Why is Texas HS football the best HS football again?

[Farmer]

I'm sorry, you must not have lived in South Florida, or didn't pay attention if you were. St Aquinas annually, prime-era Miami NW, Miramar under Cogdell, IMG currently (not SoFla), Miami Killian in the mid-2000s under Billy Rolle, BTW/Central now, etc. 3-4 big name transfers like Cedar Hill has had this offseason is nothing at places like this. It's expected annually.



Now.... we're certainly heading the wrong direction. That's not up for debate. Very disturbing what's happened in Allen and Cedar Hill recently. There's a significant bump from having 1-2 big time kids transfer in every 3-4 years (which has been a staple at every HS "power" since long before I was born) to where you are seeing programs reload at need positions every spring like we're starting to see.

oak,



i I always enjoy reading your stuff. You bring a lot to discussions and are always fair. Thanks for posting what you did and I really can't see anything you posted to argue with.

Hope your family is doing well and I know you have to love being back in Texas

[OakTreeOut-n-Up]

I have lived all over the country and in the big three: Texas, California, and Florida. Texas football is the biggest joke when it comes to high school athletics and recruiting. The UIL has absolutely no repercussions if a kid transfers for athletic reasons and nobody seems to care as long as Texas is king of high school football.

Bloom where you are planted....not in Texas

I'm sorry, you must not have lived in South Florida, or didn't pay attention if you were. St Aquinas annually, prime-era Miami NW, Miramar under Cogdell, IMG currently (not SoFla), Miami Killian in the mid-2000s under Billy Rolle, BTW/Central now, etc. 3-4 big name transfers like Cedar Hill has had this offseason is nothing at places like this. It's expected annually.

Now.... we're certainly heading the wrong direction. That's not up for debate. Very disturbing what's happened in Allen and Cedar Hill recently. There's a significant bump from having 1-2 big time kids transfer in every 3-4 years (which has been a staple at every HS "power" since long before I was born) to where you are seeing programs reload with mercenaries at need positions every spring like we're starting to see.

[OakTreeOut-n-Up]

Which state(s) is/are better?

There are states with more talent. Florida for sure, California maybe, states like Georgia per capita. Texas is top 3 just about every year though, so it's an insignficant factor in the big picture (IMO).

There are states with as much community support/emphasis in certain places - Ohio, California, Louisiana... but not as widespread across an entire state like here I don't think.

There are states with good coaching - pretty sure, though, I wouldn't take any state's collective HS football coaching community over ours.

There are communities with a lot of money - I don't think any of them have had the statewide run of communities throwing their $ at football like we saw in Plano, Odessa, Southlake and now are seeing in Allen, McKinney, Katy, Cypress, etc.

There are states with tradition - Ohio loves their HS football as much as us in places and have for a long, long time.

Are there states with more "pure" High school football teams (i.e. not regional all star teams?) Probably in the states where football isn't a big deal. We're obviously losing traction here, unfortunately, and Cedar Hill and Allen seem to be leading the way which is a big time bummer. Frankly, I'm amazed that in a state that's this fanatical about HS football it took this long for it to start happening at the level that Allen and Cedar Hill seem to be taking it. It's not IMG, St Aquinas, Bosco, Miramar level yet but it's trending the wrong direction and in a big hurry.

There are states that bring a lot of fans to big games fairly consistently - but not as consistently as Texas or in quite the same numbers. Ohio brings a lot, Louisiana can bring a lot (Evangel/West Monroe games in the Superdome looked awesome), Florida used to have massive crowds for the Soul Bowl, but these are/were generally one-off events or once-a-year events. Texas brings it annually, and weekly in the DFW area playoffs.

Whatever the argument is, when you look at it in total, I'll take the Texas HS football product over any other state's HS football setup and for me, personally, it's not close.

[Farmer]

Texas is still far and away the most passionate state overall when it come to HS football. No other state comes close.

I like your use of the word passionate and I think that's an accurate way of describing things here but how can you say no other state comes close? There are a lot of towns in states like Louisiana and Mississippi that are very passionate about their teams as well

[Super B]

Texas is still far and away the most passionate state overall when it come to HS football. No other state comes close.

[MGoBlue]

I have lived all over the country and in the big three: Texas, California, and Florida. Texas football is the biggest joke when it comes to high school athletics and recruiting. The UIL has absolutely no repercussions if a kid transfers for athletic reasons and nobody seems to care as long as Texas is king of high school football.

Bloom where you are planted....not in Texas

[TrojanHorse03]

We're not. You could always make the case California(more nfl players) and Florida(more nfl players, oos wins, better college football sucess) and other states produce more college/nfl players per capita. Nobody's perfect. Only a naively, unaware, sheltered, and biased person would ever think it was some proven fact that the friday nights of Texas was the end all-be all because who shows for support. Or cheerleades. Or the band. They're still laughing in South Florida. Just be thankful for what you got while calling for change to the uil.

[sTp]

I used to think we were different.. now, not so much..

And while I would expect most programs would do the honorable thing and not bend rules or find loopholes, I largely blame the UIL for not being consistent in enforcing the rules that are already on the books.

[Farmer]

It's the age old question. I have to ask though, why is it that we claim to be the best again?

We used to say we were the most pure of the states because we don't recruit in Texas but it seems we have found a way around that.

I also hear that we have community support and in places like Allen and Ennis that is the truth, but how many one school towns do we really have that show up in groves?

I would be curious to hear the thoughts on why exactly we are the best in Texas.