OT: Interesting Story in Chicago Area - Coach who moved schools and brought 4 starters has been disqualified
OT, but in the Chicago area, the Homewood-Flossmoor Girl's Basketball team and their coach have been disqualified, and all their wins vacated in this year.
Why in the world would I link to girl's basketball? It is a fascinating window into the world of big time high school athletics. When the coach went, four families literally uprooted and moved to Homewood-Flossmoor from the Bolingbrook school district. This article gives some insight into what is happening with high school athletes transferring from one school to another, primarily for athletic reasons. This coach has been to State the last 8 years, and has placed many girls in Division I College Baskeball programs. I don't know whether this is right or wrong, but it is the world that even many Michigan athletes travel in.
February 19th, 2014 at 6:48 PM ^
Transferring in high school for athletic reasons is a big problem
that is getting worse and worse very year. This coach absolutely recruited these girls to follow him to his new school.
Now don't get me started on boys who repeat 8th grade so they can be superior athletes.
February 19th, 2014 at 7:05 PM ^
February 19th, 2014 at 7:10 PM ^
Is it really hard to blame the parents? I don't feel it is.
Parents should be the ones touting the importance of education first when such an improbable percentage of kids eventually earn a scholarship, let alone earn a living playing sports.
On the other hand, you earn a well-respected college degree in an in-demand field and you have given yourself much greater odds at a ticket out of poverty - even in the down economy.
February 19th, 2014 at 7:35 PM ^
February 19th, 2014 at 8:13 PM ^
Science, engineering, math, tech. Medicine, as always.
And if you invest in a good school, you can find good jobs in any field, which I think is the key. Want to have a career in the humanities of some kind? Better be ready to work your ass off at a big time, name brand school and have the numbers (GPA) to back it up and/or get some grad school paid for.
Don't get into the big name brand school? Better be smart about your major or work your ass off to get into the name-brand grad school.
All about marketing yourself and working hard, IMO.
February 19th, 2014 at 10:02 PM ^
Well it's an avenue to getting a FREE college education for kids whose parents can't pay out of pocket or don't want 6 figures of indebtedness before they're old enough to legally drink. So ya I can't really blame them. Look's like they also went to an equivalent or better district. I don't see a problem with it at all.
February 19th, 2014 at 7:48 PM ^
was the 4 hardest years of my life...
February 19th, 2014 at 8:49 PM ^
...to transfer in high school for athletic reasons?
A friend has an eighth-grade son who plays both basketball and football. He's been told by the coaches at the high school he'll be attending next year that he has to choose one or the other--they won't let him come out for both sports, they want him committed full time to just one.
Both sports are important to him and he doesn't want to give one up. They're seriously considering moving to a neighboring district where students are permitted, even encouraged, to play multiple sports if they can.
He's probably good enough to play both at the high school level, he's probably not good enough at either to ever get offered an athletic scholarship.
I don't know what they should do; at this point they don't know either. But is it obvious to you that he should stay put?
February 19th, 2014 at 9:07 PM ^
I would raise such a stink with the school system superintendent.
February 19th, 2014 at 9:37 PM ^
They don't think it's possible to perform at the level they expect unless you're practicing one sport year round. That's not an uncommon thought at the college level; they've just taken it a step lower.
And it's an enormous school, graduating classes of at least 700; I get the impression they don't think there are enough extracurriculars to go around. If you're going to take up a slot on the basketball team, you'd damn well better be playing AAU ball all summer and spending every available minute the rest of the year in a gym. There's no point in complaining to the superintendent; he supports this demand for excellence.
I come from a different world. My old high school has gotten so small (I think we're graduating 120 this year) that at halftime of the football games a few of the players and cheerleaders stay on the field and march in the band, still wearing their uniforms/cheerleader outfits. One guy last year was in football, soccer and band all at the same time, and the band was being led from the podium by a drum major in a cheerleader's sweater. If kids weren't playing multiple sports they wouldn't be able to field teams at all.
I happen to think that's a better experience for the kids and that high school's supposed to be a time for experimentation, not specialization. But what do I know?
February 19th, 2014 at 6:52 PM ^
an unnamed player who was bumped from the starting lineup by the transfers sued District 233[.]They play rough, don't they?
February 19th, 2014 at 7:00 PM ^
February 19th, 2014 at 7:27 PM ^
February 19th, 2014 at 10:16 PM ^
February 19th, 2014 at 6:59 PM ^
about pay for play in high school....sheeesh!
February 19th, 2014 at 7:00 PM ^
"The actions by the IHSA came after Homewood-Flossmoor Community High School District 233 acknowledged the school had violated rules – one of them likely for more than nine years. The district asked that Smith and 11 of its players be suspended but that the rest of the team be allowed to play in the state tournament."
So, the school tried to go the, "Look, we know this is against the rules, but if you would see your way to making one little exception..." route, eh? The part that really stands out is that three girls supposedly listed the same house as their address within the district - if that and the lawsuit didn't raise an eyebrow, I am not sure what would. I get that parents want to make sure their kid has the best prospects possible, but I definitely can see where ISHA would be suspicious, to say the least.
