im 10u. And we lost to ppo in the super bowl. We beat them in the season but lost 6-0 in the superb owl after fumbling on the two yardline going in to win the game with 45 seconds left.

My boys played on 13u and 11u this year. JT coached my older son and Will Allen coached my younger son (after the original HC was expelled from the league after the brawl at the end of the Miramar game). We were good at 13u, 12u and 11u. We were okay at 10u, and sucked at 9u and 8u. Our 10U had PPO down all game at PPO in the semis and lost in OT after trying to kick for two points instead of tying the game.

 

[da truth]

STA doesn't need to recruit, kids want to play there

 

[Ibis Wingz]

STA doesn't need to recruit, kids want to play there

Truth. Almost every kid on my sons' teams and kids we know from other parks say they want to play at STA. Then reality hits, and only a small percentage go there.

 

[Ibis Wingz]

Anyway you slice it, it's not fair. (but either is life)

Guys like us have almost no shot at keeping a stud player anymore, no matter how well we coach the kid or how much we do for him. It's extremely hard to battle against a private school with great facilities, a good education, a good reputation, etc...and then you add the fact that front-running is the thing to do nowadays and us public school guys are doomed.

Now, I would have no problem with STA if they just coached their ***'n kids and left other school's kids alone, like they used to, but that's not the case. If a parent chooses to take their kid elsewhere on their own, like Wade Freebeck's dad did when he took him to STA, then that's all good. Can't fault STA for that. But when you're persistently approaching kids from other schools, calling their cell phones, hollering at their mamas, getting in the daddy's ear all the time and lying to them about how much action they're going to get at STA...then it becomes slimy. That's the type of **** that creates animosity within the coaching world and ultimately is why a lot of public school coaches wish to see them fail.

You honestly can't fault a parent for wanting to see their kid at STA. I get it. But the part that I hate is when you develop a kid for 2 to 3 years and then STA coaches come and snatch him up after they see how good he is. It's almost like they scour the region for good athletes who are at schools that they can bully kids away from. "Coral Springs got a stud WR that caught 1,293 balls last year. We STA! We can take him from them." Then bam. Their coaches get a hold of the kid and the parents and feed them all kinds of BS. Next thing you know the kid is at STA, catching 1 pass per game.

This makes it almost impossible for the local public schools to build anything. Look at Western for example. They went 8-2, barely losing to McArthur and Flanagan. Elijah Moore and Kevin Austin could've been the difference between an 8-2 season and a 9-1 or 10-0 season. Forget Austin, Moore alone could've made that big of a difference for them. Instead, that kid was sold false dreams by STA, transferred and went from being his home school's main target to having a pathetic Junior year where he might've caught 12 balls.

STA doesn't hurt schools with a natural draw for athletes like Deerfield, Dillard, Miramar, etc...as much as they hurt schools who's handful of athletes make all the difference. (like Western, Cooper City, Coral Springs, Douglas, etc)

STA has been getting their share of studs for decades. At one point, the school basically recruited itself. And that's fine. When it becomes ridiculous is when their coaches go out of their way to take kids from other schools in an effort to stockpile their talent. It's unfair that STA had Elijah Moore twiddling his thumbs on the sideline when he could've been helping his home school achieve something special. That's not fair to the home school or their coaches.

And anybody who says "just do what they're doing, get on their level, **** or get off the pot, blah blah blah" has never coached and doesn't understand how difficult it is to fight the force that is STA. (or any well-off private school for that matter)

Spot on with Elijah Moore. Other than getting a ring, it made zero sense for Elijah Moore to leave Western and go to STA. The kid had an offer from UM, was on everyone's radar, probably would have caught 100 passes this season at Western, and might have won a ring at Western if he stayed there. Instead, he goes to STA, was maybe their fourth option at receiver, had pedestrian stats, and really didn't help them. Dumb move.

 

[San Amaro Dr]

Anyway you slice it, it's not fair. (but either is life)

Guys like us have almost no shot at keeping a stud player anymore, no matter how well we coach the kid or how much we do for him. It's extremely hard to battle against a private school with great facilities, a good education, a good reputation, etc...and then you add the fact that front-running is the thing to do nowadays and us public school guys are doomed.

Now, I would have no problem with STA if they just coached their ***'n kids and left other school's kids alone, like they used to, but that's not the case. If a parent chooses to take their kid elsewhere on their own, like Wade Freebeck's dad did when he took him to STA, then that's all good. Can't fault STA for that. But when you're persistently approaching kids from other schools, calling their cell phones, hollering at their mamas, getting in the daddy's ear all the time and lying to them about how much action they're going to get at STA...then it becomes slimy. That's the type of **** that creates animosity within the coaching world and ultimately is why a lot of public school coaches wish to see them fail.

You honestly can't fault a parent for wanting to see their kid at STA. I get it. But the part that I hate is when you develop a kid for 2 to 3 years and then STA coaches come and snatch him up after they see how good he is. It's almost like they scour the region for good athletes who are at schools that they can bully kids away from. "Coral Springs got a stud WR that caught 1,293 balls last year. We STA! We can take him from them." Then bam. Their coaches get a hold of the kid and the parents and feed them all kinds of BS. Next thing you know the kid is at STA, catching 1 pass per game.

