Benton County

[doyouevencoachbro]

Are they merging their football teams again?  I don't see where they are merging the two schools.  They are looking for a head coach.  

[Rebel Bert]

Hickory Flat doesn't play football. I assume if you play football you go to Ashland even if you live in Hickory Flat.

[doyouevencoachbro]

12 minutes ago, Rebel Bert said:

Hickory Flat doesn't play football. I assume if you play football you go to Ashland even if you live in Hickory Flat.

I know this but a few years ago both schools came together and played a few seasons as the Benton County Bucs.  So was just curious if they were trying that again 

[pancho]

no, they have no intention

[s1nglewing]

I assume Ashland is open

[Rebel Bert]

I wonder how many young men from Tupelo to Olive Branch go to school in the 10 or so schools that want to play football and can't. Does anyone know if the school districts allow the kids to live at say Wheeler, Ingomar, and Hickory Flat among others and attend school at East Union and Ashland to play football or does the parents have to move say before 7th grade.

[MSSportsGuy]

1 hour ago, Rebel Bert said:

I wonder how many young men from Tupelo to Olive Branch go to school in the 10 or so schools that want to play football and can't. Does anyone know if the school districts allow the kids to live at say Wheeler, Ingomar, and Hickory Flat among others and attend school at East Union and Ashland to play football or does the parents have to move say before 7th grade.

I cant' speak for all of them or what things are like now but I grew up in NE MS next to a couple of those counties where districts had both football and non football schools. Generally speaking in those districts if the kid and family wanted to play the district would permit a transfer. Even if it was to a school in another district I don't think there was huge pushback unless the schools themselves objected, like say an athlete moving from one district to another. The association would step in occassionally but only if there was a case made by the former school. There wasn't a ton of district jumping in my county but there were a couple of cases and it was really more of the non athletes. 

[coastfootballfanman]

Consolidation is long over due in a lot of areas in our state. Districts/Communities can save themselves a lot of money by consolidating. I would love to see mass consolidation in small communities and our state go back down to 5 classes or even if numbers are there, go to 4. I know I am probably in the minority in this thinking though. 

[MSSportsGuy]

26 minutes ago, coastfootballfanman said:

Consolidation is long over due in a lot of areas in our state. Districts/Communities can save themselves a lot of money by consolidating. I would love to see mass consolidation in small communities and our state go back down to 5 classes or even if numbers are there, go to 4. I know I am probably in the minority in this thinking though. 

Going back to five classes wouldn't necessarily require consolidation but rather the will to do so and for the association to bring it up. They wont due to $$. As I've posted the 6A and 5A dividing lines could have been adjusted to reduce the gap and achieved basically the same result but that meant less revenue. 

 

The NE corner of MS has been one of the major consolidation hold outs and it usually comes down to:

 

1. Athletics/Tradition

2. belief it would cause a demographic shift

3. A small number of people like a board or key families who would lose power and influence. 

 

I'm a bigger fan of district consolidation as there are just too many for a state our size with 6 figure superintendents and staffs for not many more students than a large high school. My home county has two districts, is pretty small, and it's "the way it's always been". These school facilities won't last forever and I believe that's a big reason consolidation will eventually come to some of these places. 

 

 

[maroontide06]

5 minutes ago, MSSportsGuy said:

Going back to five classes wouldn't necessarily require consolidation but rather the will to do so and for the association to bring it up. They wont due to $$. As I've posted the 6A and 5A dividing lines could have been adjusted to reduce the gap and achieved basically the same result but that meant less revenue. 

 

The NE corner of MS has been one of the major consolidation hold outs and it usually comes down to:

 

1. Athletics/Tradition

2. belief it would cause a demographic shift

3. A small number of people like a board or key families who would lose power and influence. 

 

I'm a bigger fan of district consolidation as there are just too many for a state our size with 6 figure superintendents and staffs for not many more students than a large high school. My home county has two districts, is pretty small, and it's "the way it's always been". These school facilities won't last forever and I believe that's a big reason consolidation will eventually come to some of these places. 

 

 

Well you can see what adding the 7th classification did.  It turned 5A into a glass of water with a drop of tea in it.  But like you said, when these schools start caving in on themselves it'll force them to do something because temporal things don't last forever.

[Rebel Bert]

I am not necessarily for consolidation but eventually if you have 2 schools smaller than 3A then consolidate. If you have 4 consolidate to 2 schools. However you end up killing these small towns. To avoid that Junior High at one, high school at the other, and Elementary at both works.

[MSSportsGuy]

4 hours ago, maroontide06 said:

Well you can see what adding the 7th classification did.  It turned 5A into a glass of water with a drop of tea in it.  But like you said, when these schools start caving in on themselves it'll force them to do something because temporal things don't last forever.

I'd say it also made 1A weaker because many of the schools, even those will football, struggle to get enough boys to play because they just dont' have may to choose from. 

 

Beating this dead horse is my speciality but if they had made 6A the top 24, 5A the next 24, it would have pushed 16 teams down into 4A. When spread out that's 4 teams per class extra, not even enough to add one team to each region. That wouldn't have substantially increased competition or given too many people headaches with numbers. 

[maroontide06]

2 hours ago, MSSportsGuy said:

I'd say it also made 1A weaker because many of the schools, even those will football, struggle to get enough boys to play because they just dont' have may to choose from. 

 

Beating this dead horse is my speciality but if they had made 6A the top 24, 5A the next 24, it would have pushed 16 teams down into 4A. When spread out that's 4 teams per class extra, not even enough to add one team to each region. That wouldn't have substantially increased competition or given too many people headaches with numbers. 

Keep beating that dead horse.  As long as what you’re doing is opposite of what the MHSAA is trying to achieve/pocket, it’s probably the right thing.