OT: D1

[IUPbigINDIANS]

I think this is when you’ll see it catch up. They also are losing their best player, Cam Lindsey, to graduation (not saying they don’t have others, but he was their best).

Schools like Penn Hills and Gateway are routinely producing D1 level players. Bethel Park and Peters Township have both been on a tear at that level and have recently been generating FBS recruits. Then of course you have Pine-Richland. I just think this is a different animal altogether. They may have equal numbers of high-end players, but I’m not sure the depth matches what these large districts are going to send out on the field.

Numbers are down at a lot of schools. And many places, even at 4A, are dressing freshman on Friday nights in the event they need bodies. That isn’t really happening at 5A schools.

It won't be a cakewalk, but you named the best 5A schools. There's a whole lot more that are not good programs - Plum, Kiski, Shaler, Fox Chapel, etc.

Worst-case they may go 6-4 in the regular season.

That, of course, assumes they are healthy (which is a huge topic in all this).

[EastStroud13]

It won't be a cakewalk, but you named the best 5A schools. There's a whole lot more that are not good programs - Plum, Kiski, Shaler, Fox Chapel, etc.

Worst-case they may go 6-4 in the regular season.

That, of course, assumes they are healthy (which is a huge topic in all this).

That brings up another point I think about a lot. Grouping schools together by enrollment makes a lot of sense, in theory. But there are so many blowouts these days, and blowouts are terrible for the players and spectators alike. Not to mention that it's impossible to build a program if you're dealing with mismatches week in and week out. I think more conferences should be considering competitiveness when grouping schools into divisions, and not just adhering to the class structure.

The example for our area is the new alignment for the East Penn Conference. The EPC West division will see Allen and Dieruff, two struggling urban programs, grouped with the suburban giants of Parkland and Emmaus, plus Central Catholic and Whitehall. Those two teams will get blown out by 40+ points every time they play anyone else but each other. Just bad, short-sighted decision making, but it's considered "fair" in the eyes of the playoffs.

The argument might be that it gives some teams an easier path to the playoffs. My rebuttal: so what? The weaker teams will get weeded out in the early rounds, like always. Better to have teams feel like they have a chance during the regular season, instead of being completely demoralized by week 5.

[Fightingscot82]

That brings up another point I think about a lot. Grouping schools together by enrollment makes a lot of sense, in theory. But there are so many blowouts these days, and blowouts are terrible for the players and spectators alike. Not to mention that it's impossible to build a program if you're dealing with mismatches week in and week out. I think more conferences should be considering competitiveness when grouping schools into divisions, and not just adhering to the class structure.

The example for our area is the new alignment for the East Penn Conference. The EPC West division will see Allen and Dieruff, two struggling urban programs, grouped with the suburban giants of Parkland and Emmaus, plus Central Catholic and Whitehall. Those two teams will get blown out by 40+ points every time they play anyone else but each other. Just bad, short-sighted decision making, but it's considered "fair" in the eyes of the playoffs.

The argument might be that it gives some teams an easier path to the playoffs. My rebuttal: so what? The weaker teams will get weeded out in the early rounds, like always. Better to have teams feel like they have a chance during the regular season, instead of being completely demoralized by week 5.

The six classifications helped a bit. If you recall the old 4A level had schools with 300 kids in a grade and schools with 800 kids in a grade.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

The six classifications helped a bit. If you recall the old 4A level had schools with 300 kids in a grade and schools with 800 kids in a grade.

And, ironically, those with the massive enrollments typically stunk (Butler, Hempfield, etc.)

I think I recall seeing Butler is coming back to the WPIAL. Recall they jumped ship after getting hammered in 6A.

This whole Aliquippa thing reminds me of when the WPIAL essentially ran Farrell off.

[IUPNation]

The one the Pope would like.

Well I didn’t know..I don’t really pay attention to high school sports.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Well I didn’t know..I don’t really pay attention to high school sports.

I don't usually either but it's been on the radio here 24-7.

[IUPNation]

I don't usually either but it's been on the radio here 24-7.

I didn’t know Bishop Guilfoyle was a foosball powerhouse.

This outcry only strengthens the notion that there needs to be massive school district consolidation across a swath of Pennsylvania. There are too many dinky public schools. If Aliquippa is a struggling town and the school is small and below average educational wise, it should be merged into another district to boost up the education product and better fund sports.

People need to get over not having their town school. They are merging universities, they can merge high schools for the same reasons. My high school is long gone. It was merged twice and the only thing left is the old school flag hanging in the lobby of Pope John Paul 2 High School out in Royersford. My parents small high school got merged into Upper Merion in the 60’s when schools were packed with students.

