Question About Private High Schools

UNTLifer · December 1, 2016

Are the private high schools in the state allowed to recruit and provide tuition scholarships to high school players?

oldguystudent · December 1, 2016

That's a really good question to which the google doesn't seem to give me an answer.

I remember that I did wonder when I moved to Texas why the private Catholic schools weren't dominating the state football championships like they do in California (Where they TOTALLY recruit and give scholarships).

Then I learned that the private high schools play in an entirely different interscholastic league than do the publics, and I wondered if that might water down the attraction to attend a private.

MeanGreen_MBA · December 1, 2016

Yes they can that was the issue with Jesuit joining the UIL in 5A football a while back. Not a level playing field since they can "recruit" without restrictions.

MEANGREENCOACH2 · December 1, 2016

Coming from a person who not only attended private school but was also an assistant and eventual head coach of a Varsity sport, yes we could recruit. Now when it comes to offering scholarships is where it gets tricky. One way to get around having to offer a full ride scholarship we would see good athletes parent would come work on staff at the school to get a heavily discounted rate to attend. Then another way that you could help offset the cost of private school was by using financial aid. Now I do not know the extent to the financial assistance and not sure where the money comes from but it was something that we could do to help offset the cost.

Ben Gooding · December 1, 2016

1 hour ago, UNTLifer said:

Are the private high schools in the state allowed to recruit and provide tuition scholarships to high school players?

I can't speak for Texas privates, but my uncle is HC for back to back state champs (15&16) for Bessemer Academy in Suburbia Birmingham, Alabama. He says they do don't have scholarships per say, but they do have ways around to dramatically reduce tuition to minimal amounts and sometimes to zero. And yes, they recruit kids.

DT 90 · December 1, 2016

Yes they do recruit. DT 90's school lost a D1 recruit to a Fort Worth private school for his senior year. Just so happens his dad ( also a football coach) got a job there for that season. FYI.... IMG in Florida cost $80K a year to attend. They don't provide scholarships but provide financial aid to attend just like a DII and DIII college.

risinggreen · December 1, 2016

Post-Baylor, Dave Bliss recruited the hell out of inner city Houston while at Allen Academy in Bryan, but of course he got caught offering "inducements" to players. Got to be the slipperiest guy ever born. Last I heard he was coaching small college in Oklahoma.

817Fan · December 1, 2016

Not sure about the other schools in TAPPS, but tuition assistance at the Catholic High School in Fort Worth is determined by a need-based formula.

Assistance applications are sent to a third party who determines the award which can't exceed 50%. Tuition is close to 11 grand per year not including books, uniforms & activity fees. Half off of eleven thousand is still cost prohibitive for plenty of people so it doesn't always work out.

MEANGREENCOACH2 · December 1, 2016

One school in Fort Worth I really like how they don't allow kids to transfer into their school after their Junior year. I can appreciate that little caveat.

Mickey · December 1, 2016

2 hours ago, UNTLifer said:

Are the private high schools in the state allowed to recruit and provide tuition scholarships to high school players?

For Texas, if your question is are they supposed to according to the rules, the answer is no. They are not allowed to recruit for ATHLETIC reasons nor give athletic scholarships.

if your question is does it happen, I'm sure it does for certain questionable privates, but most don't. I'm sure there is loose recruiting in terms of coaches encouraging kids to come to their school. We did have one large private school coach loosely suggest some financial help could be found, but like Div III colleges, they work within the rules to get done what they want to get done.

When my son transferred to private school we had to sign forms stating that the above did not happen. Because he is ranked in his sport, we also got an additional level of scrutiny.

greenjoe · December 1, 2016

My son played full back at Denton High. One spring break or Christmas trip back from Colorado, we stopped in a little town and went into a convenience store. There, we saw the then coach at Liberty Christian, Mark Bowles. I knew Mark and during the course of the visit, he could see that my son was in football shape. He asked my son what position he played and was told full back and line backer. Coach Bowles stated that Liberty could sure use a full back. Since my son didn't get on the field all that much, we took it as a compliment. I never thought of it as recruiting until I read this post.

Get a bowl game. Win a bowl game.

GO MEAN GREEN

NT93 · December 1, 2016

What's much worse that private schools recruiting is charter schools recruiting. At least the private schools are not in the same districts competing for the same championships.

VideoEagle · December 1, 2016

Many years ago, recruiting was rampant among the PUBLIC high schools in the San Antonio area. Since transfers were much more difficult once a kid was in high school, the junior highs were carefully watched for talent. Now since you couldn't actually pay the kids, someone would talk to someone else and a parent would get offered a better job than they currently had and encouraged to move into the area.

It certainly wasn't following the rules, but it also gave so very poor families a chance at better living conditions. I never heard of a case of the new job going away if the kid didn't become a star or after graduation.

