For all the grief I give the MHSAA and MAIS

[rynodawg]

Why not? West Jones played Prep this year and last year and guess what? They split the series. I don't understand this logic. It's a non-division game. If losing to a MAIS school makes your team better, or if a MAIS school losing to a MHSAA school makes that team better, what's the harm?

Agree, with playoff seeding based only on district results every single non-district game is basically meaningless. No benefit in scheduling easy wins. Ocean Springs lost almost all non-district games, including to NWR, (starting 0-4 or 1-3 I think) but still swept district and ended up w 1 seed. I don’t know if Louisiana still does it, but they used to seed a 32 team bracket NCAA tourney style. All wins and losses mattered more there for seeding.

 

[OG Goat Holder]

The money grab by the MHSAA has led to nearly everyone going to the playoffs. The MHSAA doesn't have enough schools to have six classes, let alone seven. In some divisions every single team is in before the season starts.

It's because of enrollment. Many of the 7As would just pummel some of the smaller 6As. The population is swelling around a certain few areas creating this parabolic swing.

I agree the divisions are weird but I'm not seeing any other option besides crossing state lines or something.

Another reason why the MAIS schools likely won't dominate if they play public......the enrollment difference and schedule grind would get them.

 

[L4Dawg]

It's because of enrollment. Many of the 7As would just pummel some of the smaller 6As. The population is swelling around a certain few areas creating this parabolic swing.

I agree the divisions are weird but I'm not seeing any other option besides crossing state lines or something.

Go to regions instead of smaller divisions. Of course that would cut back on the money for the MHSAA office.

 

[bulldoghair]

Mt. Olive went 0-10 this year and lost 62-6 in the playoffs round 1

The MHSAA is now Mr Roger’s Neighborhood. Everyone makes the playoffs!

 

[patdog]

Because they split the series. Because West Jones lost a game to a private school. There's a lot of butthurt in that, and there's a lot of deep-seeded emotion between MHSAA and MAIS over that sort of thing. Maybe West Jones loses some students to a private school (I don't know if there is one in Jones County).

I personally wouldn't care, but many do. I'm with you, I don't see why they don't all just join up. It's high school football, I don't think it'll cause any big chain reactions. Over time, I could see something to lose for the private schools, if they start losing, and they can't recruit based on sports anymore. But I doubt that's a big deal at all (unless you're Hartfield and your whole identity is competing with your neighbors, haha).

As a West Jones alum, I never saw it as anything but a big-time series between 2 pretty good football teams. But to your point, there is a private school in Laurel, but they don't play football. Kids go there for academic or religious reasons, not sports. It might be different if it was like Madison Central, where you've got 3 private schools wanting to recruit your players (not that Madison hasn't recruited its own share players too).

 

[L4Dawg]

That's why there is a multiplier.


OK, I just did. I don't see any domination or run of state titles. Pretty average to me.

You're welcome to come up with a better solution.

You are just looking at football, and you don't know the particulars even there. I think they are still on probation. It only took 20 years to get them there., when they finally pulled some shenanigans with Tupelo baseball. There is no multiplier that I'm aware of.

 

[OG Goat Holder]

You are just looking at football, and you don't know the particulars even there. I think they are still on probation. It only took 20 years to get them there., when they finally pulled some shenanigans with Tupelo baseball. There is no multiplier that I'm aware of.

Obviously cheating must be stamped out. Any league is only as good as its integrity and ability to keep the playing field level.

If there isn't a multiplier, that should be changed. Many states successfully do this, including Alabama.

 

[Maroon Eagle]

I think the plan was for them to move to 11 man football next year.

LOL. Plans change.

Schools go back and forth between 8-man and 11-man all the time in MAIS.

I expect Chaos.

West Jones is not going to lose students to a private school almost 2 hrs alway because they lose a football game to them. PCS and Wayne Academy are 30 minutes away and they don’t lose any students to either. Sylva bay is 25 minutes away and they definitely aren’t losing students to them. Besides they play that weird pointless 8 man football there. It wasn’t long ago west jones was a 4a school. Not only are they a 6a now, they are continuing to grow. If anything they will lose students to local county schools because of their overpopulated growth before they lose them to any private school. For them losing to Prep is the same as losing to any public school. Their is no deep seated emotion toward private schools down there in Jones county. Laurel Christian school is there in the same county, but they are a very weird school with a very weird history of weird things. Not to mention they don’t play football.

As a West Jones alum, I never saw it as anything but a big-time series between 2 pretty good football teams. But to your point, there is a private school in Laurel, but they don't play football. Kids go there for academic or religious reasons, not sports. It might be different if it was like Madison Central, where you've got 3 private schools wanting to recruit your players (not that Madison hasn't recruited its own share players too).

My old school Heidelberg Academy could attract the occasional Jones County-based student - football player (maybe most notably former MSU OL Stan Sims).

It was only a matter of time that it would close when LCS opened.

