You hear it at almost every sporting event that pits a public
high school against one that is private.
Where did they get that guy? I’d like to see his birth
certificate. We’d be great too if we paid for our players.
The gripes and groans of public school supporters are nothing
new. Private institutions in the Bay Area, most notably the eleven
member schools that hail from the West Catholic Athletic League,
receive the role of Goliath, and public schools come to relish the
role of David. The percentages usually win out, and Goliath walks
away the victor.
The credit can go to superior talent, teamwork, facilities and
coaching, or it can go the other way. It can cause some to cry
foul. The question is, are such complaints justified?
You hear it at almost every sporting event that pits a public high school against one that is private.
Where did they get that guy? I’d like to see his birth certificate. We’d be great too if we paid for our players.
The gripes and groans of public school supporters are nothing new. Private institutions in the Bay Area, most notably the eleven member schools that hail from the West Catholic Athletic League, receive the role of Goliath, and public schools come to relish the role of David. The percentages usually win out, and Goliath walks away the victor.
The credit can go to superior talent, teamwork, facilities and coaching, or it can go the other way. It can cause some to cry foul. The question is, are such complaints justified?
Concerns about unfair competition almost always come back to the fact that private-school students can receive need-based financial aid, a fancy way of saying scholarship money for those who can’t afford a yearly tuition that can sometimes exceed $10,000. While scholarships are available to students in drama or band, recruiting for athletic purposes is strictly forbidden. That’s not to say it doesn’t happen.
“I’ll give most of the coaches credit. I don’t know if they’re hitting the pavement [recruiting],” Gilroy High basketball coach Jeremy Dirks said. “You hope they’re playing by the rules.”
Private institutions can approach promising kids about attending their school at any point, and while they can’t talk about coming to play sports specifically, they can talk around it.
While a lopsided regular season loss can sting, it’s the season-ending game that is over almost as soon as it starts that leaves some feeling bitter. The WCAL schools spend most of their regular seasons beating up on one another, but when the Central Coast Section playoffs arrive, the divide becomes more noticeable. Less than a week ago, GHS baseball entered the Division I playoffs with a 14 seed and lost 15-2 to the WCAL’s Valley Christian, seeded third. In the winter, San Benito’s boys basketball team had a 20-8 record before losing by 30 to the WCAL’s Serra in the Division I playoffs.
One could say that both Gilroy and San Benito, members of the Tri-County Athletic League who both have an enrollment over 2,400 students, were heavy underdogs and had no business beating either of their opponents. And that’s where you’d be right.
The matchups were inappropriate from the start. Preventing private schools from acquiring top-tier talent in sports will never work. Pitting the best against the best in the playoffs, however, is one way to level the playing field.
CCS introduced the Open Division to football in 2004, creating the ultimate fan experience. The top eight teams were placed in one bracket, without their choice of playing in the pool, and the rest of the playoff teams were dispersed to other divisions by school size.
The idea of implementing a similar setup for other sports – such as baseball, basketball, soccer and softball to name a few – would not only give fans the best CCS games one could hope for, but it would also make for more competitive games in the lower divisions.
“That would be cool,” says Anchorpoint Christian Athletic Director K.C. Adams about the idea. “The good schools will always be in it, but it also gives the small schools an opportunity to move up divisions any given year.”
This would result in cutting back the number of teams making the playoffs, possibly just eight teams per division, something CCS Commissioner Nancy Lazenby Blaser is in favor of.
“I think a large problem in our playoffs overall is there are too many teams in all of our sports,” Blaser said. “It waters down the championship. As a staff, we’ve certainly fussed about it for years.”
By creating the Open Division for other sports, a bonafide No. 1 seed wouldn’t be belittling the 16-seed, which might not deserve a playoff spot, but even more so doesn’t deserve to be humiliated.
Trying to change the system isn’t so simple, though. Those familiar with college football’s Bowl Championship Series will understand there is money to be made by keeping as many teams involved as possible. The same is true at the high school level. Ticket sales and concessions carry many athletic departments’ budgets.
“I have mixed emotions,” says GHS A.D. Jack Daley. “I think the Open Division is a pretty positive thing in football. I don’t know whether that translates to the other sports.”
Those who are unsure of the Open Division for other sports have reasonable arguments. There is a worry that it will simply become the WCAL bracket, which the private schools certainly do not want, and there is the possibility that smaller schools won’t want to step up to the challenge, rather focusing on winning CCS at their respective division.
“Even the WCAL schools are not always that hot on opting up there,” Blaser said. “They’re not necessarily doing it because they want to.
“It only works if the public schools buy-in and opt-up. I do worry that the Open Division might not be around for much longer.”
It would be sad to see the Open Division fall flat in football, when it’s proven to be the best format available. Unfortunately, any change requires a proposal by a committee of each sport at bi-annual meetings, which have already taken place for the 2008-09 school year. For now, the whispers about private and public will have to continue.
