2025 IAC and WCAC Playoffs Results and Commentary

[Anonymous]

Sounds like Prep has a looming identity crisis.

Too big for the IAC but doesn’t have the balls to compete in the WCAC.

Views itself as academically superior to the WCAC schools and athletically superior to its IAC counterparts.

Indicates its price point and tuition is not aligned with the WCAC schools who are significantly cheaper. It’s price point is more in line with Landon and STA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Prep pretty much the same thing as Gonzaga except for tuition. More similarities than differences. If Prep isn’t in a compelling sports league then it will be incredibly difficult to convince athletes to attend.

Except for tuition, quality of student, campus facilities, number of students (1200 vs 500), endowment... Yeah, they are really similar.

[Anonymous]

does Gonzaga really have over 1,000 boys in the upper school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:does Gonzaga really have over 1,000 boys in the upper school?

They have 1,000 kids. So, twice the size of GP.

[Anonymous]

Re-engineering the IAC (expelling GP and adding Potomac) would require the five remaining schools to exercise a degree of coordination, strategic planning and risk-taking never seen before.

And it would be a messy business with the potential for bad press. Starting with expelling of a charter member for the sin of upgrading their lacrosse coaching staff.

Prep isn’t going to leave voluntarily. It’s too comfortable where they are winning the Founders Cup pretty much every year.

I doubt they would want to add the remedial classes necessary to compete in the WCAC.

[Anonymous]

There is a founders cup in the IAC? Where can I find these results? I am looking for a well balanced school to send my son after his summers of lounging at The Chophouse.

[Anonymous]

You’ll have to go to the individual schools to get the Founders Cup Results. That’s because there is no Conference commissioner or organization.

The WCAC does have a commissioner and lots and lots of rules. They need both because of the accusations of cheating and finger pointing that have plagued the league for decades. These schools don’t trust one another.

The IAC is a gentlemen’s club. The WCAC resembles a beer saloon at 2:00 in the morning.

[Anonymous]

beer saloon… Must be the only place where research comes with a side of regret.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is a founders cup in the IAC? Where can I find these results? I am looking for a well balanced school to send my son after his summers of lounging at The Chophouse.

The only school in the league who keeps track of the founders cup trophy is Prep.
They also brag about it

[Anonymous]

Prep is called the Lil Hoyas for a reason.

Afraid to play with the big boys from the WCAC

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is a founders cup in the IAC? Where can I find these results? I am looking for a well balanced school to send my son after his summers of lounging at The Chophouse.

The only school in the league who keeps track of the founders cup trophy is Prep.
They also brag about it

Probably because they are the only school that wins it. Which they do.

[Anonymous]

They win it because they are largest school in the conference

[Anonymous]

If Hilgartner to Prep is a done deal, how soon will they announce it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well one non-Catholic school wouldn’t be happy to see Prep leave the IAC. It’s the same one that was the only school that voted against expelling Prep football in 2006. That’s Landon.

As contentious as the relationship between these two schools has been —- and it’s been ugly at times —- beating GP is what Landon and their alums care about.

OSU fans hate Michigan, but they aren’t going to vote to throw them out of the B1G.

What if GP takes their program up a notch and starts to dominate the IAC? Landon did this for 15+ years and there was hardly a peep. How many times have schools other than Landon or Prep won the IAC lacrosse title?

Who is going to lead the charge and get all these IAC and MAC schools cast their lots in a completely new and revolutionary concept?

Talk about herding cats.

As much as I'd like to see the IAC remain together, its on a matter of time before the league vanishes or its current makeup of 6 members (Landon, GP, Bullis, Saint Stephens, EHS, STA) looks dramatically different.

Size of school, geographical locations, greater emphasis on athletics, boarding, single sex vs coed, I could go on and on but each school continues to point fingers at one another as the competitive imbalances have become even more pronounced in the past 5 years.

Whether Prep homers wants to admit it or not, the Hoyas natural natural home is the WCAC. They can fall on their sword about their elite academic perception. Whoever continues to make college references, do you think Duke really cares they are in a conference with Clemson or Florida State, both schools they are academically superior too, probably not.

While I agree with you that Landon wouldn't be happy to see GP out of the IAC or the creation of a new league (IAC - MAC merger), they are only one school with one vote. Landon is more aligned with Prep in terms of putting an emphasis of athletics, however the Bears don't have the advantage of bolting to the Catholic league if the opportunity were to present itself.

Bullis is also in a tough situation. While its co-ed, Bullis is drastically larger than the other co-ed schools in the IAC, both EHS and Saint Stephens. Bullis has been increasing their enrollment over the years as they have the capital and land to do so (they have been talking about for years about building a dorm) Bullis, similar to Landon and GP, also has an emphasis on athletics for some marquee sports - boys / girls track, boys / girls hoops teams, boys lacrosse and football.

I've been saying this for years but the DC private schools should mimic exactly what the MIAA does for its member schools. Combine the WCAC, IAC, and MAC schools into one conference and have 3 tiers (upper, middle, lower) based how competitive the program is their sport.

For example take a school like Sidwell Friends, while their football program pretty bad, they opt to play in the lowest division with similar schools. Meanwhile their basektball program is elite, and could opt to play in the upper division and compete with the big boys.

The ADs at most of these schools are so incompetent, this is not earth shattering. A five year plan should have been in the works years ago. As a previous poster earlier, half the WCAC schools dislike playing in the WCAC due to the competitive imbalances with the larger all male schools (mainly DM and GZ)

The schools with the actual power to affect change here are the co-ed schools.

Bullis, EHS, SSSAS all have a perfect example of a league that makes sense in their own athletic department: the ISL.

IAC/MAC schools who are also in the ISL:
Bullis
Episcopal
Flint Hill
GDS
Potomac
Sidwell
St. Andrew's
St. Stephen's St. Agnes

Start with those 8 and then you add Landon (brother school to Holton) and St. Alban's (brother school to NCS). All of these ADs and HoS's know each other and deal with each other regularly. The only schools left out of the mix are St. James and Prep. Obviously, this turns into just having Potomac replace Prep in terms of the "A" lacrosse league, but it also aligns all schools for other sports to be able to provide consistent scheduling etc..

[Anonymous]

I’m highly skeptical you will see any significant change in Conferences. Not because it isn’t a good idea for most schools. Not because it wouldn’t produce a better arrangement in the longer term, but because it would face a number of shorter term barriers. Including:

Lack of Leadership - a school or a couple of schools would have to lead the charge and not the AD. This would have to be a couple of the school heads that drive this.

Internal Dissonance - especially from some of the alumni of a couple of the schools who would correctly see this as downgrading. Also their own staffs, some of whom would not be excited about the prospect of facing Landon or Bullis each season.

Bad Publicity and Risk - what hit a hornets nest with a stick when it isn’t necessary. Change has risk and none of the Heads like risk. Things could go wrong and they’d be blamed.

Effort -this kind of change would require them to do some actual work managing through the process and all the changes. And these people, in my experience, avoid any thing that even suggests additional effort will be required.

It would actually be easier for the IAC not named Prep to upgrade their own lacrosse coaching and programs than to tear down the entire structure and start something new.