25/26 MCPS High School Athletics thread

[Anonymous]

As a teacher here in MCPS and a big fan of HS sports I thought maybe we could have a thread here dedicated to the upcoming year's HS athletics here in MCPS. Judging by a lot of the posts I read here, this thread will likely go untouched and buried but maybe there are a few of us who want to talk about whats happening in the county athletically.

First big news: Baba Oladotun, the country's #1 HS basketball player for the Class of 2027, is officially reclassifying up to the Class of 2026 and will remain at Blake HS for his third and final year before graduating early. This is big news as there was a ton of speculation that he would be transferring to the newly opened St James Academy down in Springfield, VA. What's also big is that MCPS typically doesn't see a lot of kids reclassify for athletics. If you weren't planning on going before, you might want to make sure you get a chance to see a Blake HS basketball game this winter.

[Anonymous]

It appears to be a down year in the county for football talent in MCPS with no real D1 caliber players. In recent years there have typically been around 5-10 kids in the county that go on to play D1 FBS football.

[Anonymous]

Yes MCPS, unfortunately, doesnt really care about athletics -- it wants rainbows and unicorns instead. A competitive sports program is hard to maintain, complaining parents (for all sorts of reasons), finding /keeping great coaches, as well as the facilities issues, etc. ADs would strongly prefer less complaints than more competitive teams for job security reasons. As a result, more competitive sports are drifting to private schools which are willing to make the investment as a differentiator. School spirit and pride suffers, IMO.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes MCPS, unfortunately, doesnt really care about athletics -- it wants rainbows and unicorns instead. A competitive sports program is hard to maintain, complaining parents (for all sorts of reasons), finding /keeping great coaches, as well as the facilities issues, etc. ADs would strongly prefer less complaints than more competitive teams for job security reasons. As a result, more competitive sports are drifting to private schools which are willing to make the investment as a differentiator. School spirit and pride suffers, IMO.

I think one of the big issues is the decline of youth sports here in the county. When I was growing up in the 90s every town had a thriving youth sports organization. Over the years they started folding and now it seems like most of the youth sports options are gone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes MCPS, unfortunately, doesnt really care about athletics -- it wants rainbows and unicorns instead. A competitive sports program is hard to maintain, complaining parents (for all sorts of reasons), finding /keeping great coaches, as well as the facilities issues, etc. ADs would strongly prefer less complaints than more competitive teams for job security reasons. As a result, more competitive sports are drifting to private schools which are willing to make the investment as a differentiator. School spirit and pride suffers, IMO.

I think one of the big issues is the decline of youth sports here in the county. When I was growing up in the 90s every town had a thriving youth sports organization. Over the years they started folding and now it seems like most of the youth sports options are gone.

This is an interesting observation. I don't have an historical perspective on it, but it seems like youth soccer and lacrosse are huge.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes MCPS, unfortunately, doesnt really care about athletics -- it wants rainbows and unicorns instead. A competitive sports program is hard to maintain, complaining parents (for all sorts of reasons), finding /keeping great coaches, as well as the facilities issues, etc. ADs would strongly prefer less complaints than more competitive teams for job security reasons. As a result, more competitive sports are drifting to private schools which are willing to make the investment as a differentiator. School spirit and pride suffers, IMO.

I think one of the big issues is the decline of youth sports here in the county. When I was growing up in the 90s every town had a thriving youth sports organization. Over the years they started folding and now it seems like most of the youth sports options are gone.

This is an interesting observation. I don't have an historical perspective on it, but it seems like youth soccer and lacrosse are huge.

MVSA pretty much completely vanished except for their volleyball program. Pretty sure GSA has pretty much vanished as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes MCPS, unfortunately, doesnt really care about athletics -- it wants rainbows and unicorns instead. A competitive sports program is hard to maintain, complaining parents (for all sorts of reasons), finding /keeping great coaches, as well as the facilities issues, etc. ADs would strongly prefer less complaints than more competitive teams for job security reasons. As a result, more competitive sports are drifting to private schools which are willing to make the investment as a differentiator. School spirit and pride suffers, IMO.

My kid is a QO and the opposite going on last few years.
Hoping new administration better but it's been football football football.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes MCPS, unfortunately, doesnt really care about athletics -- it wants rainbows and unicorns instead. A competitive sports program is hard to maintain, complaining parents (for all sorts of reasons), finding /keeping great coaches, as well as the facilities issues, etc. ADs would strongly prefer less complaints than more competitive teams for job security reasons. As a result, more competitive sports are drifting to private schools which are willing to make the investment as a differentiator. School spirit and pride suffers, IMO.

My kid is a QO and the opposite going on last few years.
Hoping new administration better but it's been football football football.

I love Ms Thomas. She is a great person and solid administrator. Wish her the best in retirement

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a teacher here in MCPS and a big fan of HS sports I thought maybe we could have a thread here dedicated to the upcoming year's HS athletics here in MCPS. Judging by a lot of the posts I read here, this thread will likely go untouched and buried but maybe there are a few of us who want to talk about whats happening in the county athletically.