This makes it almost impossible for the local public schools to build anything. Look at Western for example. They went 8-2, barely losing to McArthur and Flanagan. Elijah Moore and Kevin Austin could've been the difference between an 8-2 season and a 9-1 or 10-0 season. Forget Austin, Moore alone could've made that big of a difference for them. Instead, that kid was sold false dreams by STA, transferred and went from being his home school's main target to having a pathetic Junior year where he might've caught 12 balls.

STA doesn't hurt schools with a natural draw for athletes like Deerfield, Dillard, Miramar, etc...as much as they hurt schools who's handful of athletes make all the difference. (like Western, Cooper City, Coral Springs, Douglas, etc)

STA has been getting their share of studs for decades. At one point, the school basically recruited itself. And that's fine. When it becomes ridiculous is when their coaches go out of their way to take kids from other schools in an effort to stockpile their talent. It's unfair that STA had Elijah Moore twiddling his thumbs on the sideline when he could've been helping his home school achieve something special. That's not fair to the home school or their coaches.

And anybody who says "just do what they're doing, get on their level, **** or get off the pot, blah blah blah" has never coached and doesn't understand how difficult it is to fight the force that is STA. (or any well-off private school for that matter)

I don't always agree with you but this couldn't be anymore accurate. What is crazy is some kids are going to STA knowing they won't play meaningful snaps but hey "I played for St. Thomas Aquinas". That gold helmet will blind you...

 

[plantcity3]

As others have said, what STA does goes down all over the state at public schools. For anyone familiar with Tampa, Plant and Armwood are notorious for recruiting. Everyone knows South Tampa and Seffner does not put out that kind of talent.

When Plant started their title run in 06-07 with Marve, almost all their skill players were from the 22nd/Belmont Heights area. They were actually renting out apartments in South Tampa for addresses. And just pick a little league game in the area and you will find an Armwood coach.



Sent from my SM-N910T using Tapatalk

 

[sebastian91]

In my mind, high school and college football are getting too big, and there's too much money at stake. At some point, I think the system needs to shift away from the current model and move toward a similar system as major junior hockey in Canada (16-20 year olds). There's a draft, the players still must go to school (but without the farce of calling them 'student athletes'), they can be drafted into the pros and, if they aren't ready, sent back to their junior teams, with the pro team still holding their rights. The teams themselves are run like pro teams, are for-profit, players can be traded, and players not drafted to the pros or deemed 'not ready' can still go back and play at the university level when they get too old (although not in the US because they're no longer considered amateurs...but seriously, a lot of these elite high school and college players aren't really 'amateurs' either). Kids who are late bloomers or not considered 'elite' or good enough for major junior always have the option of playing at the university level.

I know that won't be a popular option for the St. Thomas' and Bamas of the football world, but it makes the most sense to me. Prepare them for the pros without having the ridiculous limitations of the 'rules' and everyone doing everything they can circumvent those rules.

 

[Ibis Wingz]

In my mind, high school and college football are getting too big, and there's too much money at stake. At some point, I think the system needs to shift away from the current model and move toward a similar system as major junior hockey in Canada (16-20 year olds). There's a draft, the players still must go to school (but without the farce of calling them 'student athletes'), they can be drafted into the pros and, if they aren't ready, sent back to their junior teams, with the pro team still holding their rights. The teams themselves are run like pro teams, are for-profit, players can be traded, and players not drafted to the pros or deemed 'not ready' can still go back and play at the university level when they get too old (although not in the US because they're no longer considered amateurs...but seriously, a lot of these elite high school and college players aren't really 'amateurs' either). Kids who are late bloomers or not considered 'elite' or good enough for major junior always have the option of playing at the university level.

I know that won't be a popular option for the St. Thomas' and Bamas of the football world, but it makes the most sense to me. Prepare them for the pros without having the ridiculous limitations of the 'rules' and everyone doing everything they can circumvent those rules.

You and [MENTION=42]HulkaCaniac[/MENTION] need to go back to tormenting DBC.

 

[The Franchise]

Elijah Moore is the poster child for the idiocy of front-running. I told a couple of the bums on here when he quit Western that he should have stayed there. They told me it was smart to go to STA because he'd get more exposure.

The only thing he got exposure to was the bench. He caught 8 balls, and no one even mentions him anymore. He was an 80 catch and 1000+ yard WR at Western and had everyone's attention. Now, he's got as many TDs as one of their DTs and is the forgotten front-runner.

 

[SoFlaSmitty]

The state allowed this when they recently put in that a student can attend any high school for any reason as long as they can get themselves there.

 

[bbcane]

My opinion is no kid owes no school or region anything. As long as he bust his tail for said school while he's there. He doesn't owe a coach anything other than to inform him first he is going to leave and not hear secondhand info. If a kid and a parent feel somewhere else is more beneficial to the kid then so be it. I know there are cases were kids should not leave the school. But there are many cases where a kid should leave. Cases where a kid will give more college notice at a different school. And it's not all about how many reps and snaps you get. Some kids don't care to be a big fish in a small pond. Sometimes it's about the future.