Time for Saint Joe to bring back football?

[REDMAN]

This is serious. With Ironton now on another level and everyone wanting to come in to be a part of the best program in SEO, why not offer football to the kids of Ironton who don't get to participate anymore? If St. Joe can bring back football Ironton could have two teams. An all star team of local talent and Ironton.. Once again this is a serious question not a dig at Ironton. They are legit and are doing things right. I just see a lot of kids from Ironton clapping vs. playing football.

[mattash]

Why did they shut the football program down? Numbers

[TigerBob]

Rock Hill is trying to run the old Ironton playbook and it’s not working. St. Joe shouldn’t make the same mistake.

[Frequent Flyer]

This is serious. With Ironton now on another level and everyone wanting to come in to be a part of the best program in SEO, why not offer football to the kids of Ironton who don't get to participate anymore? If St. Joe can bring back football Ironton could have two teams. An all star team of local talent and Ironton.. Once again this is a serious question not a dig at Ironton. They are legit and are doing things right. I just see a lot of kids from Ironton clapping vs. playing football.

I have been saying this same thing for awhile now. I natural rivalry with Huntington St Joe could be restored. The time is now. LETS GO FLYERS!

[Mr Shifty]

This is serious. With Ironton now on another level and everyone wanting to come in to be a part of the best program in SEO, why not offer football to the kids of Ironton who don't get to participate anymore? If St. Joe can bring back football Ironton could have two teams. An all star team of local talent and Ironton.. Once again this is a serious question not a dig at Ironton. They are legit and are doing things right. I just see a lot of kids from Ironton clapping vs. playing football.

I don't know for sure but I seriously raise my eyebrows at your claiming its no dig against Ironton. I sure ain't buying what your selling.

I remember going and see The Flyers play at Tank. They fielded some great teams back in the day. Many Catholics today though send their kids to the public school system. Many cannot afford the tuition. it is a private parochial school

We don't get that many boys as you're trying to claim and the Ironton coaches play a LOT of kids each week with different offenses , defense and special teams. How about the kids who go to school that's a D1? Talk about tough to find playing time.

[mattash]

I don't think there is enough kids at St. Joe for football. @RiverRatRay ?

[TheFlyingDutchman]

ISJ doesn’t have near enough boys to start football back up. Any boy attending ISJ is allowed to play football at Ironton and several have done just that. Despite the incredibly low numbers the Flyers continue to be competitive in the sports they offer, 5-0 so far in soccer and we’re co champs in baseball last season.

[carbon_dated]

If Hannan WV can do it so can ISJ.

[greygoose]

This is serious. With Ironton now on another level and everyone wanting to come in to be a part of the best program in SEO, why not offer football to the kids of Ironton who don't get to participate anymore? If St. Joe can bring back football Ironton could have two teams. An all star team of local talent and Ironton.. Once again this is a serious question not a dig at Ironton. They are legit and are doing things right. I just see a lot of kids from Ironton clapping vs. playing football.

I have to agree this to me seems like a big dig on Ironton, I mean you said why not offer football to the kids of Ironton who don't get to participate anymore?? I mean seriously what is that kind of statement, obviously you're making it sound like Ironton's team isn't comprised of anyone from Ironton and the kids on it from Ironton are sitting there watching the game. I think with a couple of teams fairly close by if a player wanted to they could head that way instead of trying to go pay for an education at a school you're asking to startup things from scratch on. no go

[RiverRatRay]

I don't think there is enough kids at St. Joe for football. @RiverRatRay ?

It's not just the numbers but the expenses that go with a football program. Father Huffman when he was here looked into resuming football but found this out.

There is a new EdChoice Expansion program started by the State this year that just might be a big help brining students into the system. Any student in the state can go to private school tuition free. This was just started this year. Notre Dame in Portsmouth has been using this EdChoice program for quite a few years. That is why their numbers are climbing. Saint Joe has just started using it so maybe they can take a more positive look at resuming football.

[formerfcfan]

There’s an inertia that comes with rebooting a program after so long. For all intents and purposes, ISJ would be starting from scratch. The start-up costs, especially on equipment, could stand in the way of the idea ever getting off of the ground. The other issue is the Diocese of Steubenville may tell the Flyers “we don’t think you should do this.”

[Guinness1759]

All ISJ sport’s regular season schedule are usually very weak! I would not say they are competitive. This years boys soccer opponents have a combined record of 2-13-4!! Very rare for them to win a sectional games in sports, let alone a district championship. They may have a few athletic class come along but not consistently. Starting football would be horrible idea for Financially strapped school !

[formerfcfan]

All ISJ sport’s regular season schedule are usually very weak! I would not say they are competitive. This years boys soccer opponents have a combined record of 2-13-4!! Very rare for them to win a sectional games in sports, let alone a district championship. They may have a few athletic class come along but not consistently. Starting football would be horrible idea for Financially strapped school !

What’s really sad is ISJ has always seemed to be a pretty well-ran school, but they’re currently under the auspice of what is possibly the worst Diocese this side of the Mississippi River.

[RiverRatRay]

All ISJ sport’s regular season schedule are usually very weak! I would not say they are competitive. This years boys soccer opponents have a combined record of 2-13-4!! Very rare for them to win a sectional games in sports, let alone a district championship. They may have a few athletic class come along but not consistently. Starting football would be horrible idea for Financially strapped school !

What’s really sad is ISJ has always seemed to be a pretty well-ran school, but they’re currently under the auspice of what is possibly the worst Diocese this side of the Mississippi River.

