Football In MS

When you take a look at the roster; yes Covid helped. Then factor in all the crazy sideline rules they tried to enforce with contact tracking and distancing… yeah

I remember that Horn Lake game. And I believe that was chalked up as more of a socioeconomic thing than a fan interest thing.

Fans get tired of a going to away games for a month in a row. So they pick only a couple instead of attending them all

Right - which is why I said 2 games on Saturday (anytime). And I have a hard time seeing any 4A fan base outnumbering Gulfport, Tupelo, Starkville, Brandon, Oxford… There’s a reason those schools are 7A. Higher student population = higher attendance at championship games

Ref calls and no-calls, combined with sideline interference (that was also no-called)

GC beat OG during Covid when they had recruits from 3 districts all converge for 1 season… didn’t have to contact trace like the public schools did and even still they had to use some questionable tactics to beat OG. That 1 example is not a great one if you’re trying to show that private schools “can compete” with public schools on a regular basis

A month in a row of no home games is suckish. Long stints of every weekend at home followed by long stints of away does very little for fan engagement

5, 6, 7 A should always be: one on Friday night and 2 on Saturday (anytime) simply to help with the volume of people in and out of the venue. Then let the other 4 classes rotate in the other open spots on Thursday/Friday/Saturday. Planning this way - with fans travel in mind & making the experience the best it can be for the largest volume of people should be a priority. Not to mention the fact that the host town will do better economically when large fan bases come and stay.

Right. Never said otherwise.

That would be wild. I mean I can see the reasoning - whether or not I personally agree. But it’ll likely cost a reasonably good R1 team a shot in playoffs whereas the same team in R2 would’ve probably gone into playoffs as a 3 seed instead of not going at all. I still think that the overall Top 4 teams in the North and South are unlikely to change. But still. The goal is always to play post season. And there will be legit teams who don’t get that opportunity in a 7-5-5-7 setup.

Tupelo & Oxford usually trade out in regions 1 & 2. But this breakdown puts them both solidly in 2. And with the recent rise of Germantown, you take a district whose Top 4 were always the same and throw those feathers up in the air to just shift and scatter. It’s a very different look.

Would hate to be in Region 2 7A. dang that’s a tough one

Schools don’t provide them Boosters do… as long as you play their kid

Private school pay is poor - which is why we see so many teachers retire from public and then go teach private once they have full state retirement and benefits. On paper, coaches probably make less than in reality… once the boosters handle vehicles, additional stipends and such.