How does a school's president assure "competitive balance" in a conference?

Does he fire successful coaches and replace them with mediocrities?

Does he lean on the Admissions Department to insure outstanding athletes are not admitted?

Anonymous wrote:This seems like a good thing to me. What am I missing?

Landon sure wouldn't like it. Without Prep, their athletic program loses much of its reason for excelling.

The quote in the Wash Post from an IAC coach that the IAC is a "joke" withour Prep is obviously from a Landon source.

Anonymous wrote:Prep going to the WCAC and the IAC including a couple of new schools is probably a good idea to most. I'm sure Prep still wants to compete with Landon in lacrosse, though.

A Potomac Valley conference with Maret, GDS and Sidwell also makes a lot of sense. Similar academic institutions and the conference would improve from an athletic perspective.

Prep playing Landon in lacrosse would still take place if Prep were in a different league, but much of the value and interest in the game would decline.

In fact, attendance at these games has shrunk continually since Prep's breaking of "The Streak" several years ago. It's still a big game, but not what it once was.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The DC private schools need to follow what the Baltimore private schools have done with the MIAA which has close to 30 members of all differnt kinds of schools layered in 3 different divisions for sports an A, B, and C division.

For Example, Gilman who is big time in football and lacrosse is in the A divisinon for those sports. Gilman is not that good in basketball and plays in the B division.

The DC schools from the MAC, WCAC and IAC should do the same thing and for all sports and each school should decide which level of competition they should play in for a particular sport.

Sidwell Friends for example is a big time soccer and wrestling school and would be able to compete with Prep and DeMatha in those sports in the A divison. but Sidewell might want to play in the C division for football.

Its a shame the headmasters at each school haven't figured this out yet as its not that hard.

This approach has a lot to recommend it. It would allow smaller schools with one or more exceptional programs to compete against the best programs in that sport in the area. And these schools would be the primary beneficiaries of this.

But, in reality, it has zero chance of being implemented or even considered.
It would require a degree of cooperation that would be almost impossible to achieve in DC. It’s hard enough to get the schools within a Conference to agree. This idea of effectively blowing up the WCAC and the IAC and the MAC and substituting a three-tiered mega-conference would have to have widespread support.

I cannot see the most powerful athletic conference, the WCAC, agreeing to cede control and to have some of their programs dropped to a lower level, so that programs from non-WCAC might compete against DeMatha or whoever is at the top of the WCAC. Even the traditional athletic “have nots” in the WCAC cling to WCAC membership as something that makes the school special.

And the new system would effectively eliminate the special Catholic attribute of the WCAC. There would no longer be a “Catholic” school conference. Traditional rivalries would be disrupted. Saint John’s people --- even in minor sports --- expect to play Gonzaga and DeMatha, not Maret and Barrie.

I posted this above:

"11/16/2011 16:03
Subject: Rumblings - Georgetown Prep May Leave the IAC, Setting Up Ripple Effect
[Up]
Anonymous



STA didn't play prep in football this year and that was unusual. I know players and fans prefer games that are more local. 3 out of 5 IAC football teams played Bishop Ireton and St Mary's Ryken near annapolis. Why??? No team closer? Who wants half the games to be against schools you know nothing about and are far? 1 or 2 road trip schools per season and try to keep those consistent. "

I also believe it is important to players and fans to have the traditional rivalries. Not half the games be an ever changing potpourri of addresses where players and fans say Where/who/what TF is that?

What apparently happened was that a vote was scheduled at that meeting of the IAC presidents to throw Prep out, but that vote was never held. Instead there was a conversation about "competitive balance" and adding new members to the Conference.

The competitive imbalance in the IAC has long been an irritant to the VA IAC schools and to Bullis. Prep has won "The Founders Cup" --- an award for overall athletic program success in the IAC --- 9 of the last 10 years. Prep and Landon pretty well dominate the conference in most sports.

Prep football was thrown out of the IAC because their objective of being one of the top programs in all of DC seemed to be in conflict with the smaller schools' goal of being competitive and occasionally wining the Conference.

The addition of more schools --- especially VA private schools --- would be a boon to SSSA and EHS. Potomac and Flint Hill are schools with which they could easily compete, they could build rivalries with, and they are conveniently located.

But it may be that schools like Potomac and Flint Hill are balking at joining a Conference that includes Prep. They want to join a conference in which they have a legitimate opportunity to win some titles.
The “solution” to this problem is the commitment of all the schools to something they call “competitive balance”. What they have told Prep is that if you don’t find a way to ensure that there is “competitive balance” in athletics, then we are going to proceed to a vote on throwing you out of the IAC.

Apparently Prep’s President agreed to this “insuring competitive balance” concept at that meeting or at least he didn’t disagree which would have triggered the vote to expel Prep.

So how does Prep help the conference achieve “competitive balance”? Easy to say. All they have to do is win less. But that’s very hard to do without creating an uproar in your own school among coaches, alumni, parents and students, who are used to winning and will quickly see what the Administration is doing to decrease competitiveness.

Anonymous wrote:The DC private schools need to follow what the Baltimore private schools have done with the MIAA which has close to 30 members of all differnt kinds of schools layered in 3 different divisions for sports an A, B, and C division.

For Example, Gilman who is big time in football and lacrosse is in the A divisinon for those sports. Gilman is not that good in basketball and plays in the B division.

The DC schools from the MAC, WCAC and IAC should do the same thing and for all sports and each school should decide which level of competition they should play in for a particular sport.

Sidwell Friends for example is a big time soccer and wrestling school and would be able to compete with Prep and DeMatha in those sports in the A divison. but Sidewell might want to play in the C division for football.