I kind of disagree about Steubenville being the worse Diocese. If you look closely at Columbus they are closing down parishes all over their area. Just take Portsmouth for an example. Saint Monica's in New Boston, shut down. The average of parishioners per priest in the Columbus Diocese is 1800 to 1. In the Steubenville Diocese its 850 to every one priest.

With the new EdChoice Scholarship Expansion program just started by the State its a lifes saver for private schools. Not just Saint Joe but all Christian related schools.

As far as the soccer program goes, St Joe does very well in their conference. The same with baseball. The reason district and regional titles are so difficult is the way the State handles the classes in these sports. Saint Joe just may be the smallest playing soccer team in the State. Just for example, Wheelersburg has more kids in one class than The Flyers have in the whole school yet they are both in the same division.
When talking about kids from Saint Joe playing football at Ironton its true they do have some but it's mostly kickers. The last five kickers were originally from Saint Joe or still there. Not many kids on offense or defense if any.

[TheFlyingDutchman]

All ISJ sport’s regular season schedule are usually very weak! I would not say they are competitive. This years boys soccer opponents have a combined record of 2-13-4!! Very rare for them to win a sectional games in sports, let alone a district championship. They may have a few athletic class come along but not consistently. Starting football would be horrible idea for Financially strapped school !

I am not sure who you expect them to play. I will assume you had no idea that ISJ has less than 50 students( boys & girls) in the high school. I think it's amazing they still have a school let alone sport teams that hold their own.

[sportsfan33]

All ISJ sport’s regular season schedule are usually very weak! I would not say they are competitive. This years boys soccer opponents have a combined record of 2-13-4!! Very rare for them to win a sectional games in sports, let alone a district championship. They may have a few athletic class come along but not consistently. Starting football would be horrible idea for Financially strapped school !

Not sure that that’s necessarily true.The flyers basketball team played the likes of Ashland Ironton and Cabel midland all in one year last year.Last years flyer baseball Team played multiple schools much much larger than them and competed and won some games.They flyer baseball team has won sectionals for the last 5 years or so and played in the district championship game last year and hung with the Number 1 team in d4 for a few innings.I agree that the decision bringing football back isn’t a good one but don’t spread misinformation on this site.

[RiverRatRay]

Last year's graduating class had 8 boys and 3 girls. These 11 students generated over 2 million dollars in college scholarships. How does the school stay open. The families of the 48 kids who go there work to keep it open.

The percentage of students who go on to the next level in education is close to 90%. The number of college students graduating are something like 85%.

There is more to going to school than sports. Just for example Saint Joe had 2 Yeager scholars at Marshall last year. One of those students was the Marshall student body president.

You want a quality education go where the class sizes are small and the teachers are excellent. Now that the State is paying these students tuition the school should increase in size.

[formerfcfan]

I kind of disagree about Steubenville being the worse Diocese. If you look closely at Columbus they are closing down parishes all over their area. Just take Portsmouth for an example. Saint Monica's in New Boston, shut down. The average of parishioners per priest in the Columbus Diocese is 1800 to 1. In the Steubenville Diocese it’s 850 to every one priest.

I’ll walk back my literal claim on “worst Diocese”, and apologize on the basis that the wording inferred a judgment on quality.

I’ll restate, eschewing rhetorical effect this time: the Steubenville Diocese is in bad shape. Bishop Monforton wanted to merge with Columbus just this past year, and the Bishops statewide reached the conclusion that the DoS is facing legitimate viability issues.

I like ISJ. They would be better served focusing their attention and resources toward navigating the murky waters that will come with the uncertain future of the DoS, than to focus on possibly adding football.

[TigerBob]

Nobody thinks they should add football. This guy was trolling because he’s mad that the TV dinner version of Lutz and Burcham can’t compete.

I have recently heard not good things about St. Joe’s continued survival. Numbers just getting crazy crazy low, Ironton has had an influx this year across a lot of grades. Hate it because I think it’s an option many families want and need.

[RiverRatRay]

I kind of disagree about Steubenville being the worse Diocese. If you look closely at Columbus they are closing down parishes all over their area. Just take Portsmouth for an example. Saint Monica's in New Boston, shut down. The average of parishioners per priest in the Columbus Diocese is 1800 to 1. In the Steubenville Diocese it’s 850 to every one priest.

I’ll walk back my literal claim on “worst Diocese”, and apologize on the basis that the wording inferred a judgment on quality.

I’ll restate, eschewing rhetorical effect this time: the Steubenville Diocese is in bad shape. Bishop Monforton wanted to merge with Columbus just this past year, and the Bishops statewide reached the conclusion that the DoS is facing legitimate viability issues.

I like ISJ. They would be better served focusing their attention and resources toward navigating the murky waters that will come with the uncertain future of the DoS, than to focus on possibly adding football.

Whenever the idea came through for the Steubenville Diocese to merge with Columbus a petition was sent out to all church members wanting to know how they felt about the merger. We were given 3 options and not one of the options were to keep Steubenville independent.

I know how the Bishop feels but it seemed like he had other visions. A lady from Steubenville started her own petition and a huge number wanted the Diocese to stay independent.

True there was a theft problem and a person was arrested and jailed. For this to have happened who should have known about it before it really got out of hand. I say the person over the Diocese.

As long as Steubenville remains independent St Joe will survive. If they merge with Columbus then it's goodbye St Joe.