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Thursday, June 21, 2007
Collins Hill — the best program in the state?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Sports Illustrated recently named Collins Hill the ninth best high school athletic program in the nation.
S.I.com pointed to the Eagles three state titles and basketball superstar Maya Moore as the biggest reasons for the honor.
Collins Hill was the only Georgia program recognized.
Do you think Collins Hill is the best program in the state? Do you even think the Eagles are the best in Gwinnett County?
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GHSA yawns at recruiting verdict
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
There’s little that high school football and basketball fans around here like to complain about more than recruiting.
Today, the Supreme Court ruled that high school associations are not violating free-speech rights by penalizing schools and coaches for recruiting athletes from other schools.
The case stems from a 1997 incident in Tennessee, where the coach of 10-time state champion Brentwood Academy near Nashville invited 12 eighth grade students from another school to attend his team’s spring practice.
Does today’s ruling mean Georgia just got the high court’s endorsement to crack down on recruiting? Not at all. Georgia has always had that, and the Supreme Court just affirmed it.
Don’t expect any more Georgia schools to be busted for recruiting as a result. Those penalties are quite rare as it is.
The Georgia High School Association’s stance on recruiting hasn’t changed: ”We don’t have a mechanism to go out and hunt violations. We just react to what we’re asked to do,” Ralph Swearngin, the GHSA’s executive director, reiterated to me today.
The easy thing would be to tell Ralph to get his head out of the sand, but consider this: Despite all the rumors and allegations that fill up message boards about cheating and recruiting, Swearngin says he gets only two or three official complaints a year about recruiting.
So if recruiting is really a problem, is the GHSA to blame for not being proactive? Or should we look at the fans and coaches who complain but do nothing to substantiate it or bring it to the GHSA’s attention?
I’d like for the GHSA to do more, but I also suspect there are far more accusations than facts out there.
Tell Todd about it: Who’s to blame when recruiting gets out of hand? Or is the system OK as-is? Debate starts here.
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