 

[615dawg]

The Jackson area public schools will not play the Jackson area private schools because of the recruiting aspect. Madison, for example, will not play MRA in anything starting in middle school.

Jackson Academy recruits the top talent out of Madison and Germantown to their volleyball program, then forces out kids that have been at JA since kindergarten to go to Prep. Its mind boggling how that is good for JA.

I suppose that there is a segment of the populations at the Big Four that are happy with just being the Big Four. It doesn't seem healthy, but is it all that bad? The MAIS model (serving as an athletic body as well as an accrediting body) is antiquated and will be the change agent. You have the same group of bozos making football playoff districts that are accrediting schools and licensing teachers. The schools that can't meet SACS/SAIS accreditation need the MAIS to be allowed to grant diplomas.

 

[OG Goat Holder]

The Jackson area public schools will not play the Jackson area private schools because of the recruiting aspect. Madison, for example, will not play MRA in anything starting in middle school.

Yep, that's the culture issue I was talking about. It's deeper than just a little sports rivalry.

I suppose that there is a segment of the populations at the Big Four that are happy with just being the Big Four.

Oh yeah, they love that insulation. You talked about the blowouts that would happen if the regional MAIS deal went through? They don't care, they'd love that. You're talking about a group of people (Hartfield, in this specific example) that would rig friggin' Upward basketball leagues in elementary school to keep all their kids together, who practiced together at Hartfield's gym any time they wanted, for the purpose of winning vs. all the other teams who had been made up by blind drafts. I watched that go on for years.

The MAIS model (serving as an athletic body as well as an accrediting body) is antiquated and will be the change agent. You have the same group of bozos making football playoff districts that are accrediting schools and licensing teachers. The schools that can't meet SACS/SAIS accreditation need the MAIS to be allowed to grant diplomas.

Ahh, accreditation - the biggest racket this side of the western hemisphere. But I recognize it's a perceived reality, have to deal with it.

If any of the Big 4 are gonna pull out of this thing, it'll be Prep. They need to be leaders on this thing.

 

[L4Dawg]

I see a lot of assuming that the MHSAA would take these private schools. I don't think they would. Most of the MHSAA isn't exactly happy with the few private schools it does have.

 

[615dawg]

Yep, that's the culture issue I was talking about. It's deeper than just a little sports rivalry.


Oh yeah, they love that insulation. You talked about the blowouts that would happen if the regional MAIS deal went through? They don't care, they'd love that. You're talking about a group of people (Hartfield, in this specific example) that would rig friggin' Upward basketball leagues in elementary school to keep all their kids together, who practiced together at Hartfield's gym any time they wanted, for the purpose of winning vs. all the other teams who had been made up by blind drafts. I watched that go on for years.


Ahh, accreditation - the biggest racket this side of the western hemisphere. But I recognize it's a perceived reality, have to deal with it.

If any of the Big 4 are gonna pull out of this thing, it'll be Prep. They need to be leaders on this thing.

Great insight.

I don’t anticipate it will be fixed because no one on either side wants it fixed.

 

[dawgstudent]

I see a lot of assuming that the MHSAA would take these private schools. I don't think they would. Most of the MHSAA isn't exactly happy with the few private schools it does have.

That's the reason the river Catholic schools (Cathedral, St. Al, Greenville St. Joe) left MHSAA. They started winning and some northern public schools in 1A started complaining. A decent % of the enrollment lived across the state line and MHSAA started enforcing the rule of no out of state kids. A lot of the schools had long time students that had been attending since elementary school. I want to say of Catherdral's 180 kids in 9th-12th, 80 of them were from Louisiana at that time. The 3 schools had to quickly move to MAIS. They made the decision in the summer to move and added to MAIS schedules that same summer for the upcoming school year.

 

[dawgstudent]

The Jackson area public schools will not play the Jackson area private schools because of the recruiting aspect. Madison, for example, will not play MRA in anything starting in middle school.

Jackson Academy recruits the top talent out of Madison and Germantown to their volleyball program, then forces out kids that have been at JA since kindergarten to go to Prep. Its mind boggling how that is good for JA.

I suppose that there is a segment of the populations at the Big Four that are happy with just being the Big Four. It doesn't seem healthy, but is it all that bad? The MAIS model (serving as an athletic body as well as an accrediting body) is antiquated and will be the change agent. You have the same group of bozos making football playoff districts that are accrediting schools and licensing teachers. The schools that can't meet SACS/SAIS accreditation need the MAIS to be allowed to grant diplomas.

That's what I meant there is nothing to gain. I was specifically mentioning the public schools in the metro. Although I would be curious to see it.

 

[HuntDawg]

The big 4 including prep want no part of it. They dont want to leave a league where they have all the power to join in MHSAA where they'll have to follow all the rules and have zero influces over anything.

Prep and the big 4 would be OK initally in the public school athletic space, but once the championship and such get a few layers of dirt on them, they'll be viewed moving forward for younger generations would be a lot different and would be costly for them.

It benefits Prep zero to move out of the bubble they are in