Public to prep transfers have taken over high school sports in Connecticut... (Putterman/McFarland)

[huskymedic]

Good read... Public to prep transfers have taken over high school sports in Connecticut. But is that a good thing?

>>Of the 56 Connecticut high school football players to commit to major-conference FBS programs between 2014 and 2018, 39 have graduated from prep schools (i.e. private schools that do not compete in the CIAC). In boys basketball the pattern is even stronger: The top 45 players on New England Recruiting Report’s list of the state’s top 2018 hoops prospects all graduated from preps, with 17 attending Woodstock Academy and Putnam Science Academy alone.<<

>>As Moore sees it, athletes jump from public to prep school for three main reasons:

• They are struggling academically and need the structure of prep school to get them ready for college or improve their GPAs enough to secure college athletic eligibility.
• They haven’t received much attention from college coaches and seek the exposure that comes with top-tier prep schools.
• Having excelled, academically or athletically, at public school, they want a new challenge at a different level.

Prep schools can’t turn average players into superstars, Moore said, but they can help athletes maximize their talents — and maximize their exposure.<<

 

[Pudge]

I think this is good for UConn Football. Raises the quality in our geo region.

I am from upstate NY too (though went to UCONN). The GREAT prep schools are in New England; rarely in NY. Occasionally in NJ. When I was in HS, I was amazed going to my cousin's football games in CT because they had really big crowds. My HS - much bigger - got zip. So ... I think prep will draw a wide regional football talent to CT. Better preps and better programs.

 

[Chin Diesel]

Not necessarily a bad thing.

Free up public school resources to educate students.

Have an exceptional student in athletics? Send them to a private school with your own funds, scholarships or however these academies use an endowment.

No different than arts and music schools.

 

[FDNY99]

I have a good friend who just went through this process with his son. He is just finishing his Sophomore yr and was recruited by several Prep's like my buddy was recruited to play football in college. The educational and football opportunities basically couldn't be over looked. The way the prep coaches sell their kids to colleges was not even close to what was available to his son at his public school, add this to the ability these coaches have to work their kids out during the off-season without the archaic CIAC rules and it became a VERY easy decision. Until the CIAC overhauls their rules about off-season workouts and activities nd moves into the modern day era this will be more and more common.

 

[JMick]

I have a good friend who just went through this process with his son. He is just finishing his Sophomore yr and was recruited by several Prep's like my buddy was recruited to play football in college. The educational and football opportunities basically couldn't be over looked. The way the prep coaches sell their kids to colleges was not even close to what was available to his son at his public school, add this to the ability these coaches have to work their kids out during the off-season without the archaic CIAC rules and it became a VERY easy decision. Until the CIAC overhauls their rules about off-season workouts and activities nd moves into the modern day era this will be more and more common.

From my experience a lot of prep coaches are nothing more than salesmen. I don't think they're any better at coaching. They might be a little more experienced on the recruiting front and know that game well, but I don't see that many kids getting a whole lot better at prep schools. If you have a good CIAC coach that has been around the block, I don't think there's a benefit going to prep school. If you're good, you will be found. Just get your film out there and go to camps.

 

[Chin Diesel]

I have a good friend who just went through this process with his son. He is just finishing his Sophomore yr and was recruited by several Prep's like my buddy was recruited to play football in college. The educational and football opportunities basically couldn't be over looked. The way the prep coaches sell their kids to colleges was not even close to what was available to his son at his public school, add this to the ability these coaches have to work their kids out during the off-season without the archaic CIAC rules and it became a VERY easy decision. Until the CIAC overhauls their rules about off-season workouts and activities nd moves into the modern day era this will be more and more common.

The rules for spring practice are huge. Plenty of college coaches use that time to visit HS and get an initial feel prior to invites to camps at the colleges.

My kid's HS team in Florida is going through spring practice right now and they've had 8-10 college coaches roll through this week alone. Schools range from smaller programs like Coastal Carolina and Troy to bigger schools like Navy, Vandy and Ole Miss.

