Brother Rice
- Thread starter Wassup13
- Start date
They have great teams every year. I thought they would have more and more recent.
They took second in 1985 and then really went through a long period of being mediocre. I have two older brothers that played for the Crusaders and 2 sisters that were cheerleaders for them, I was the black sheep that went to MC. Right when I was getting ready to make my decision is when BR started to desent and MC really was on the verge of being a consistent State contender. MC just really connected with me, BR Coach Tom Mitchell was a MC alum and respected and understood why I wanted to go that route.
Anyways enough about me, but my suspicions on why BR was mediocre for so long really was because, while definitely trying to compete, they were still getting plenty in the door so they were satisfied with being a team where neighborhood kids who might not have seen playing time at MC or SR could come and get on the field and compete, and occasionally they would get a big time talent to help their season but they were a consistent .500 or slightly above and below for a long time. Badke came in and started to change that up, keeping neighborhood kids but definitely up'd recruiting and went into territories BR didn't used to focus on and he had some success. New Coach has taken it even higher, focusing less on the neighborhood kids and more on overall talent. He's taken a lot of heat but this senior class is his first recruiting class and it's showing his plan is working in the W column but I know a lot of BR loyalist would like a bit more focus on the neighborhood.....but you can't make everyone happy.....a State Trophy will help keep them happy.
Anyways enough about me, but my suspicions on why BR was mediocre for so long really was because, while definitely trying to compete, they were still getting plenty in the door so they were satisfied with being a team where neighborhood kids who might not have seen playing time at MC or SR could come and get on the field and compete, and occasionally they would get a big time talent to help their season but they were a consistent .500 or slightly above and below for a long time. Badke came in and started to change that up, keeping neighborhood kids but definitely up'd recruiting and went into territories BR didn't used to focus on and he had some success. New Coach has taken it even higher, focusing less on the neighborhood kids and more on overall talent. He's taken a lot of heat but this senior class is his first recruiting class and it's showing his plan is working in the W column but I know a lot of BR loyalist would like a bit more focus on the neighborhood.....but you can't make everyone happy.....a State Trophy will help keep them happy.
And you do have Marist almost walking distance away, so there hast to be some talent sharing their
The explanation above by "McCaravan" says all that needs to be said in demonstrating that a 'level playing field' does not exist between CCL/ESCC teams and teams representing public high schools. In essence, when Brother Rice operated like a public high school by relying on "neighborhood kids", it was an average program. When it changed its focus and increased its recruiting territories and efforts like other top CCL/ESCC teams, it became much more successful and now competes for state championships. It is a confession by a Chicago Catholic League fan.
And here.....we......go
Well, it is Sunday. Good day for a confession. Lol
I was going to preemptively start a thread, but this will do
And here I thought the MC coaching staff developed “neighborhood kids”into D1 athletes. I think they have 9 on this years squad. I never knew Woodlawn was such a hot bed for talent. I know the public schools have more students, but is it a coaching issue that they cannot develop the talent like the Catholic League? The Catholic Schools have chance to win a State Championship in 4A-8A. This is awesome. Great job to all. You should be very proud of this accomplishment.
D1 ability comes at birth, not via coaching development. Those kids are bigger, faster , stronger and more coordinated and it is evident at an early age.
I was at the last championship won in 1981 against Reavis. Was at the championship they lost vs EST in 1985. Rice had a couple of semi-final teams along the way before Badke got them back to the championship they lost to Loyola. Lot of good schools out there that have never won one - Marist is one (but they have come close a couple of times). Tough to get to the finals
The Nye era wasn’t horrible a couple of years in. Believe it was a Lockport team that kept them from going to state in 2003. But they had a couple of years that they did beat MC and PC. SR was the one who was really beating them up.
Later in his tenure, the program started to slide. In my opinion, all kinds of ground shifted between the effects of Marist going co-ed (also hiring Dunne) and Lenti reasserted his dominance Rita slowed down slightly.
All enrollments started sliding and Nye just wasn’t moving the program forward and Badke was the right person to come in and shake things up with the Spread. Think he deserves a lot of credit for bringing BR to where it is today.
But credit where it’s due with the new guy. They had an excellent season so far and are showing promise from the top of the program all the way to the bottom. And I say that as someone who dogged on him very hard for his second and third seasons.
Hopefully they can beat Rita this weekend to end the four decades long drought. It should be a hell of a game.
Actually curious on what you mean by this. Your original comment was that Brother Rice was "mediocre" because their focus was getting neighborhood kids in the door. Then you rightfully credited their last two coaches for targeting "talent". Going so far as to saying "focusing less on neighborhood kids and focusing more on overall talent"
How is that not an advantage over public high schools? Glenbrook North does not have the ability to focus less on kids from Northbrook and try and get talented kids from Park Ridge or Glenview or Evanston. Vernon Hills has to coach the kids that come from the neighborhood. They can't recruit talent from Mundelein, Libertyville, or Lake Forest.
Like Alexander said, Brother Rice was, in your words, mediocre, when they acted like all of the public schools in the state. But when they started to act like other top tier Private Schools, they became a state contender. But actual public schools can't just act like private schools. So I would be curious to hear your thoughts on that.
GBN knows exactly what they are getting each year. If a public school coach is smart he has the feeder programs in the area running the same offense and defense the HS team runs. This is a huge advantage compared to 7/8 private schools all battling for the same kids each year.
