private schools poaching your players

We are a private school, and we play in a league where it is perfectly legal to recruit kids who do not attend another member school.

I used to get all up in arms when I coached at a public school who shared the town with a private in the same league...

But really there is nothing you can do other than make the situation you offer more appealing.

I don't think it's against the rules in Maryland, where I'm located.

Coach--1st thing then, look into the rule.
However, even if what was happening was "against the rules" proving anything and getting desired results will probably not happen.

Airraider stated it best. You simply need to make your "product" more attractive so that they choose it.

Call the cops saying theres a creepy guy hanging around football practice?
Tell the kid you just got back from lunch with your best man, bill bellichick?

But seriously, if some of your kids are being given the chance for a better education because of football then encourage it. As much as it sucks you got to put the kids future first.

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Bottom line; you've got to prove they're actually "recruiting" kid which is pretty hard to do.

Believe me, I know. I coach at a private school and I've done my fair share of what everyone considers "recruiting". I see kids from other schools at basketball games, in town, at track meets (etc..) and I put a bug in their ear about coming here. I picked up two starters for this year's team doing so.

Everyone b-tches about it but a) I'm not poaching from schools we play, b)we do have more to offer educationally than most of the schools in the area and c) I NEEDED NUMBERS.

Our MIDDLE school is constantly the victim of poaching, but from other public schools. Unfortunately, recruiting rarely leaves a paper trail. The weird part is that these kids are going to schools that, while in a larger division, aren't at all as competitive as our high school is on a regular basis. Maybe they just don't enjoy sharing the stage with each other.

Ours get blatantly recruited by the privates in middle school, the middle school coaches seem to wear it as a badge of pride, "I put X amount of students in this private school!" What we are trying to do is build the best relationships as possible with the middle school coaches and sell our school as a great option, ideally we would ban the private coaches from the games but you can't do that. The crazy thing is the majority of privates around here were founded when bussing was enforced and they were pretty much made to get "our kids" away from "those kids," wish there was a way to harp on that and play to the emotional level of the parents and kids but it's hard when public city schools get such bad press. Therefore we try and get better, do things for our kids so that they will spread the word around, and try and build as many relationships as possible with the middle schools....or you can add "Academy" to the end of your school name and tell the kids you are recruiting them!

My two cents based on observations I've seen in IL. First and foremost, remember that private schools are like a lot of schools in this country in that they are struggling financially. One of the more storied high school programs in my state no longer exists, because the school had to close its doors for financial reasons 2-3 school years ago. I highly doubt they were risking their future to fully fund a football team with scholarships and tuition discounts.

In this economy, if a family has traditionally sent their kids to private schools, they are going to find a way to continue to do so, even if they have to sacrifice in other areas of their lives. If a family hasn't traditionally sent their children to private schools and now are all of the sudden willing to pay much higher tuition costs, they probably have reasons to leave your school district that go well-beyond just football and athletics.

Well, in all reality, a lot of private school systems don't fare any better than their public counter-parts. Especially when socioeconomic demographics are taken into consideration.

If parents are paying tuition for a private school, chances are they are middle class on up. So, you compare and contrast them to a public school serving the same middle-upper class families and you'll see the education isn't much different.

Many private schools don't pay teachers as at the same level as public schools do either because their budget is tighter. They rely a lot on tuition and donations as many are Catholic. An elementary school teacher at an upper-crust private school in this state will generally start between 15k-20k a year. Public school pay: twice that. So, it's just not very attractive. Many have non-certified staff working because they can't find teachers. I make a good wage at this private school but that's also because I live and work in one of the most impoverished areas of the country.

There is one major factor that can help many private schools rise well above the public schools; admission policies. We don't let every kid through our doors. If they've been kicked out of other schools, we don't take them. If they have criminal records, we don't take them.

In Maryland talking to the coach would be a complete waste of time. He won't have any idea that he's doing anything wrong. The private school culture has its own reality up there.

I was talking to the coach of a private school power a couple of years ago and he was complaining that his scholarship money was down. He was worried that without the scholarship money he'd never be able to recruit well enough to compete against the other private schools. It never occurred to him that a group of public school coaches wouldn't sympathize with him over his recruiting problems. That was just the world that he lived and worked in.

Usually the only dog that hollers is the one that gets hit.
So, I guess that's me-an old dog.

Lost almost an entire roster over a few years period of time to a public school that brought in a home town hero to coach.
I knew something was up when I noticed that the local bankers were the waterboys on the sidelines. Glad all they wanted was my players, well that and a couple of my staff coaches.

Well, fast forward a couple of years and the whole country's economy goes to you know where in the proverbial handbasket.
Our small private school is struggling for its life, like so many of them right now. Several very strong schools closed because of this economy.

But here's the deal: (Old dog hollerin' here)
I've never recuited players. I don't believe in recruiting, I don't ask kids to play for me, I don't promise anybody from the community that they can start if they come over. It's wrong people wrong. What part of "wrong" don't recruiting schools understand? Either public or private schools. Recruiting is recruiting.

If you're getting your kid to go out and "get his friends" to come play football for you.....that's recruiting. The vilest form of it. Because you are making a child do the dirty work.

I don't believe in it. I don't' want families to be working 2 and 3 jobs to have the extra money for their kids to come to a private Christian school and then have to sit the bench because I "recruited" better players. I don't believe in paying kid's way so they can come make my team better. It's not right.

If they want to pay the money to come to a private school-great. then pay it. But don't make those kids sit the bench because you want to win a few games-it's NOT RIGHT. But private schools are paying for football players to come and play everyday of the week. And, they have a "magic" way of finding them too.

What are you teaching those kids anyway? To cheat and win is better? But, wait, it's not cheating when it's us. Oh, sorry I forgot.

Now, the end of the "old hit dogs" rant.
OJW

It's never about the school being a better fit for the kid. It's about getting that athlete there, so that it helps win football/basketball games.

Not all, most. Especially when coaches are actively recruiting kids to come to their school for football, it is almost always true.

Sorry coach but I grew up in an area of Catholic school powerhouses and currently work and coach in an area with a large amount of private schools. Not once have I heard of any of these schools going after a kid and helping them with tuition because it was a "better fit" for them academically, socially, or spiritually. The only time they have ever gone after or enrolled a kid at a discount price it was a kid that they wanted to help who also miraculously ran faster, jumped higher, hit harder, or shot better then those they already have. I have no qualms with recruiting if you are open about it and have no problem if they take the brother or sister but it bothers me beyond belief when these privates play the "making their life better" card but ignore their siblings who are in the same situation but aren't athletes.