 

[HartfordHank]

I have a good friend who just went through this process with his son. He is just finishing his Sophomore yr and was recruited by several Prep's like my buddy was recruited to play football in college. The educational and football opportunities basically couldn't be over looked. The way the prep coaches sell their kids to colleges was not even close to what was available to his son at his public school, add this to the ability these coaches have to work their kids out during the off-season without the archaic CIAC rules and it became a VERY easy decision. Until the CIAC overhauls their rules about off-season workouts and activities nd moves into the modern day era this will be more and more common.

I am assuming your good friend will have no out of pocket cost for the education?

 

[FDNY99]

I am assuming your good friend will have no out of pocket cost for the education?

No it will cost him full boat. BUT my friend was also a hs Asst coach and talked to a few people who had made the jump with their kids. He knows both sides of the coin in this instance.

 

[Hoophound]

From my experience a lot of prep coaches are nothing more than salesmen. I don't think they're any better at coaching. They might be a little more experienced on the recruiting front and know that game well, but I don't see that many kids getting a whole lot better at prep schools. If you have a good CIAC coach that has been around the block, I don't think there's a benefit going to prep school. If you're good, you will be found. Just get your film out there and go to camps.

It doesn’t work that way anymore. Coaches literally say, “Send me AAU tape, no high school games.” The preps are an alternative or add on to AAU. Yes, you can be found in public school, but it’s a heck of a lot harder and by comparison, no one is even looking there.

 

[JMick]

It doesn’t work that way anymore. Coaches literally say, “Send me AAU tape, no high school games.” The preps are an alternative or add on to AAU. Yes, you can be found in public school, but it’s a heck of a lot harder and by comparison, no one is even looking there.

For basketball maybe but it's not the same for football. There is no "AAU" football. It's just camps

 

[ZooCougar]

I know less about football, but it has been like this with the prep schools for hockey since forever.

One major advantage prep schools offer is the much lower student teacher ratio. They definitely are going to give students every opportunity to get eligible.

 

[Hoophound]

For basketball maybe but it's not the same for football. There is no "AAU" football. It's just camps

Ha. I think I forgot what board I was on when I posted that.

 

[huskymedic]

Mike Anthony: The public-to-prep jump so many high school athletes are making is part of a disconcerting trend

>>But the process has become increasingly frenetic, even delusional, creating a world of ladder climbing as it relates to sports at the elite level.

You know what? If you’re good enough for a scholarship, the college coaches will find you anywhere. And if you’re good enough in college — any college — NFL scouts will find you no matter where you play.

“And that's what I don't understand,” Bellucci said. “There are a lot of kids who went to UConn who played in the NFL. Now, if you go to Alabama, if you go to Clemson, are you going to play there? Go where you're going to get on the field. They all think going to Alabama and Michigan and Clemson is the way to the NFL. Well, there's more than one way.”<<

 

[huskymedic]

...Interesting timing. Jeff Jacobs: Is it time for the prep and CIAC football programs to meet?

>>Asked if there had been much talking among school administrators and coaches on this subject within the CIAC, Marinelli said, “I heard it got shot down quickly.”

The biggest reason is — and let’s be honest — CIAC coaches hate the way prep schools have taken so many star players in recent years. And those numbers are growing. There’s a war going on with the familiar whispers … Prep schools are a business and they’ll bilk money from parents without any assurance that Junior will get a scholarship or a good college placement … Conversely, if the CIAC schools and coaches were doing a good job educating their kids, honing athletic skills and promoting their kids, there wouldn’t be a need for them to go to prep schools.

In the end, more of our state kids are going to prep schools, and without a larger community surrounding them, they play in front of small crowds.

“But think about it,” Marinelli said. “How many people would have loved to see Choate versus Greenwich or Hand last year? Greenwich and Brunswick, we’d get 20,000 for that game. It would be an amazing thing for the sport in Connecticut and Greenwich.”<<

 

[JMick]

Screw the preps. They deserve no place in the CIAC unless you want a bowl game for the champions