Old thoughts come back to the forefront. Not only is it the season for the coming and going of coaches, but also the time for players to transfer out.
The departure of South El Monte's Neiko Padilla to South Hills hurts the Eagles and whoever the new coach is going to be.
I stick it to John Scanlan as often as I can over politics, moneyball, and Juan Pierre...but I like his argument about high school sports being about the experience...and I'm not looking to start an argument but we have catered so much to the whims and emotions of individuals and groups over the last few years what sensible argument can be made against a football player wanting to transfer?
(Tim Peterson's story on Neiko Padilla can be found at http://www.midvalleynewsonline.com/)
Padilla's transfer has been smoothed by a convenient address, but what if there wasn't an address? How strong can the argument be? How do you keep the playing field level between private and public schools?
Let's try another argument...should anyone stand in the way of a Temple City football player wanting to leave and play someplace else? The departure of EVERY COACH associated with last season's semifinals appearance has this program going south.
I so hope to be proven wrong, but the chances of landing a quality coach are diminishing with each passing day and word is spreading about a football program in crisis: "What is going on with that administration?" is the phrase coming back to me.
Should any of those talented players be allowed to transfer out? I understand the experience of high school sports...but bad coaching, young coaching, coaches not ready for such a position pose not only potential for a bad experience but a dangerous one.
What do you think?
Unfortunately we live in an age where kids have parents who don't live in the same house. In my opinion, if a kid has a change to change schools because he is unhappy where he is at and a relative lives near a school where he would like to go, so what. Most of the time these kids will find out that the grass isn't always greener.
ReplyDeleteTake Joe Morales for example, he transfered to St. Paul because he thought that would get him better prepared for the next level. Yet, he still ended up at Fullerton JC playing with SEM teamates. It doesn't always work out the way you plan it!!
I got into this with Villanueva on the Mid Valley Show this week...I do agree with the premise that if you are good enough they will find you...but what if getting to Division one is not your aim as much as a career in football...What experience can you get from places like Glendale where there is a new coach every month? Shouldn't the football player and his family be allowed to seek an alternative?
ReplyDeleteThis can easily cross over into a discussion about school vouchers---and it does fit in the micro---is "public education" the equivalent of chains and slavery? After all is it not the tax-payers money that funds public school and shouldn't they have a say.
Or perhaps better put is the new feudalism competing school districts eager to hang onto their dimes...and the new nobility the administrators that run them?
One of the main issues I have with this rampant epidemic of transferring is the impression it gives that your main priority is not academics, but athletics. On top of that, it opens the door for undue influence to rear its head and create situations like what you see in college football today with boosters paying athletes or their families.
ReplyDeleteThe kids at Glendale aren't there to be football players. They're there to be students. Playing sports is the privilege that comes with being a student. Parents and athletes are anxious to feel like they're pros or big-time college players, so they play the transfer card. It's part delusion/part ego that drives a lot of this.
In so far as school choice, it just further creates the divide between the haves and have nots. The San Marinos of the world will get stronger while the South El Montes will get weaker. The divide is already far enough as it is. Don't even get me started on the voucher stuff...
Sohn Jcanlan
You talk about haves and have nots...yet you are okay with students (with haves) transfering out of private schools to public schools without consquence.
ReplyDeleteRettig can leave LaSalle and pick right up at San Clemente because his family has the means?
A kid can leave Amat and go to Charter Oak because they have the means?
But Cedric Ho can't...
Hey Sohn I heard John Scanlan has strong opinions about this have you spoken to him?
You're comparing apples and oranges. Ho went from a public to a private school (and did so legally, btw). Kids going from a private to public school are not obligated to pay for their education. It's a choice. If they choose to go back to public school, that is their prerogative.
ReplyDeleteThis rule would trap more students who legitimately could no longer afford private school more than stop the Rettigs of the world from doing what they did. I'm not under any allusion that there is any rule that is absolute and 100% going to stop this.
And yes, John has spoken in passing about this.
Sohn Jcanlan
BobbyBo Said:
ReplyDeleteI thought Ho went from Gabby to San Gabriel?
I meant public to public.
ReplyDeleteSohn Jcanlan
Hank,
ReplyDeleteYeah, let's take Joe Morales as an example. He left SEM for various reasons. After his junior year he was a 3-year starter. He had nothing else to prove. He transfers to St. Paul where the level of competition increases dramatically. Every game was against a powerhouse. St. Paul played against 3 CIF champions that year in St. Bonaventure, Loyola, and Notre Dame. It definitely prepared him to play at the next level.
At our small vote sample 60% are in favor of students being allowed to transfer, but if you read other message boards everyone is ripping Padilla up one side and down another...
ReplyDeleteAre people against it or for it?
Try this one, why don't we dump sports completely at high school and let the communities build club teams made up of high school athletes?
The public schools would love that. The mindset of current school administrators is that sports are useless drains on their budgets. They want that money funneled into pumping test scores in order to keep moving up the ladder toward cushy district administrative jobs.
ReplyDeleteBobbyBo Said:
ReplyDeleteWouldn't the gov figure that out and start cutting back on what is given to the school districts?
Is it feasable?