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So is it just five Power 5 signees from the WPIAL?

It is amazing how much coaching matters with teams being successful. But they still can't necessarily make a P5 player. Genetics does that.
It really does. Just about any school in the WPIAL can have success if they establish a good youth program, the kids don’t transfer, and they continue to receive good coaching through high school.
 
You look at a school like Woodland Hills that has a lot of their kids running to charter schools and that’s a big factor.
if a kid wants to go to a charter school that doesn't offer football, he can still play football at Woody High. It's always been that way.
Also the level of coaching around here is awful. So many kids playing out of position never being given a chance to actually play their position, and then you have them running systems that don’t show the talent that they actually have. Then these coaching staffs do a piss poor job of promoting their players.
Buddy - if the coaching was so terrible, why do we see teams like Mt. Lebanon, Pine Richland, Penn Trafford who rarely are putting out power 5 kids beating the likes of St. Joe's, Imhotep, etc?? The latter teams are loaded with power 5 kids.
I routinely see kids who are from the city league, Penn Hills, Woodland Hills, McKeesport, catch buses and ride shares to charter schools who often don’t have football teams or only have a few people playing so they suck.
Any of those kids who reside in those districts can still play football at their home district.
 
That’s the problem charter school don’t have football teams but a lot of kids transfer to them and strictly become an academic only high school student. There’s some loopholes in some places where you can play in the district that you’re from but that requires a lot of Bending over backwards
what "bending over" does it require? I've known several kids who've played for Woody High and Steel Valley over the years.

The loophole is attending online courses at non boundary school and playing a sport for them. I know of 1 basketball and football power that has sprouted up in the past 2 years that has benefitted from it.
 
But it’s not good though. When those kids have to play special teams, offense and defense, and then factor in the injuries, along with the first year players that just don’t know what they’re doing that makes a lot of kids quit after their first year because they don’t have fun. And if a kid has a concussion? Forget about it is he is not playing for a month let alone the rest of the season. Then you end up with 13 kids playing against a team that has 35 kids that are experienced and they end up getting trounced. And with kids when they have bad memories or something these days they quit.
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And kids don’t care
The only one folks who get worked up about pop Warner game outcomes are adults living vicariously through these kids

You know what I remember from those games ?
Playing against my cousins from other schools - that’s it .

Now basketball - I cared when we lost
 
Because population is only down 9% from the 80s but P5s are down 75%. There's WAY more to it than a small population loss
Less population. More importantly, the median age of that population is older so the available talent pool has shrunken due to both factors.
 
But it’s not good though. When those kids have to play special teams, offense and defense, and then factor in the injuries, along with the first year players that just don’t know what they’re doing that makes a lot of kids quit after their first year because they don’t have fun. And if a kid has a concussion? Forget about it is he is not playing for a month let alone the rest of the season. Then you end up with 13 kids playing against a team that has 35 kids that are experienced and they end up getting trounced. And with kids when they have bad memories or something these days they quit.
I’m familiar with 2 different youth leagues. The one league has a JV and Varsity, so all the kids get to play and the competition is more balanced. The other league has a 5th Quarter (20 minutes total - running clock) for all the kids that don’t get to play in the main game. There are some over the top coaches, but the majority of kids that were 10 or older were truly upset when they lost in the playoffs. Kids were consoling each other, coaches consoling players, and some kids throwing a tantrum on the losing side.
 
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if a kid wants to go to a charter school that doesn't offer football, he can still play football at Woody High. It's always been that way.

Buddy - if the coaching was so terrible, why do we see teams like Mt. Lebanon, Pine Richland, Penn Trafford who rarely are putting out power 5 kids beating the likes of St. Joe's, Imhotep, etc?? The latter teams are loaded with power 5 kids.

Any of those kids who reside in those districts can still play football at their home district.
That was my understanding of the rule until recently when I heard of kids and talk to some kids who because they go to online school they were told that they could not play for their school district. Apparently there’s some newer loophole that doesn’t let some kids play like you said at the boundary school or something unless they go to that school. I’m not too clear on the new loophole so I would have to get more information on it but I know of at least five kids who have told me that they weren’t allowed to play at their home school Districk because they were an online or charter school student they couldn’t play. Hopefully somebody else can look up that ruse and bring some clarity to it
 
That was my understanding of the rule until recently when I heard of kids and talk to some kids who because they go to online school they were told that they could not play for their school district. Apparently there’s some newer loophole that doesn’t let some kids play like you said at the boundary school or something unless they go to that school. I’m not too clear on the new loophole so I would have to get more information on it but I know of at least five kids who have told me that they weren’t allowed to play at their home school Districk because they were an online or charter school student they couldn’t play. Hopefully somebody else can look up that ruse and bring some clarity to it
Also those schools that you mentioned have a good coaching staffs lol. They also have good programs were most of them play the same system all the way up.
 
what "bending over" does it require? I've known several kids who've played for Woody High and Steel Valley over the years.

