Classed Ohio Thinking about Separating Public/Private Schools

[Drooke]

Perhaps some of you have been following this topic but it is a bit slow here and I thought I would see what the IndianaMat members thought about it.

 

As the thread title states, classed Ohio is now thinking about having a separate Public and Private wrestling championship.

 

http://www.marionstar.com/article/20100816/SPORTS/8150345/Separate-postseasons-for-public-private-?referer=8c775e7a04c611a6bf70454bdcb951d6

[1oldwrestler]

I thinks it's a bad idea.  I refed in WI back in the 90's when they separated public and private schools (not sure if they still do that in WI or not) but it really seemed like it watered down the competition once the state series started.  Just my opinion but I saw private school kids who were placers or champs that really weren't that good.  Of course there were exceptions but in general, that's what I saw.

[Coach Hull]

This is an insult to me personally as I chose to coach in the public school system for the sole reason of helping them raise the bar in wrestling.  I can see the argument in regards to other team sports, but wrestling is a different matter because it has a higher emphasis on individual performances.  Very much a soft spot.  Makes me want to go practice as we speak!  Thankfully we're talking about Ohio.

[Y2CJ41]

If you look at our state, it wouldn't surprise me if the same thing becomes reality.  The parochial/private dominance is pretty bad in sports like football, baseball and basketball.  There are many coaches and administrators that would like to at least see a multiplier against p/p schools. 

[MattM]

Not sure of the exact number of parochial and private school in IN with an extensive sports program, but it seems like it would mean a somewhat small tournament in most sports.

[H1N1]

Didn't they "try" this in Illinois about 10 years ago?  If I recall, it was specifically directed at ending Mt. Carmel's wrestling dominance.  They Mt. Carmel took the IHSA (Illinois) to court and won.  So the IHSA countered by just not having a Team state wrestling tournament that year.  Am I remembering this correctly?

 

Wisconsin was slightly unique in that football and basketball had a "private school division" for literally decades, while most other sports had private and public schools together.  I was a crazy system.  I know because I grew up in Wisconsin.

 

All factors aside, I would simply ask "Is it worth it?"  You know that some lawyer would sue and it would spend years in litigation and everyone would end up bruised.  After the well known public court losses of the IHSAA, I don't think they would be too interested in another brawl.  Plus, we end up with messy situations like Charter Schools that are private & public in someways.

[Y2CJ41]

Illinois currently has a multiplier I believe, where the p/p school's enrollment is multiplied by some number, 1.5 or 1.6, something like that to determine their "true" enrollment.  Ohio will have a hard time passing this as there is a great number of public schools with open enrollment.

[lpd096]

You are correct, Y2, Illinois does have a multiplier...it did survive the lawsuits filed by Providence and others in the Chicago Catholic League.  They currently have 3 classes for wrestling and Montini (National Power) would be a Class A school but with the multiplier, they are 2A. In their case though, it doesn't matter, they are the tops in most years over there.

[1oldwrestler]

Didn't they "try" this in Illinois about 10 years ago?  If I recall, it was specifically directed at ending Mt. Carmel's wrestling dominance.  They Mt. Carmel took the IHSA (Illinois) to court and won.  So the IHSA countered by just not having a Team state wrestling tournament that year.  Am I remembering this correctly?

 

Wisconsin was slightly unique in that football and basketball had a "private school division" for literally decades, while most other sports had private and public schools together.  I was a crazy system.  I know because I grew up in Wisconsin.

 

All factors aside, I would simply ask "Is it worth it?"  You know that some lawyer would sue and it would spend years in litigation and everyone would end up bruised.  After the well known public court losses of the IHSAA, I don't think they would be too interested in another brawl.  Plus, we end up with messy situations like Charter Schools that are private & public in someways.

 

Are you sure about Wisconsin not having a separation of public and private schools for wrestling?  I refed in the Milwaukee area for about 3 years in the early 90's and I was sure there was a division.  In fact I just Googled it and WISAA (Wisconsin Independent Schools Athletic Association) did exist for wrestling.  Not trying to be a prick about it I was just pretty sure I remembered the division.

[WingMan]

In the Delphi conference, Central Catholic (private school) was accepted into our conference effective 2011.  I also heard that Faith Christian (also a private school in the Lafayette area) was just acknowledged by the IHSAA, which tells me they are next.  Does that dilute our annual matches or make them better...that is the question which is yet to be answered until 2011 (at least).