GHSF Daily is expanding its Four Questions feature this season beyond head coaches to other voices in high school football. Today's interviewee is Joe Maimone, founder of Prep Gridiron Logistics in New Jersey. With a client base of 300 schools, Maimone's company helps elite football programs find high-profile interstate games. Maimone was the matchmaker for this week's games between Marietta and Good Counsel of Maryland, Cedar Grove and Hewitt-Trussville of Alabama and John's Creek and St. John's College of Washington, D.C.
Joe Maimone, Prep Gridiron Logistics founder
1. How did your business get off the ground? "I have some background in athletic administration. I've worked at the University of Dayton and Florida State. So, I know people in the world of football, whether it's colleges or high schools. In my area, about 10 years ago, Don Bosco Prep was the No. 1 high school football team in the country. They won two national titles. They're seven minutes from my home. Once they started doing well, the public schools were refusing to play them because they felt it was unfair, and the scores were mirroring those attitudes. So Don Bosco was having a hard time scheduling games. I was friends with the A.D. and told him that I have contacts, and the first couple of games I secured were against Archbishop Rummel in Louisiana and then a home-and-home with Moeller in Cincinnati, purely out of relationships. The principal at Moeller and I went to college together. I thought that if Don Bosco is having problems, then so are some of these other programs where the private schools had taken it to another level. The problem wasn't just in the Northeast. It was everywhere. I started the business in 2015. Now I have 300 high schools as clients. I only deal with the most elite 300. My goal is to pair the most elite teams in America, like this year - Mater Dei and IMG, Grayson and Bergen Catholic. These are history-making games that would've never happened without what I'm doing." [Mater Dei of Santa Ana, Calif., and IMG Academy of Bradenton, Fla., are the consensus No. 2 and No. 3 teams in the country, respectively. Their game will be Sept. 21 in Santa Ana. Consensus No. 6 Grayson and No. 15 Bergen Catholic of New Jersey will play Aug. 31 at Buford in a doubleheader that also includes another of Maimone's matchups, Buford vs. Deerfield Beach, Fla., the No. 2 team, per MaxPreps, in Florida's Class 8A.]
2. Why are interstate games becoming more attractive to schools? "They give kids exposure. Even if Johns Creek gets beat by St. John's, the fact that they're going against players that are highly ranked gives them film of themselves competing against some of the best. It's a feather in their cap if they perform well against those kids that are Power Five recruits."
3. How strong is Georgia football compared to other states? "Georgia football, I've always said, rotates at No. 4 and No. 5 with Ohio. I don't think any state can compete with the big three - California, Florida and Texas. But I think those five are the top five in America. Georgia does have great depth, but the elite teams are not built the same way. In Georgia, people are loyal to their public schools. In other states, that's not the goal. They want to play for these bigger private, regional schools. In the other states, the privates rule. In New Jersey, the top six teams are private schools. In Ohio, the Cleveland and Cincinnati privates are at the top. Florida has St. Thomas Aquinas. California has Mater Dei. Nevada has Bishop Gorman. Georgia has really good private school teams, but they're smaller. Blessed Trinity and Benedictine won't ever have the status of a Bishop Gorman or Mater Dei."
4. What's your favorite Georgia game that you've put together, and what is on your wish list? "Bergen and Grayson, that to date is my proudest moment. That's never been done. A Georgia public school has never played a private from New Jersey. That's why I created this company, for moments like these. It's going to be a great game. Grayson has more four- and five-star players, but Bergen has been competitive in almost every interstate game they've played. They've beaten Bishop Gorman and been competitive with IMG. They're more experienced than Grayson in these games. The No. 1 item on my bucket list is to get an elite South Georgia team to play an out-of-state elite team. It's very hard to do logistically. If you're a Don Bosco, you have to fly to Atlanta and then bus to Moultrie. That's a lot, whereas a team like Bergen Catholic can fly to Atlanta and play Grayson in the Atlanta suburbs the next day. South Georgia is a hard region. These elite teams are always interested, but once they see the finances, they back off. But my goal is to get a top team in America to play a Colquitt or Lowndes or Valdosta. Everybody talks about Friday nights in Texas, but I've heard South Georgia is just as good."
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