First let me be blunt.
The FHSAA and its staff are by far and away - not my favorite people. We have had our differences for the last six years and it's not likely that Roger Dearing and I will ever be able to 'mend our fences'.
However, the proposed legislation in the current form - is not in the best interest of high school athletics - PERIOD.
It doesn't matter who is sitting in the big chair. The bottom line is - rules are rules and there are those that don't want to abide by the rules.
Can you imagine if the state legislature treated the local sheriff's department like it is apparently trying to treat the FHSAA?
"OK Sheriff, we want you to uphold the law, but not the ones that people don't like.. You know --- like speeding, drinking and driving...running stop signs... no tag... all that yucky stuff that people are gonna do anyway -- just don't write any tickets... sit there in your car with your blue lights and people will just naturally slow down."
Look, rules are there to level the playing field for all of us. I have to abide by them or I cannot coach. And while I'm not a big proponent of the FHSAA, the bottom line is - the organization does serve a purpose.
If you think free agency is the way of the future - then you have completely eroded any hope of saving high school athletics as we currently know it in Florida.
Little League, and Pop Warner, (for the most part) use residency requirements to establish teams. Just ask the Chicago Little League team. Now the legislature wants to say 'hey - if you go to Terry Parker and the football team sucks - you can go play for Sandalwood... (just using an analogy here folks)... so how is Terry Parker ever supposed to build a program worth keeping those 'stars' from defecting to other schools.
At least now - under the current rule, they have to take classes at the same school they play for ( or in Tim Tebow's case - go lift weights while everyone else is in class).
I just don't see it folks. How will free agency do anything other than create a greed and corrupt program around the state - where affluent boosters can make it look like all is well - and the local kids who've been in the school system for years - get beat out by the transferring all-stars.
In the spring league I coached in this year, there were no residency requirements. We played two teams from Clay County that had very few kids who actually live in Clay County... One team calls itself Middleburg - and I guess the coach lives there - but most of the team lives in Arlington, East Arlington and Mandarin (suburbs of Jacksonville). But hey, they're in the playoffs and that's what matters - correct?
Didn't think so.
The FHSAA and its staff are by far and away - not my favorite people. We have had our differences for the last six years and it's not likely that Roger Dearing and I will ever be able to 'mend our fences'.
However, the proposed legislation in the current form - is not in the best interest of high school athletics - PERIOD.
It doesn't matter who is sitting in the big chair. The bottom line is - rules are rules and there are those that don't want to abide by the rules.
Can you imagine if the state legislature treated the local sheriff's department like it is apparently trying to treat the FHSAA?
"OK Sheriff, we want you to uphold the law, but not the ones that people don't like.. You know --- like speeding, drinking and driving...running stop signs... no tag... all that yucky stuff that people are gonna do anyway -- just don't write any tickets... sit there in your car with your blue lights and people will just naturally slow down."
Look, rules are there to level the playing field for all of us. I have to abide by them or I cannot coach. And while I'm not a big proponent of the FHSAA, the bottom line is - the organization does serve a purpose.
If you think free agency is the way of the future - then you have completely eroded any hope of saving high school athletics as we currently know it in Florida.
Little League, and Pop Warner, (for the most part) use residency requirements to establish teams. Just ask the Chicago Little League team. Now the legislature wants to say 'hey - if you go to Terry Parker and the football team sucks - you can go play for Sandalwood... (just using an analogy here folks)... so how is Terry Parker ever supposed to build a program worth keeping those 'stars' from defecting to other schools.
At least now - under the current rule, they have to take classes at the same school they play for ( or in Tim Tebow's case - go lift weights while everyone else is in class).
I just don't see it folks. How will free agency do anything other than create a greed and corrupt program around the state - where affluent boosters can make it look like all is well - and the local kids who've been in the school system for years - get beat out by the transferring all-stars.
In the spring league I coached in this year, there were no residency requirements. We played two teams from Clay County that had very few kids who actually live in Clay County... One team calls itself Middleburg - and I guess the coach lives there - but most of the team lives in Arlington, East Arlington and Mandarin (suburbs of Jacksonville). But hey, they're in the playoffs and that's what matters - correct?
Didn't think so.