What's happening to Sidwell football?

[Anonymous]

I read on another thread that Sidwell has no MAC conference teams on its schedule, and instead is playing and odd list of opponents, including teams made up of homeschooling kids. Sidwell football has been sliding downhill for a long time, but is this the end?

[Anonymous]

Listen football is a tough sport and some injuries are life long. I don’t blame parents and the school is they have lost interest.

[Anonymous]

Look at football matriculations from Gonzaga. The skill position players are going to schools like Stanford and Michigan. The linemen are going to junior colleges. I trust they’re at Gonzaga on scholarship and hope the process helps them achieve their goals, but it’s not hard to see why a smaller school like Sidwell decided not to go down that road.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Look at football matriculations from Gonzaga. The skill position players are going to schools like Stanford and Michigan. The linemen are going to junior colleges. I trust they’re at Gonzaga on scholarship and hope the process helps them achieve their goals, but it’s not hard to see why a smaller school like Sidwell decided not to go down that road.

Gonzaga is sending kids to JC’s?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Listen football is a tough sport and some injuries are life long. I don’t blame parents and the school is they have lost interest.

Are you saying that they're shutting it down?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Look at football matriculations from Gonzaga. The skill position players are going to schools like Stanford and Michigan. The linemen are going to junior colleges. I trust they’re at Gonzaga on scholarship and hope the process helps them achieve their goals, but it’s not hard to see why a smaller school like Sidwell decided not to go down that road.

WCAC does not provide athletic scholarships, though do provide need aid.

Junior college is a popular route in many sports, not that I am a fan for my own kid. The plan is to develop physically/athletically and then get noticed by a good program and recruited in the transfer portal.

[Anonymous]

Sidwell is quietly sunsetting the football team. Some alums and diversity advocates will howl, but fielding a Sidwell football team with all of the liability and expense that entails hasn’t made sense in years.

[Anonymous]

Football seems very difficult to compete nationally for small privates. It makes sense for Sidwell to go deep in something like basketball and just sunset football.

If you follow SJC or Good Counsel, 1/2 the games are against teams from CA, GA, FL, etc. Even the WCAC is divided between the Haves (SJC, Dematha, Gonzaga and Good Counsel) and the others…those 4 don’t play the other WCAC teams.

[Anonymous]

Football needs a lot of players.
It is one of the easiest sports to get recruited for as college football teams are huge.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sidwell is quietly sunsetting the football team. Some alums and diversity advocates will howl, but fielding a Sidwell football team with all of the liability and expense that entails hasn’t made sense in years.

Makes sense. The school and alumni will survive without it. GDS apparently never had football, and it's doing more than OK.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Look at football matriculations from Gonzaga. The skill position players are going to schools like Stanford and Michigan. The linemen are going to junior colleges. I trust they’re at Gonzaga on scholarship and hope the process helps them achieve their goals, but it’s not hard to see why a smaller school like Sidwell decided not to go down that road.

Gonzaga is sending kids to JC’s?

I call b.s. on that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sidwell is quietly sunsetting the football team. Some alums and diversity advocates will howl, but fielding a Sidwell football team with all of the liability and expense that entails hasn’t made sense in years.

Makes sense. The school and alumni will survive without it. GDS apparently never had football, and it's doing more than OK.

Then why are there GDS students playing on the Sidwell team?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sidwell is quietly sunsetting the football team. Some alums and diversity advocates will howl, but fielding a Sidwell football team with all of the liability and expense that entails hasn’t made sense in years.

Makes sense. The school and alumni will survive without it. GDS apparently never had football, and it's doing more than OK.

Then why are there GDS students playing on the Sidwell team?

GDS kids play on Maret not Sidwell.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sidwell is quietly sunsetting the football team. Some alums and diversity advocates will howl, but fielding a Sidwell football team with all of the liability and expense that entails hasn’t made sense in years.

I’m not sure the school doesn’t have a rationale for keeping football beyond the financial and insurance considerations.

Most colleges lose money on football. But they still retain it.

I’ve thought it might be an Admissions thing. The thinking is that kids they would like to have wouldn’t consider the school without football.

It might be because they don’t want to become more like GDS and the football program and football players help with that separation.

It may be that football somehow enhances the student and alumni experience.

There has to be a relatively strong incentive to keep it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sidwell is quietly sunsetting the football team. Some alums and diversity advocates will howl, but fielding a Sidwell football team with all of the liability and expense that entails hasn’t made sense in years.

Makes sense. The school and alumni will survive without it. GDS apparently never had football, and it's doing more than OK.

Then why are there GDS students playing on the Sidwell team?

GDS kids play on Maret not Sidwell.

I’m almost positive there are GDS kids playing for Sidwell this year.