DT 90 · December 1, 2016

Public schools like Allen do recruit albeit indirectly. Again, China Spring lost a D1 type running back to Allen after his dad went shopping him around to Midway, Guyer, Flower Mound and South Lake Carroll. Transferred in before his Junior year and immediately became a starter.

meangreen15 · December 1, 2016

2 hours ago, DT 90 said:

Yes they do recruit. DT 90's school lost a D1 recruit to a Fort Worth private school for his senior year. Just so happens his dad ( also a football coach) got a job there for that season. FYI.... IMG in Florida cost $80K a year to attend. They don't provide scholarships but provide financial aid to attend just like a DII and DIII college.

All Saints?

SSP · December 1, 2016

2 hours ago, MEANGREENCOACH2 said:

Coming from a person who not only attended private school but was also an assistant and eventual head coach of a Varsity sport, yes we could recruit. Now when it comes to offering scholarships is where it gets tricky. One way to get around having to offer a full ride scholarship we would see good athletes parent would come work on staff at the school to get a heavily discounted rate to attend. Then another way that you could help offset the cost of private school was by using financial aid. Now I do not know the extent to the financial assistance and not sure where the money comes from but it was something that we could do to help offset the cost.

1 hour ago, greenjoe said:

My son played full back at Denton High. One spring break or Christmas trip back from Colorado, we stopped in a little town and went into a convenience store. There, we saw the then coach at Liberty Christian, Mark Bowles. I knew Mark and during the course of the visit, he could see that my son was in football shape. He asked my son what position he played and was told full back and line backer. Coach Bowles stated that Liberty could sure use a full back. Since my son didn't get on the field all that much, we took it as a compliment. I never thought of it as recruiting until I read this post.

Get a bowl game. Win a bowl game.

GO MEAN GREEN

From MY current and past personal experience....

They are not supposed to BUT they use the financial aide assistance lure for athletes all of the time . A member of our posse received ALMOST full assistance for his "outstanding academic achievements (cough *bad ass basketball player* cough)" to a local TAPPS school which was transferred to his Senior year.

There was a RB a few years ago who played at North Texas who was also recruited by Coach Bowles (RIP). My cousins all were as well. One of which, also played at UNT.

Edited December 1, 2016 by SSP

MEANGREENCOACH2 · December 1, 2016

12 minutes ago, SSP said:

From MY current and past personal experience....

They are not supposed to BUT they use the financial aide assistance lure for athletes all of the time . A member of our posse received ALMOST full assistance for his "outstanding academic achievements (cough *bad ass basketball player* cough)" to a local TAPPS school which was transferred to his Senior year.

There was a RB a few years ago who played at North Texas who was also recruited by Coach Bowles (RIP). My cousins all were as well. One of which, also played at UNT.

4

That member you speak of is a friend of mine! ninja smiley face

Cowtown · December 1, 2016

817fan, which school in your district swept up all the prime prep kids? It was one if the Bishop's I think. They were stacked this year.

DT 90 · December 1, 2016

56 minutes ago, meangreen15 said:

All Saints?

That would be the one.

meangreen15 · December 1, 2016

2 minutes ago, DT 90 said:

That would be the one.

I figured. They're notorious for stealing kids from all over the mextroplex. They tried to pry A'Shawn Robinson away from Heights is sophomore year, but he came back to after about 2 weeks.

817Fan · December 1, 2016

1 hour ago, Cowtown said:

817fan, which school in your district swept up all the prime prep kids? It was one if the Bishop's I think. They were stacked this year.

Bishop Dunne. -The Hated Feisty Falcons

FirefightnRick · December 1, 2016

3 hours ago, MEANGREENCOACH2 said:

One school in Fort Worth I really like how they don't allow kids to transfer into their school after their Junior year. I can appreciate that little caveat.

The UIL needs to put their foot down and end the out-of-control transferring for athletics.

I suggest they make it a requirement that if you want to play varsity you must have attended said district prior to the 7th grade.

Should a kid have to transfer in due to circumstances out of their control? Fine. You can play football...but you can't play Varsity football.

That'll stop that transferring $hit real quick.

Rick

UNTLifer · December 1, 2016

But @FirefightnRick, how would Aledo survive?

MEANGREENCOACH2 · December 1, 2016

1 minute ago, FirefightnRick said:

The UIL needs to put their foot down and end the out-of-control transferring for athletics.

I suggest they make it a requirement that if you want to play varsity you must have attended said district prior to the 7th grade.

Should a kid have to transfer in due to circumstances out of their control? Fine. You can play football...but you can't play Varsity football.

That'll stop that transferring $hit real quick.

Rick

This shows me that you do not have a lot of knowledge about the Private Schools and their campuses. There are quite a few of them that do not have a Middle School entirely. What is your reply then, do not exist as a school or compete in sports?

UNTLifer · December 1, 2016

Midland Christian is pretty notorious for going after the non-starters at the local public high schools, but I didn't know if they could offer financial assistance. I know some of the kids that played there would have a hard time affording tuition.