There should not be a plethora of 1 and 2A schools. It makes no economic sense. There are 42 schools districts in Allegheny County with its 1.2 million population. There are 21 school districts in Montgomery County with its 860,000 population. I don’t think Allegheny County needs twice the school districts with only 350000 more people and one of those 42 is Pittsburgh city..so it’s 41 districts for its inner ring suburbs. That’s beyond crazy. So listening to this whining about these tiny high schools just sounds stupid to those of us in Southeastern Pennsylvania where we have big districts with big schools who hold their own with the few Catholic Schools who recruit.

Montgomery County - 21 School districts for a population of 860000
Bucks County - 13 schools districts for a population of 646000
Delaware County - 15 school districts for a population of 573000
Chester County - 12 school districts for a population 534000

Allegheny County - 42 school districts for a population of 1.2 million
Westmoreland county - 19 school districts for a poplation of 350000
Washington County - 15 school districts for a population of 209000
Beaver County - 14 school districts for a population of 168000
Butler County - 8 school districts for a population of 193000
Indiana County - 7 school districts for a population of 83000

The only county in the Yinzerland that seems to get it is Butler and aren't they the most stable county in the region...especially school wise?

Consolidation is needed.......there needs to be less 1A and 2A public schools are more 3A to 5A schools west of the Susquehanna and north of 78.

[IUP24]

I can’t believe it took this long for one of our eastern PA friends to say that districts should just merge and disappear.

[IUP24]

Bishop Guilfoyle has had runs of really good athletic success in multiple sports. And they are a bad example of recruiting from small schools if that’s what you are getting at. BG is the only school in Altoona other than Altoona High School (which to my knowledge is one of the larger districts in PA). It’s also the only school between Altoona and Hollidaysburg (another large district). So most of the students they are pulling from are from either of those two large districts.

The point at a macro level is that the PIAA competition rules were supposed to handicap private schools as they bring kids into their school and then join athletic teams.

And to be fair, I think there’s different types of “recruiting” within the Catholic/private school conversation. They are not all the same. I just don’t think Aliquippa should be playing 5A football because of a transient student body. And listening to Mike White from the Post-Gazette explain how PIAA rules tabulated “transfers” for Aliquippa, you’ll feel the same.

[IUPNation]

I can’t believe it took this long for one of our eastern PA friends to say that districts should just merge and disappear.

I can't believe you think that these dying towns can still support a school district.

It's utter waste and inefficiency.

Aliquippa is a dying town of 9000 people and they are struggling to keep a school afloat. That is the problem...not forcing them to play up in level. Beaver County has too many dinky high schools in town that have seen better days. That whole swath of Beaver County could consoldate and nobody would have to transfer anywhere and they'd have the numbers for a higher classification and the players to mow everyone down.

Allegheny County has 41 school districts for 800000 people outside of the city limits while Montgomery County had half as many for the same amount of people in a county that is growing much faster.

Wake up to reality. The days of the dinky school that trots out the pop pops who won the WPIAL 50 - 60 years ago needs to end. The town won't die if the school gets merged. Taxpayer money might go further...schools improved...less overhead....

Most of your top schools districts are located where? Suburban Philadelphia. Tell me again how the Yinzer way is working out better.

[iupgroundhog]

I can't believe you think that these dying towns can still support a school district.

It's utter waste and inefficiency.

Aliquippa is a dying town of 9000 people and they are struggling to keep a school afloat. That is the problem...not forcing them to play up in level. Beaver County has too many dinky high schools in town that have seen better days. That whole swath of Beaver County could consoldate and nobody would have to transfer anywhere and they'd have the numbers for a higher classification and the players to mow everyone down.

Allegheny County has 41 school districts for 800000 people outside of the city limits while Montgomery County had half as many for the same amount of people in a county that is growing much faster.

Wake up to reality. The days of the dinky school that trots out the pop pops who won the WPIAL 50 - 60 years ago needs to end. The town won't die if the school gets merged. Taxpayer money might go further...schools improved...less overhead....

Most of your top schools districts are located where? Suburban Philadelphia. Tell me again how the Yinzer way is working out better.

On this, you are absolutely correct.

[IUP24]

I can't believe you think that these dying towns can still support a school district.

It's utter waste and inefficiency.

Aliquippa is a dying town of 9000 people and they are struggling to keep a school afloat. That is the problem...not forcing them to play up in level. Beaver County has too many dinky high schools in town that have seen better days. That whole swath of Beaver County could consoldate and nobody would have to transfer anywhere and they'd have the numbers for a higher classification and the players to mow everyone down.