Its a shame the headmasters at each school haven't figured this out yet as its not that hard.

This approach has a lot to recommend it. It would allow smaller schools with one or more exceptional programs to compete against the best programs in that sport in the area. And these schools would be the primary beneficiaries of this.

But, in reality, it has zero chance of being implemented or even considered.
It would require a degree of cooperation that would be almost impossible to achieve in DC. It’s hard enough to get the schools within a Conference to agree. This idea of effectively blowing up the WCAC and the IAC and the MAC and substituting a three-tiered mega-conference would have to have widespread support.

I cannot see the most powerful athletic conference, the WCAC, agreeing to cede control and to have some of their programs dropped to a lower level, so that programs from non-WCAC might compete against DeMatha or whoever is at the top of the WCAC. Even the traditional athletic “have nots” in the WCAC cling to WCAC membership as something that makes the school special.

And the new system would effectively eliminate the special Catholic attribute of the WCAC. There would no longer be a “Catholic” school conference. Traditional rivalries would be disrupted. Saint John’s people --- even in minor sports --- expect to play Gonzaga and DeMatha, not Maret and Barrie.

Anonymous wrote:The DC private schools need to follow what the Baltimore private schools have done with the MIAA which has close to 30 members of all differnt kinds of schools layered in 3 different divisions for sports an A, B, and C division.

For Example, Gilman who is big time in football and lacrosse is in the A divisinon for those sports. Gilman is not that good in basketball and plays in the B division.

The DC schools from the MAC, WCAC and IAC should do the same thing and for all sports and each school should decide which level of competition they should play in for a particular sport.

Sidwell Friends for example is a big time soccer and wrestling school and would be able to compete with Prep and DeMatha in those sports in the A divison. but Sidewell might want to play in the C division for football.

Its a shame the headmasters at each school haven't figured this out yet as its not that hard.

Um, didn't I post the exact same thing three posts above?

The DC private schools need to follow what the Baltimore private schools have done with the MIAA which has close to 30 members of all differnt kinds of schools layered in 3 different divisions for sports an A, B, and C division.

For Example, Gilman who is big time in football and lacrosse is in the A divisinon for those sports. Gilman is not that good in basketball and plays in the B division.

The DC schools from the MAC, WCAC and IAC should do the same thing and for all sports and each school should decide which level of competition they should play in for a particular sport.

Sidwell Friends for example is a big time soccer and wrestling school and would be able to compete with Prep and DeMatha in those sports in the A divison. but Sidewell might want to play in the C division for football.

Its a shame the headmasters at each school haven't figured this out yet as its not that hard.

Because of Prep's affiliation with the MIAA, they only have a few games with non MIAA schools. I guess it was four this year. More likely STA didn't want to play them, though this was a weak year for Prep, so STA probably had a good chance.

STA didn't play prep in football this year and that was unusual. I know players and fans prefer games that are more local. 3 out of 5 IAC football teams played Bishop Ireton and St Mary's Ryken near annapolis. Why??? No team closer? Who wants half the games to be against schools you know nothing about and are far? 1 or 2 road trip schools per season and try to keep those consistent.

The best solution would be a merger between the WCAC, IAC and MAC. The MIAA in Baltimore has 25+ teams, but each sport has an A, B and C level. So a school like Boys Latin can play A because it is a perennial lacrosse power, but plays lower for football because of small enrollment, etc.

O'Connell is always strong in basketball, but the football program got tired of being stomped on by DeMatha, so they dropped out of WCAC football. A mega conference would allow them to play A basketball, but something lower for football.

Makes sense. I don't understand why prep isnt already in the WCAC. The PVAC is pretty lame - so maybe adding better schools would help. Although I don't think any of the PVAC schools have football.

Prep going to the WCAC and the IAC including a couple of new schools is probably a good idea to most. I'm sure Prep still wants to compete with Landon in lacrosse, though.

A Potomac Valley conference with Maret, GDS and Sidwell also makes a lot of sense. Similar academic institutions and the conference would improve from an athletic perspective.

This seems like a good thing to me. What am I missing?

If you haven't already, the IAC was supposed to vote on a proposal to remove Prep from the IAC. The story was leaked to the Post a few days ago, and now it's being reported that nothing will take place. The issue was obviously discussed, as was potential additions to the IAC.

Even if your son/daughter doesn't play sports, there could be a serious domino effect here. The complaint with Prep is that they have so many boys that they have an inherent advantage. Prep football was already kicked out after years of domination, and now Prep plays football in the MIAA. If Prep leaves (presumably for the WCAC), then the IAC would likely have to expand. Potential new partners could include Potomac and Flint Hill. Ireton, O'Connell and Paul VI have already left the WCAC for football and one or more of those schools could also be in the mix. Episcopal and St. Stephens could also decide to leave the IAC and form an essentially all NoVA conference with Potomac, Flint Hill, Ireton, O'Connell, et al.

If this happens, the IAC would either collapse or look a lot different. The MAC could possibly also fold. This might be a good solution for schools like Georgetown Day, Maret and Sidwell, who have lesser athletic programs. Some combination of those schools could join the Potomac Valley conference, which would be a good matchup in terms of schools with similar academic profiles and athletic aspirations.

It could also change the student makeup of some of the schools mentioned. People who are interested in athletics (or not) may or may not consider schools now given these potential new conference affiliations.

Prep's facilities, population and emphasis on athletics is well known. If Prep leaves the IAC for whatever reason, it could have a huge effect on the private school landscape in DC, and not just in terms of sports.