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MAIS Openings


TheAnswer
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1 hour ago, s1nglewing said:

I've said it before - JA = 1980's-90's Woodland Hills

I'm not sure that JA is facing the existential crisis that WH faced. The girls' sports are in great shape. Girls' soccer is one of the best programs, if not the best program in the state. Girls' volleyball is nationally ranked. Girls' basketball, while off in the last couple of years, is historically very good. On the boys' side, the soccer program is very good.

 

The school's financial condition appears solid. It has a substantial endowment. The PAC is awesome. The academic and sports facilities (aside from baseball, which really isn't JA's fault - the ditch beyond the outfield wall causes flooding and prevents significant upgrades to the field) are top-notch. The Raider Network is head and shoulders better than any other school based production in the state.

 

Aside from soccer, however, the boys' sports have been in a seriously precarious state for years. And it is 100% due to a failure of leadership and an engrained culture that has been allowed to grow over the last decade or so. 

 

Yes, JA won the boys' basketball state championship with what was likely the best team in the state - public or private. However, if you scratch the surface just a bit, you can see problems. The Williams brothers fell into JA's lap (and only after another school refused to completely comp their tuition) and were the reason for the team's success. Only one player on the team who played significant minutes attended elementary or junior high at JA. That is not a formula for program building or sustained success. 

 

JA made the conscious decision to neglect  baseball and it has paid for it. There are two sports that kids who attend the Jackson area private schools play from 6 yrs old forward - baseball and soccer. If you de-emphasize either of these sports, you are telling kids who value the sport to go somewhere else. And they have in droves. 

 

At bottom, JA's refusal to acknowledge its problems and aggressively address them has seriously hampered its boys' sports. Its best young athletes now attend other schools. The net result is a basketball program in which homegrown kids believe they have no legitimate shot to contribute; a football program that cannot compete with the other 6A Jackson schools; and a baseball program that is an embarrassment. It's a frat boy culture in high school.

 

 

Edited by Washed_Up_Athlete
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Wow. JA hires former Kent State DC Dave Duggan as their new head coach... He was their defensive coordinator in 2022. I have no doubt as his being an excellent defensive coach, however this hire is likely not suited well for the inherent issues at JA right now. I would've liked to see an MAIS vet, but wish him the best.

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1 hour ago, longhorn75 said:

Wow. JA hires former Kent State DC Dave Duggan as their new head coach... He was their defensive coordinator in 2022. I have no doubt as his being an excellent defensive coach, however this hire is likely not suited well for the inherent issues at JA right now. I would've liked to see an MAIS vet, but wish him the best.

He’s a very good coach and did an impressive job with the defense a couple of years ago. Time will tell whether he can program build as well as he coaches on the field.

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20 hours ago, longhorn75 said:

Wow. JA hires former Kent State DC Dave Duggan as their new head coach... He was their defensive coordinator in 2022. I have no doubt as his being an excellent defensive coach, however this hire is likely not suited well for the inherent issues at JA right now. I would've liked to see an MAIS vet, but wish him the best.

 

Well at least if he was the DC in college, he should know how to recruit and he will definitely have to do that big time.

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