<p>Listen I have nothing but admiration for “The Prep”. I worked with several Hudson County residents and the reputation of “The Prep” is outstanding. But they recruit kids to play sports from all over the State- all the Catholic schools do. They deny it because it violates NJSIA rules but they all do it. It seems they select certain sports to excel in. If a Catholic school decides they want to be a top talent in a sport in NJ they become that in short order.</p>
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<p>Forgive the ignorance, but aren’t schools such as Don Bosco, Notre Dame, Paramus or Bergen Catholic competing in a non-public division? </p>
<p>Is there a lot of difference between the power of the private schools and the local public schools? </p>
<p>In Texas, it took years for the strongest Catholic schools to be allowed to compete against the public schools. However, although schools such as Jesuit in Dallas or Strake in Houston are somehow competitive, they are no matches for the powerhouses that made Friday Nights famous. It does seem that students respond to recruiting by deciding to attend the schools that offer the best pipelines to competitive colleges and the pro life. </p>
<p>A few years ago, there was a movie made about a Bergen Catholic football and basketball star named Joe Sandberg. The recruiting by top colleges did not seem to go smoothly, and neither was his career at Penn and Rutgers. </p>
<p>Football must not be the same in all states.</p>
<p>Xiggi–you’re right. I haven’t been paying as much attention in the last few years, but they did recently re-align the conferences to put the preps together. A very good decision I had forgotten had occurred.</p>
<p>But in answer to your question–the powerhouses in NJ are almost always private schools, because of the wide recruiting area.</p>
<p>They play and win the majority of State championships against the public schools. In most sports we play down to one champion.</p>
<p>As I have mentioned several times St Benedict’s no longer plays for the NJ championships because they have removed themselves from the State sports association. They play a very competitive schedule so it does not hurt their kids.</p>
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<p>Sure, as soon as we hear the word ‘Catholic’, we think ‘exemplary behavior in all aspects of life’.</p>
<p>Well, as a contrary example, a Denver-area powerhouse Catholic high school just fired its state-title-winning acclaimed coach apparently because there may have been some recruiting violations by his staff,though nothing directly by him or known by him according to the latest reports. They said that this wasn’t congruent with who they were, or the values of a Lasallian education, and that they want t a football coach who is a full-time staff member at the school, integrated with their faculty.</p>
<p>There has been a LOT of unhappiness at the way that the large Catholic/Christian high schools seem to be recruiting and winning. Valor Christian was just kicked out of its league.</p>
<p>Basically schools like Don Bosco Prep, Bergen Catholic and the like are sports academies, they recruit students basically to play football at a high level; if college football is the minor leagues for the NFL, Don Bosco is the pony league for the big football schools. They claim to be college prep, but what they really are is football prep, compared to the academic prep schools (religious or non religious, the Delbarton’s, Pingries, Newark Academy and so forth) these schools are pretty mediocre in general. The reason these schools do well is the same reason that Alabama and Auburn do well, they are able to recruit the serious football players from all over the state, whereas public schools recruit from within their student body, and most private schools recruit for academic background, not sports. </p>
<p>If these places are win at any costs, it is no different then the mentality of the big football college programs. Schools like Don Bosco play teams from all over the country, get on television and such, and have boosters who shell out big money to keep these programs up there, no different. If I was recruiting for a big college program, I would definitely look at schools like this since in effect the talent has been weeded out, and you can compare apples to apples (unlike the typical public high school program, where you have a couple of decent kids usually and a lot of kids with a lot of heart); if I was looking for students to actually go to college and succeed academically and build the school up, I would go elsewhere, because quite frankly while football is not a ‘stupid sport’, it is complex to learn and play well, it also precludes doing much else when played at this level. </p>
<p>I have to admit,reading the one poster quoting someone at the school saying things like Jesus wants you to win and so forth, I don’t know if the Catholic Church has a catecism covering sports (I am being facetious, obviously), but Jesus as Vince Lombardi is a bit much. Put it this way, as uncomfortable as I can get with the uber religious like Tim Tebow, I have never heard them say anything like that, their faith is genuine and seem to be thanking God or whoever for being able to play and live another day doing what they want, not claiming Jesus is on the side of winners or whatever <em>gag</em></p>
<p>Sounds like recruiting issues are not confined to the private schools in NJ:</p>
<p>[North</a> Bergen football coach Vincent Ascolese recruited players, then cast them aside, families say | NJ.com](<a href=“http://www.nj.com/hssports/blog/football/index.ssf/2012/01/north_bergen_football_coach_vincent_ascolese_recruited_players_then_cast_them_aside_families_say.html]North”>New Jersey High School Sports - NJ.com)</p>
<p>North Bergen will end up having to forfeit all of the games these two players played in. By the way did you catch the coach/superintendent’s salary?</p>