Brother Rice #TBT Photo

Submitted by Rosey09 on

Brother Rice had an awesome TBT photo on their Facebook page yesterday from 2006:

(From Left to Right: Steve Mariucci, retired Brother Rice coach Al Fracassa, Bo)

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Bo

NOLA Wolverine

March 20th, 2015 at 1:03 AM ^

Al Fracassa is awesome. I'm a Harrison kid and there's no greater coach in the country than John Herrington, but I'll be damned if the 1st or even the 2nd best coach in any state stacks up to Al Fracassa. Loved his camps. 

Joined: 09/01/2009

MGoPoints: 7308

CoverZero

March 20th, 2015 at 3:30 AM ^

I used to play vs. Brother Rice in HS.  They were always excellent and beat us every year, except when I was on the freshman team.  They recruited heavier than any other Catholic League school with Devine Child having the second widest ranging recruitment areas. 

Joined: 08/30/2014

MGoPoints: 14571

JFW

March 20th, 2015 at 11:24 AM ^

 I like them... :-)

CC's fortunes are interesting. When I was there they had 1100 upper middle class boys. But We didn't have the success they are having now (though we didn't do badly). And CC was bad for a few years after moving to Novi. Wrestling was down for a long time till Mitch Hancock hit the scene. The Football team was bad this year. Its not automatic.

Joined: 10/20/2010

MGoPoints: 15285

Autostocks

March 20th, 2015 at 7:47 AM ^

True, Brother Rice recruits every one of the 700 young men who attend the school, even the ones who don't play football.  They have to convince 700 parents to pay $12,000 a year when those parents have an option at $0 per year.

Joined: 11/02/2010

MGoPoints: 1961

dupont circle

March 20th, 2015 at 8:54 AM ^

I don't even know what "recruit" means. I know public basketball coaches who would try to funnel their summer players into their district. Or public and private kids that play sports might buddy up and say it'd be badass if you transferred and we all played together. Does it make it more unfair when a rich school with strong academics does it? I don't know how St. Mary's gets low-means kids in there for football, but hey, at least those kids have a golden opportunity to hit the books in a strong environment.

Joined: 02/19/2015

MGoPoints: -127

yossarians tree

March 20th, 2015 at 1:07 PM ^

I went to Rice years ago. At one time there were probably a few players who were recruited, especially for basketball. But people who pass off Rice's football success as just "recruiting" are just a bunch of pussies and whiners. Fracassa built that football program through the '60 and '70s with the players he had in the student body. At first glance you might not think that kids who were generally white, suburban, Catholic and relatively affluent would be tough football players, but Fracassa proved they could be. Once he started winning championships I'm sure there were parents of kids who were good at football who wanted their kids to play for Fracassa. Brad Cochran, who played at Michigan, I believe transferred to Rice mid-high school to play for Fracassa. All he got was a state championship, a scholly to Michigan, and a trip to the show. Fracassa was flat-out a great coach. His practices were like college practices. He modeled himself after Vince Lombardi, and that was the kind of presence he had on the field. He was a living legend in the halls of that shool. The kids would want to run through brick walls for him. And the Catholic schools have always done a great job of instilling school pride and discipline. Not that public schools can't have that too, but look at the state finals in high school sports every year, in every class. There are always a ton of Catholic schools playing at a high level in every sport. This is not an accident.

Joined: 08/19/2010

MGoPoints: 22292

mgoblue0970

March 20th, 2015 at 11:07 AM ^

Valor Christian is the same way in Colorado.... flat rate of $17K... then additional fees for athletics and certain classes.  I have been told it can reach up to $40K a year under the right circumstances.

Valor kicks everyone's ass in mostly everything.  It's Valor and then the rest of the state.  Kind of like the NCAA tourney this year is Kentucky against the field.

Joined: 11/22/2008

MGoPoints: 18648

JFW

March 20th, 2015 at 11:21 AM ^

in a school of choice district. When a PS coach has camps and talks to kids about development and the future, he's a smart guy trying to build his team. When the private school coach does the same, he's recruiting and everyone holds his nose to avoid the stench of such a nefarious activity.

I knew 3 kids who got extra money, via tuition assistance, to attend CC. One was a god like athlete. Another was an athlete, but never broke the starting line up. Another was a kid who did nothing extra-curricular.

Do private schools recruit? Yes. They recruit everyone to get a student base. Not everyone gets in.

Do school of choice public schools recruit? Hell yes. They want more bodies for count day.  I've seen them try to reach into other freakin districts. 'We need to advertise our top notch music program to the kids in the next district. They just lost their music teacher...' Its just seldome thought of as 'recruiting'.

 

 

Joined: 10/20/2010

MGoPoints: 15285

NittanyFan

March 20th, 2015 at 11:55 AM ^

Like clockwork, the following is a topic of discussion happens every November: "X Private schools won a MHSAA football title at Ford Field, that's XX% of the state titles when they only make up 12% of the schools in the MHSAA.  What do we do about that??"

 

I respect the public-school coaches who come out and say "nothing.  Yes, private schools recruit, but many of US have opportunities to recruit too.  Besides, we welcome the challengies playing those well-coached private schools provide."

 

Clarkston, Ithaca, Ishpeming, Mendon, Menominee, East Grand Rapids.  I fully respect what those public schools do, as they want to face the challenges of a Brother Rice, Monroe St Mary, Detroit Loyola, Muskegon CC, Jackson Lumen Christi or OLSM.  And they've held their own, tending to split 50-50 over the long run.

 

Anyway, recruiting: privates do it, public schools-of-choice do it, and we should all proudly admit it.  Nothing to be ashamed of.

Joined: 12/04/2012

MGoPoints: 43056

cobra14

March 20th, 2015 at 8:11 AM ^

Huge cheating school. Hope they lose every game they play in. It was great they lost in the state playoffs in football until you realized it was to another cheating school. 

 

Come on out private school defenders. Your reputation doesn't get you the kids! People go and get them for you. Look at Lumen Christi trying to take Jackson's best player. Blamed it on a parent going out on his own to get the kid. Yeah right!

Divine Child was mentioned above. In baseball they might be the worst. I know a guy who went to Northville, ended up playing baseball at Michigan, and transfered in there. Thats not around the block. 

Joined: 05/16/2012

MGoPoints: 8448

dupont circle

March 20th, 2015 at 8:57 AM ^

Rice and Cranbrook should not be playing D2 and D3 hockey (and perhaps even lacrosse). Rice and Cranbrook should have been D1 in hockey, at least, and challenged Catholic Central for the D1 title this year. All three teams are stacked with the best snd wealthiest young players in the state.

Hockey champs this year: Catholic Central (D1), Rice (D2), Cranbrook (D3). Just a freaking joke.

Joined: 02/19/2015

MGoPoints: -127