Allegheny County has 41 school districts for 800000 people outside of the city limits while Montgomery County had half as many for the same amount of people in a county that is growing much faster.

Wake up to reality. The days of the dinky school that trots out the pop pops who won the WPIAL 50 - 60 years ago needs to end. The town won't die if the school gets merged. Taxpayer money might go further...schools improved...less overhead....

Most of your top schools districts are located where? Suburban Philadelphia. Tell me again how the Yinzer way is working out better.

I truthfully could not care less on the matter of merging districts or arguing with you about the differences within the commonwealth once you pass through Harrisburg. I’ll let you have that debate with others. I merely don’t believe Aliquippa should be playing 5A football. One literally has nothing to do with the other.

I don’t even live in Pennsylvania anymore, and have not for 8-9 years. Columbus has a mixture of the approaches seen in Eastern and Western PA. You have large districts here, run under a single school board, but you have multiple high schools (sometimes 4-6) within one district. Outside of Columbus, or the 270 outer belt, it is mostly like what you see in Western PA. Extremely small and tiny school districts in rural farm towns. But they also structure and manage athletic competition and classification differently here. It’s pretty common and regular for those schools to travel significant distances to play a game against a similarly sized school. Just the way it is.

You can argue about this all you want. I just have no true opinion on the matter and no interest in entertaining the topic of merging school districts or not. I really don’t care. Again, on the topic, I just don’t think Aliquippa should be forced to jump up to 5A. That’s where it starts and ends for me.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

I can't believe you think that these dying towns can still support a school district.

It's utter waste and inefficiency.

Aliquippa is a dying town of 9000 people and they are struggling to keep a school afloat. That is the problem...not forcing them to play up in level. Beaver County has too many dinky high schools in town that have seen better days. That whole swath of Beaver County could consoldate and nobody would have to transfer anywhere and they'd have the numbers for a higher classification and the players to mow everyone down.

Allegheny County has 41 school districts for 800000 people outside of the city limits while Montgomery County had half as many for the same amount of people in a county that is growing much faster.

Wake up to reality. The days of the dinky school that trots out the pop pops who won the WPIAL 50 - 60 years ago needs to end. The town won't die if the school gets merged. Taxpayer money might go further...schools improved...less overhead....

Most of your top schools districts are located where? Suburban Philadelphia. Tell me again how the Yinzer way is working out better.

Educators aren't business people. School boards are morons. Hence, what we have today.

[IUPNation]

I truthfully could not care less on the matter of merging districts or arguing with you about the differences within the commonwealth once you pass through Harrisburg. I’ll let you have that debate with others. I merely don’t believe Aliquippa should be playing 5A football. One literally has nothing to do with the other.

I don’t even live in Pennsylvania anymore, and have not for 8-9 years. Columbus has a mixture of the approaches seen in Eastern and Western PA. You have large districts here, run under a single school board, but you have multiple high schools (sometimes 4-6) within one district. Outside of Columbus, or the 270 outer belt, it is mostly like what you see in Western PA. Extremely small and tiny school districts in rural farm towns. But they also structure and manage athletic competition and classification differently here. It’s pretty common and regular for those schools to travel significant distances to play a game against a similarly sized school. Just the way it is.

You can argue about this all you want. I just have no true opinion on the matter and no interest in entertaining the topic of merging school districts or not. I really don’t care. Again, on the topic, I just don’t think Aliquippa should be forced to jump up to 5A. That’s where it starts and ends for me.

But Beaver County isn't rural. It's part of the Pittsburgh Metropolitan Area. Aliquippa and Ambridge should be merged with Hopewell and made one district. Then your issue would be a moot point. Nobody would be a transfer....and they'd probably still kick everyone's ass. There would be one high school to keep in order instead of three. At some point there has to be consolidation. This cannot keep going financially.

There should not be so many 1A and 2A schools in a large metropolitan area. Guess how many public 1A schools there are in District 1? Three. Bristol and Morrisville in Bucks County are hold outs to merging in with their bigger neighbors and little Jenkintown in Montgomery County has kept being taken in by the much bigger Abington School District. Jenkintown is wealthy enough to not care and Bristol and Morrisville are blue collar holdouts.

1A and 2A should be the bastion of rural schools in small counties like Indiana. There should not be those sized schools in urban/suburban metro regions.

[IUPNation]

Educators aren't business people. School boards are morons. Hence, what we have today.

The state should put their foot down. I mean why should they keep funding all these rinky dink school districts?

I always thought the counties should run the schools but that would never happen. The rich districts would balk at that all day long.