February 19th, 2014 at 7:21 PM ^
February 19th, 2014 at 7:29 PM ^
February 19th, 2014 at 7:38 PM ^
Thank you LeBron James and Co.
February 19th, 2014 at 7:46 PM ^
There is a bit of a Michigan connection to this story because one of the six players who transferred to Homewood-Flossmoor this year, Faith Suggs, has been recruited by the Michigan staff. Suggs is a top 50 player in the 2015 class who's the daughter of Shafer Suggs, who played in the NFL from 1976 to 1980. She was the subject of a recent espnW feature.
February 19th, 2014 at 7:56 PM ^
Like someone mentioned in the comments of the article, it's not much different than Catholic schools recruiting talented players from public schools. Three of the families using the same fake address is just shady, though.
And interesting story, indeed. When I first read the article, there was a quote, which has been removed, from the new coach at Bolingbrook. It read like he's supportive of Coach Smith and the four transfers to Homewood-Flossmoor. It also mentioned that Bolingbrook's new coach brought two players from his previous school with him. I guess the Bolingbrook team is next to be reprimanded.
February 19th, 2014 at 8:45 PM ^
February 19th, 2014 at 8:49 PM ^
February 19th, 2014 at 9:11 PM ^
February 19th, 2014 at 9:49 PM ^
February 20th, 2014 at 6:40 AM ^
February 20th, 2014 at 6:54 AM ^
because I knew plenty of families in MI who moved to go to the better high school for educational purposes. If the best shot these girls have to get to college is to get a college scholarship then I would almost commend their parents for uprooting their families to help their daughters get into college.
(Though I'm sure there's a little more to it)
February 20th, 2014 at 9:23 AM ^
I think the IHSA took the right action. Every voluntary organization has rules that you agree to abide by. If a school believes the rules are unfair, you should work to change the rules. Choosing to wantonly disregard the rules you agreed to play by simply won't fly. In this case, HF had an unfair advantage over other teams by having organized summer conditioning sessions, by providing coaching virtually year round, by having 3 transfers from Bolingbrook living under the same roof at the same address, when the rules clearly state residence with a custodial parent or guardian. The reality is many more rules were flouted and broken. The coach recruited players, although that's harder to prove. Really, the biggest rule change that should be considered is allowing for transfers solely for the purpose of athletics. It is fascinating that one of the players who transferred to HF played at four different high schools in four years.
What disturbs me the most is the lack of regard for fair play within a team. If you have worked hard, have earned a starting spot on a team, which you then lose because a rock star coach who recruits rock star players comes in, that would just stink. The collegiate parallel would be for a rock star coach (Pitino, Krzyzewski, Roy Williams, Bruce Weber, Calipari, Izzo, etc.) to accept a position at another school, have his four best players transfer to the new school, displace four starters, and start on the new team immediately with no waiting period. It's another thing if a Freshman comes in and takes your spot. But vagabonds who choose to make a super team just doesn't seem right. In a sense, this is why many people didn't care for what Lebron and his pals did when they took their talents to MIami.
To put it another way, high schools are generally local entities, and sports are a way for local kids to participate and be part of a team. Living in Illinois, it would be entirely possible to take the best 100 basketball players in the state, divide them among 20 "super" teams, and fill out the rest of their rosters with local kids who largely sit on the bench. Those 20 teams would almost never lose to the other 1300 high school teams in the State. Their only competition would be among themselves, or when they competed against other star teams from other states.
The reality is that this is exactly what AAU teams are. If an AAU team "just happens" to come together at a high school, you no longer have any semblance of a level playing field.
February 20th, 2014 at 1:11 PM ^
"Living in Illinois, it would be entirely possible to take the best 100 basketball players in the state, divide them among 20 "super" teams, and fill out the rest of their rosters with local kids who largely sit on the bench."
It's called the Chicago Public League. There's a reason the tournament in Illinois has featured scores like these:
- Glenbard South 70, Orr 14
- St. Francis 59, Noble Street/UIC 19
- St. Joseph 63, Clemente 15
- Christ the King 76, Clark 17
- Simeon 68, Kelly 17
- Lincoln Way-Central 92, Washington 20
- Mount Assisi 67, Harper 12
- Elmwood Park 60, Sullivan 2
- Vernon Hills 65, Senn 5
- Montini 85, Noble Street/Rauner 6
There's more but I'll stop.
In every case the loser was a Chicago public school that lost out on the rock-star lottery.
You could argue about neighborhoods and socioeconomic and ethnic factors that might impact basketball quality, but there's no reason at all for Orr to be on this list. They used to be a branch of Marshall, a traditional power that's gone to the state tournament more often than not and won it six times, and they have access to basically the same kids. On the boys side it's the opposite, for the moment, and all the ballers in the neighborhood now go to Orr.
February 20th, 2014 at 3:12 PM ^
Wow, that's really demoralizing. Thanks for sharing those terrible scores. I don't exactly know the answer, but I don't like that at all, and I'm glad the IHSA came down on HF.