The loophole is attending online courses at non boundary school and playing a sport for them. I know of 1 basketball and football power that has sprouted up in the past 2 years that has benefitted from it.
Could you explain that rule more because maybe the kids and parents that I talk to you that I’ve had this happen to them have it wrong and don’t have a good understanding of the rule
 
So none of those big Aliquippa linemen will be at a college next season? Pitt was in on one and I don’t even see Nico signing anywhere.
 
But it’s not good though. When those kids have to play special teams, offense and defense, and then factor in the injuries, along with the first year players that just don’t know what they’re doing that makes a lot of kids quit after their first year because they don’t have fun. And if a kid has a concussion? Forget about it is he is not playing for a month let alone the rest of the season. Then you end up with 13 kids playing against a team that has 35 kids that are experienced and they end up getting trounced. And with kids when they have bad memories or something these days they quit.
And kids don’t care
The only one folks who get worked up about pop Warner game outcomes are adults living vicariously through these kids

You know what I remember from those games ?
Playing against my cousins from other schools - that’s it .

Now basketball - I cared when we lost
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That doesn't make sense. Why wouldn't football matter but basketball does? Just sound like that is your personal experience and interests. That doesn't make the norm.
 
And kids don’t care
The only one folks who get worked up about pop Warner game outcomes are adults living vicariously through these kids

You know what I remember from those games ?
Playing against my cousins from other schools - that’s it .

Now basketball - I cared when we lost
That doesn't make sense. Why wouldn't football matter but basketball does? Just sound like that is your personal experience and interests. That doesn't make the norm.
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Because it didn’t matter in pop Warner .
It was fun just hitting and tackling / and for me catching some quick slants and scoring .
I couldn’t tell ya off hand now a single score of any game

I can tell you how we lost by 1 in the 6th grade championship game and how mad I was for deferring on the last shot for the win

Basketball involves a hell of a lot more activity and involvement than pop Warner football
 
Could you explain that rule more because maybe the kids and parents that I talk to you that I’ve had this happen to them have it wrong and don’t have a good understanding of the rule


"You must be enrolled in and in full-time attendance at a PIAA member school or a Charter or Cyber-Charter School, or be home-schooled. Generally, you are only eligible only at the school at which you are enrolled or, if a home-schooled student, at a public school in the public school district in which you reside. If you are a student enrolled in either a Charter School or Cyber Charter School, you should consult with your Principle to determine the school at which you are eligible."
 
"You must be enrolled in and in full-time attendance at a PIAA member school or a Charter or Cyber-
Charter School, or be home-schooled. Generally, you are only eligible only at the school at which
you are enrolled or, if a home-schooled student, at a public school in the public school district in
which you reside. If you are a student enrolled in either a Charter School or Cyber Charter School,
you should consult with your Principle to determine the school at which you are eligible."
I like that the city kids funnel kids to play at Obama for football and hoops from the east end - even if you’re at another magnet
 
I would like to see the demographics of the 80s recruits. Were working class districts like Steel Valley, West Mifflin, and Ringgold pumping out D1s? Now it seems that the WPA population is disproportionately represented by like 10 affluent suburban school districts, which maybe arent the best at producing P5 players.
Are they the best teams? Are they beating the places that you deem better at developing P5 players in actual games?
 
If Allegheny County population is only down 9%, it is IMPOSSIBLE that the HS age population is down 75%. Allegheny County is old, yes. But having a rudimentary knowledge of statistics, I can tell you that if the entire population is only down 9%, HS age kids cant be down by more than 20% and 20% might be stretching it.
But back then, families would have 3-10+ kids, my family had 3 kids and it was small compared to many families. Now 3 kids is a huge family
 
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It really does. Just about any school in the WPIAL can have success if they establish a good youth program, the kids don’t transfer, and they continue to receive good coaching through high school.
Pine Richland just won the 5A state title with likely one P5 kid on their roster (Cory in 2024). Their QB Palmieri, who was basically their entire offense and best DB, is getting offers from Sacred Heart and Mercyhurst.

They beat Imhotep handily, and that's a team with a bunch of P5 guys.

They won with Kasper (great HS coach), did nothing with the schlub Campos, and now back to winning with another good coach LeDonne.
 
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Pine Richland just won the 5A state title with likely one P5 kid on their roster (Cory in 2024). Their QB Palmieri, who was basically their entire offense and best DB, is getting offers from Sacred Heart and Mercyhurst.

They beat Imhotep handily, and that's a team with a bunch of P5 guys.

They won with Kasper (great HS coach), did nothing with the schlub Campos, and now back to winning with another good coach LeDonne.

If you look at enrollments in the 80s compared to today, you'd probably see large growth at PR, NA, SV, Hampton, Fox Chapel, USC, SF, Peters, and Canon Mac and large drops at most other schools. I think the easiest way to make any sense of the talent drop off is that the working class/middle class school districts have lost population and they would seem to have produced the best talent. The population move towards the North Hills and South Hills aren't necessarily a good thing for D1 recruiting
 
It's more than that. There are still plenty of working class / middle class districts.

Butler is still huge and has sucked for years. It wasnt always like that. There are other dynamics at play. Football here isn't what it used to be for kids growing up.
 
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