MS High School 1A cheatin’

[greenbean.sixpack]

Back in the day, there were rumors of Strider Academy (1A) recruiting players. In the 80-90s they were beating the hell out of everyone. Part of that was because Coach Bradshaw (think Bear Bryant as a HS coach), but part of that was because they always had a couple ringers. In 1A ball, one great player playing both ways can win you a tons of games. It seemed like the always had some out of state kid that would kill you.

I can't confirm any of it, but everyone talked about it as if it was true.

I played against those teams in the early 80s. Additionally, it was rumored they would hold back entire classes of boys in the first grade so they would be a year bigger and stronger in HS. Allegedly, they also kept enrollment capped at a number to keep them Single A. They had a hispanic player, which was unusual in those days. I can confirm that the biggest and most aggressive mosquitos know to the world are breed in the surrounding agricultural fields.

 

[johnson86-1]

This is true in Jackson, the Delta, and in some other extremely rural pockets in the state. But it’s far from a universal truth that applies to the state as a whole….particularly DeSoto County, NE Mississippi, Rankin / Madison Counties, and the coast.

In general, the more in the boondocks you are in MS (or anywhere im the Southeast) the less likely you are to be near a high performing public school.

That's why I said "in general". The places you name have a good chunk of the students in the state because they are decent sized areas for Mississippi, but have just a small percentage of the schools. Most sparsely populated, rural areas of Mississippi (which I obviously that description applies to a lot of the state, depending on your definition of sparse) have a private school that is barely scraping by but still managing to offer a better education than the public school it competes with.

To your list, you can probably add Oxford and Clinton ? Possibly Cleveland high (I have no clue how good or not Bayou Academy is but know Cleveland used to be the only decent public school in the Delta). But it doesn't take long to describe them (granted Desoto and the Coast cover a lot of schools).

 

[Maroon Eagle]

It strikes me as odd that Single A academies would have enrollment caps if only because private schools would want higher enrollment and more money so they would be healthy.

 

[greenbean.sixpack]

It strikes me as odd that Single A academies would have enrollment caps if only because private schools would want higher enrollment and more money so they would be healthy.

Concur, but in Tally (and surrounding areas), they were never going to have much over "A" enrollment, so the tuition of a couple more enrollees (that may bump them into AA) may not have been worth making their path to the State Championship more difficult. There were serious about winning the championship. During the game, Bradshaw had a filthier mouth than a sailor on shore leave, but the word was off the field he was a great guy. I believe his daughter went to State in the mid to late 80s or possibly early 90s. I had two tours at State, can't remember on which tour I met her.

 

[aTotal360]

One of my hs coaches played for Bradshaw. He claimed that instead of hitting tackling dummies, he made them hit the row of pine trees behind the field. Also said he made them do grass drills in the gravel parking lot.

 

[Maroon Eagle]

He was a State grad as well.

 

[greenbean.sixpack]

This memory just came back to me. On the highway to the school, there was a row of shotgun houses with S-T-R-I-D-ER spelled out with one letter on each roof. These details may be a little fuzzy as I've lived several lifetimes since then.

 

[natchezdawg]

Just keep two sets of enrollment records...

one for collecting tuition, the other to send to MAIS.

 

[Go Budaw]

That's why I said "in general". The places you name have a good chunk of the students in the state because they are decent sized areas for Mississippi, but have just a small percentage of the schools. Most sparsely populated, rural areas of Mississippi (which I obviously that description applies to a lot of the state, depending on your definition of sparse) have a private school that is barely scraping by but still managing to offer a better education than the public school it competes with.

To your list, you can probably add Oxford and Clinton ? Possibly Cleveland high (I have no clue how good or not Bayou Academy is but know Cleveland used to be the only decent public school in the Delta). But it doesn't take long to describe them (granted Desoto and the Coast cover a lot of schools).

Yeah you can add Oxford and Clinton. A couple other top performing districts from recent years that are interesting: Petal, Union, Grenada, and New Albany. All those were ranked in the Top 10 districts in the state (300+ districts) for the 2020-2021 school year, and most all have a 5-year trend at our near the same level.

Ultimately, many of the private schools you mention like in your Cleveland / Bayou Academy example are perhaps slightly better than the public schools (or perhaps not), but its likely very much a wash and not likely worth the tens of thousands of dollars in K-12 parental investment for such a marginal benefit. You’re better off spending a fraction of that money on private tutoring (if your child needs it), or just moving somewhere else that has a decent public district.

 

[tcdog70]

I played for Coach Bradshaw and he said in an interview that our 1965 class was the best football team he ever Coached. he had some funny sayings that I sill use to this day. Like he went through you like "Crotin Oil through a widow woman".

 

[johnson86-1]

Yeah you can add Oxford and Clinton. A couple other top performing districts from recent years that are interesting: Petal, Union, Grenada, and New Albany. All those were ranked in the Top 10 districts in the state (300+ districts) for the 2020-2021 school year, and most all have a 5-year trend at our near the same level.

Ultimately, many of the private schools you mention like in your Cleveland / Bayou Academy example are perhaps slightly better than the public schools (or perhaps not), but its likely very much a wash and not likely worth the tens of thousands of dollars in K-12 parental investment for such a marginal benefit. You’re better off spending a fraction of that money on private tutoring (if your child needs it), or just moving somewhere else that has a decent public district.

Surprised to see Grenada listed. I had always heard they were decent, but know somebody that taught there that left recently and she said it's really only decent in comparison to nearby public schools and they wouldn't want their kid to go there and that Kirk Academy was significantly better (which does not to my knowledge have a reputation for being a particularly good private school although I haven't heard anything bad about it either). They left the area. If Grenada tests well, I am guessing her opinion is more about avoiding the worst ten to twenty percent of problem students than it is about whether students with a good home life can get a good education safely there. Will have to ask more details next time I see them.

 

[Cooterpoot]

Anyone trusting the state exams as a good measuring stick of schools is silly. Some schools are teaching to the test. Heck, some were caught feeding answers to kids. Go look at ACT/SAT scores. Much better indicator if standardized testing is your thing. I look at the rankings every year and see several that score great on the state exam but their real admission test scores are lower.

 

[greenbean.sixpack]

I played for Coach Bradshaw and he said in an interview that our 1965 class was the best football team he ever Coached. he had some funny sayings that I sill use to this day. Like he went through you like "Crotin Oil through a widow woman".

Dang, 75 and on the internet! Congrats! I graduated HS in 85.

 

[tcdog70]

Dang, 75 and on the internet! Congrats! I graduated HS in 85.

glad to be here. Played for AJ Kilpatrick and Joe Bradshaw---there was a reason we didn't lose much.

 

[tcdog70]

One of my hs coaches played for Bradshaw. He claimed that instead of hitting tackling dummies, he made them hit the row of pine trees behind the field. Also said he made them do grass drills in the gravel parking lot.

in his early days Coach Bradshaw would make grass drills a test to see if you really wanted to play.