How will your school vote this time?

[JohnKnight]

http://www.the-daily-record.com/local%2 ... plit-apart

[doubleplay643]

This ought to be intersting to watch, along with the 7 divisions (for football) instead of 6 it has the potential to really change the dynamics of all HS Football and HS sports in general for that matter.

How many states do the separate public vs. private state tourneys?

[85TITAN85]

If they separate, people will just start whining about rural vs. urban- which is the real issue. Then we'll cry to have regional, district, or zone championships instead of state championships. Where does it stop? when everyone gets a championship? Look at the state champs in football, the overwhelming majority (public and private) are from urban areas. This won't solve anything for anyone except urban public schools will now win everything with the rare appearance by a rural school because divisions will probably shrink to 5. Same old, same old.

[moonshine]

Soon we will have a bunch of watered down champions!

[LucasJackson]

The argument that you will lose slot of money is questionable to me. When Ironton plays a private school, they have very little following. Other than D1 many private schools. Have no loyal fan base.
Easy solution to me is put all private schools in upper two divisions regardless of size.

[Westfan]

I hope it passes.

[FarAwayFalcon]

It could be argued the OHSAA would make more money without the private schools. Especially when the games are at The Shoe in a couple years.

Did anyone watch the state championships on TV this year? Stadiums about 75% full, at best, it looked like to me. Have those numbers been released yet?

[FarAwayFalcon]

I found the numbers for this year.

The six-game, two-day attendance at the OHSAA 2012 football state championships was 43,911, down 4,784 from 2011.

[YOU'RE TIGER BAIT]

The argument that you will lose slot of money is questionable to me. When Ironton plays a private school, they have very little following. Other than D1 many private schools. Have no loyal fan base.
Easy solution to me is put all private schools in upper two divisions regardless of size.

i like this idea.

[fuzzhead]

If they separate, people will just start whining about rural vs. urban- which is the real issue. Then we'll cry to have regional, district, or zone championships instead of state championships. Where does it stop? when everyone gets a championship? Look at the state champs in football, the overwhelming majority (public and private) are from urban areas. This won't solve anything for anyone except urban public schools will now win everything with the rare appearance by a rural school because divisions will probably shrink to 5. Same old, same old.

^^^Exactly right. The majority of your champions will come from where the majority of the PEOPLE live, regardless of what schools win. Schools from around here rarely have to play private schools in the playoffs or during the regular season anyway because they can't make it out of their regions, in which there are very few private schools. No team southeast of Pickaway County would've come within 3 touchdowns of Coldwater or Kirtland this year - both public.

[fuzzhead]

... Or Clinton-Massie.... or St. Clairsville. So until someone from around here can legitimately hang with the out-of-area, out-of-region public schools of similar size, let's quit complaining about unfair advantages of teams we aren't even good enough to earn the privilege of taking a crack at. Just my opinion.

[moonshine]

... Or Clinton-Massie.... or St. Clairsville. So until someone from around here can legitimately hang with the out-of-area, out-of-region public schools of similar size, let's quit complaining about unfair advantages of teams we aren't even good enough to earn the privilege of taking a crack at. Just my opinion.

If you want to be the best, play and compete with the best! Why not everyone be a Champion!

[Bleeding Red]

This is what it really boils down to:

Do you think that private schools have an unfair advantage over public schools? Going deeper, do you think they actively recruit kids to come to their private school because of the kids skill level in sports? Do you think that private schools regulate their enrollment so they can stay in a specific division (in the case of some smaller private schools like Hartley and Ready)?

I think most people would agree that through many loopholes, private schools have a very big advantage over public schools of the same size. Therefore, there needs to be separation between private and public schools in post season play.

I feel like the 2 local private schools, Portsmouth ND and Ironton St Joe, play by the rules and are no threat. But they are not the Hartleys and Mooneys of the private sector that do things to have an unfair advantage. Unfortunately what is good for the goose is good for the gander. You cant pick and choose, only make a decision and stand behind it.

On the flip side, if you put all of the privates into the top 2 divisions, how many private schools that dont recruit will then start doing so to be at least somewhat competitive?

I personally hope it passes. I think it has way more upside than downside.

[JohnKnight]

If you want to be the best, play and compete with the best

Why have any divisions at all then, everyone with 11 players is equal!

If you are the best you should be the one and only STATE CHAMPS!

[Ironman88]

Most public schools have a team that could be a state contender once every 20 years that keeps the alumni hoping for greatness and the whole community gets involved. Most private school have very little following till state games and very little fan base and school loyality. Schools that have great programs will always have athletes move in and will usually beat schools that have great teams every couple of decades.

[85TITAN85]

"Easy solution to me is put all private schools in upper two divisions regardless of size."

This is idiotic. Punish everyone because a handful of urban schools win often. I'm sure it seems fair to place schools like ND who regularly graduate 25-30 kids with schools 10x their size. I dont see anyone in southern ohio rushing to schedule Glenville or a Massilon school or even Dublin Coffman or Pickerington Central.

[Bleeding Red]

"Easy solution to me is put all private schools in upper two divisions regardless of size."

This is idiotic. Punish everyone because a handful of urban schools win often. I'm sure it seems fair to place schools like ND who regularly graduate 25-30 kids with schools 10x their size. I dont see anyone in southern ohio rushing to schedule Glenville or a Massilon school or even Dublin Coffman or Pickerington Central.

Yup. That is how the world works.

[eagles73Taylor]

1972 ohsaa sets 3 divisions, in 1980 they go to 5 divisions, in 1994 they go to 6 divisions, in 2013 they go to 7 divisions. They recognized even back in 1972 there was a discrepency between schools. The easiest way to seperate was by the number of kids per school. The problem is, things arent so easy. It has always been the haves versus the have nots. Ironton, Portsmouth and other southeast Ohio towns are suffering through job loss and people moving.

I agree with John, for everyone thumping their chest saying to be the best, beat the best, lets go with 1 champion!

[Bleeding Red]

1972 ohsaa sets 3 divisions, in 1980 they go to 5 divisions, in 1994 they go to 6 divisions, in 2013 they go to 7 divisions. They recognized even back in 1972 there was a discrepency between schools. The easiest way to seperate was by the number of kids per school. The problem is, things arent so easy. It has always been the haves versus the have nots. Ironton, Portsmouth and other southeast Ohio towns are suffering through job loss and people moving.

I agree with John, for everyone thumping their chest saying to be the best, beat the best, lets go with 1 champion!

So do you think an NFL team that is limited to 60 players will consistently compete with one that has 200?

[eagles73Taylor]

Not a good analogy, being that they are in the NFL, they are the best of the best. You can only play 11 at a time, so yes they would be on an even playing field.

Thats the problem with high schools, they only have a limited pool from which to draw from. Northwest has a small pool spread out over a large area. Same for most rural schools, urban schools have a larger pool to draw from in a smaller densley populated area.