First big news: Baba Oladotun, the country's #1 HS basketball player for the Class of 2027, is officially reclassifying up to the Class of 2026 and will remain at Blake HS for his third and final year before graduating early. This is big news as there was a ton of speculation that he would be transferring to the newly opened St James Academy down in Springfield, VA. What's also big is that MCPS typically doesn't see a lot of kids reclassify for athletics. If you weren't planning on going before, you might want to make sure you get a chance to see a Blake HS basketball game this winter.

I have watched Baba at almost every home game since he started at Blake. It has been amazing to watch him mature as an athlete. He is an amazing athlete and displays good sportsmanship behavior. He is worth going to see. But if you plan to go, Blake’s BB games are often sold out so you need to get your tickets early. And if you’re lucky, at halftime you will get to see Blake’s champion D1 Poms team perform.

I hear the BB Coach got an amazing new coaching position and won’t be there next year. That was a loss for Blake.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a teacher here in MCPS and a big fan of HS sports I thought maybe we could have a thread here dedicated to the upcoming year's HS athletics here in MCPS. Judging by a lot of the posts I read here, this thread will likely go untouched and buried but maybe there are a few of us who want to talk about whats happening in the county athletically.

First big news: Baba Oladotun, the country's #1 HS basketball player for the Class of 2027, is officially reclassifying up to the Class of 2026 and will remain at Blake HS for his third and final year before graduating early. This is big news as there was a ton of speculation that he would be transferring to the newly opened St James Academy down in Springfield, VA. What's also big is that MCPS typically doesn't see a lot of kids reclassify for athletics. If you weren't planning on going before, you might want to make sure you get a chance to see a Blake HS basketball game this winter.

I have watched Baba at almost every home game since he started at Blake. It has been amazing to watch him mature as an athlete. He is an amazing athlete and displays good sportsmanship behavior. He is worth going to see. But if you plan to go, Blake’s BB games are often sold out so you need to get your tickets early. And if you’re lucky, at halftime you will get to see Blake’s champion D1 Poms team perform.

I hear the BB Coach got an amazing new coaching position and won’t be there next year. That was a loss for Blake.

Coach Desmin Wade left and became an asst coach and General Manager at Grambling State University down in Louisiana. Definitely a step up but surprising because a lot of people thought he was going to move on to a national HS program.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes MCPS, unfortunately, doesnt really care about athletics -- it wants rainbows and unicorns instead. A competitive sports program is hard to maintain, complaining parents (for all sorts of reasons), finding /keeping great coaches, as well as the facilities issues, etc. ADs would strongly prefer less complaints than more competitive teams for job security reasons. As a result, more competitive sports are drifting to private schools which are willing to make the investment as a differentiator. School spirit and pride suffers, IMO.

I think one of the big issues is the decline of youth sports here in the county. When I was growing up in the 90s every town had a thriving youth sports organization. Over the years they started folding and now it seems like most of the youth sports options are gone.

This is an interesting observation. I don't have an historical perspective on it, but it seems like youth soccer and lacrosse are huge.

MVSA pretty much completely vanished except for their volleyball program. Pretty sure GSA has pretty much vanished as well.

Youth athletics still exist, just through different organizations. Youth baseball programs in the county and surrounding counties are huge as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes MCPS, unfortunately, doesnt really care about athletics -- it wants rainbows and unicorns instead. A competitive sports program is hard to maintain, complaining parents (for all sorts of reasons), finding /keeping great coaches, as well as the facilities issues, etc. ADs would strongly prefer less complaints than more competitive teams for job security reasons. As a result, more competitive sports are drifting to private schools which are willing to make the investment as a differentiator. School spirit and pride suffers, IMO.

My kid is a QO and the opposite going on last few years.
Hoping new administration better but it's been football football football.

Yes, up-county is more sports-focused for sure!

[Anonymous]

How is girl's flag football resonating in your schools? We're going into the second season. Our school lost almost every game but now has a new coach who seems really dedicated to building a strong team.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How is girl's flag football resonating in your schools? We're going into the second season. Our school lost almost every game but now has a new coach who seems really dedicated to building a strong team.

Year One was always going to be a challenge. With a year of experience under everyone's belt, the whole program should run smoother and more efficiently. What will be interesting is if the rumors that middle schools may be adding boys and girls flag football as team sports are true, there will be an established pipeline setup so girls don't have a completely new learning curve at the HS level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes MCPS, unfortunately, doesnt really care about athletics -- it wants rainbows and unicorns instead. A competitive sports program is hard to maintain, complaining parents (for all sorts of reasons), finding /keeping great coaches, as well as the facilities issues, etc. ADs would strongly prefer less complaints than more competitive teams for job security reasons. As a result, more competitive sports are drifting to private schools which are willing to make the investment as a differentiator. School spirit and pride suffers, IMO.

My kid is a QO and the opposite going on last few years.
Hoping new administration better but it's been football football football.

I love Ms Thomas. She is a great person and solid administrator. Wish her the best in retirement

I am sure she meant well but unfortunately many kids education suffered due to her lack of focus on academics