Your neighborhood isn’t being divided by 4-5 other schools like CCL schools are. I’m sure one “neighborhood” team would be a great team. But divide those kids to BR, SR, MC, STL, Marist, etc…and you’re not left with much.
Is GBN not losing kids to Loyola, St. Viator, Niles Notre Dame? Is Vernon Hills not losing kids to Carmel Catholic, Loyola, St. Viator? Since those schools don't focus on the neighborhood, they can target talented kids from other areas.
Most, if not all, 7a/8a programs do this already. They have connections with their feeder programs. And then in the suburbs, Loyola comes in and flashes their 5 state titles in the last 10 years and 9 state trophies in the last 15 and a ton of talented kids who could help their neighborhood programs decide to go there instead. Not saying Loyola or any privates are doing anything wrong, they need to keep their doors open and they are appealing to the kids because they do it the right way, I'm just saying it isn't exactly a level playfield.
To top it off, the schools are in survival mode from a financial standpoint. With the exception of Marist, none is even close to being anywhere near capacity.
As opposed to those schools in towns that people actually move to. For their schools!
And let’s be honest. In addition to having excellent academics, those schools field teams in all sports inside of top notch facilities.
The culture of the Catholic League, and in this instance the Southside, is that the Football culture is very strong. Which makes a lot of sense considering most schools in the conference weren’t co-ed until the last 15-20 years.
Save your breath, He accidentally said the quiet part out loud and won't answer for it. For all the talk of the quality education at catholic schools, you are a willfully ignorant bunch.
Rice QB (Bean?) could barely walk in the 2018 finals. And that was not a vintage LA team. 50/50 chance it goes the other way for a Rice championship if the QB was healthy.
Yep. Lausch was also injured in semi’s vs Wheaton North in ‘21. Good chance BR has two trophies the past decade if they both stay healthy
No, it was clearly answered by other posters above about the neighborhood thing. If you are from the South Side Neighborhoods you get it, if not I'm not going to explain it, not worth the time and it wouldn't steer anyone away from their beliefs in this matter so hence why I didn't reply.
It has never been clearly explained. There have been straw man arguments sure, but anyone with two functioning brain cells knows what's really happening.
I have also seen you get on here and criticize public schools for all the "Advantages" they have, yet your a graduate of the all mighty Mt.Carme. By your own logic wouldn't you not understand the publics gripe because you haven't lived it?
You live in a fantasy land.
Did the Mighty Caravan or another CCL team knock yours or your sons team out of the playoffs so you are going to come on here and be a keyboard tough guy and pout about how unfair it is? We've been hearing it for years so go have a good cry and let it out.....and learn how to spell Carmel with your two brain cells
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Can we please stop pretending like public schools aren’t recruiting kids…
Yep, he fumbled about midway through the 2nd quarter and either got hurt after getting blocked trying to pursue the LA recovery (Beau Desherow's son Luke who I believe would've been a sophomore that year), or on the hit that lead to the fumble. They had zero points going into the half so it's hard to say they would've come back and won but we'll never know.
I mean no disrespect to Wheaton North but I always had trouble seeing them beat BR on that night with a healthy Lausch. He only left the pocket to avoid being sacked and on every read option, the read was always a give to Vaughn. I think if he's healthy and they were able to run their offense like they had all year, they would've been able to control the clock more and limit the Wheaton North possessions. Our defense certainly wasn't able to stop their offense in that game.
There was a BR poster on here who was insinuating in the week between the MC quarterfinal game and the semis vs. Wheaton North that Lausch was in bad shape and might not play and I remember being confused as to why. I saw Lausch after that MC game and he seemed fine. But then I remembered him getting smoked in his upper leg by an MC tackler's helmet. I guess the injury didn't set in until after the game. He was a golden ticket that year. Had to be the best QB in program history. Certainly in my lifetime.
If you aren’t from the area and weren’t raised here and attended Catholic HS, you wouldn’t understand.
For the record, another thing many of the bedwetters don’t understand is that BR, Rita, Marist, and StL are all within a 5 mile radius. Make that a 10 mile radius and you can add MC, DLS, Fenwick, Iggy, and Naz. All these schools are competing with each other and the local publics for the same kids with the primary focus being the southwest side neighborhoods (Beverly, Mount Greenwood, Garfield Ridge). Not exactly shooting fish in a barrel.
Can we appropriately say that the only kids they recruit are athletes…The Catholics have to recruit every kid that walks through the door.
Would LWE have sent the trophy to Bolingbrook, Libertyville and Plainfield?
Aurora High School…lol.
West Aurora has had a few good seasons the last few years. East not so much.
Either way, if these supposed kids stayed, either of the Aurora high schools aren’t seeing the same results as Rice. Period.
This is a new era of HS football, whether people like it or not. It’s going on all over, public/private it doesn’t matter. If people want to pretend it isn’t happening at public schools they are either plain ignorant or willfully ignorant. Obviously it’s happening at different levels based on school but it’s happening.
It’s been happening for 45 ? years or more. Anyone that actually follows HS sports know this but they like to whine about “ they recruit” . I throw 45 years out there cuz that’s how long I’ve been involved.
I’m old. I’ve just finished my doctorate degree. It’s up to you young guys to fight the evil of public education. I’m just here for the craic.
Lausch is an amazing athlete and person. Like his Father he is going to be an important person in his lifetime.
Before the 2021 "Fall" playoffs I remember being able to talk to Jordan Lynch on a visit to MC right before the start of the playoffs and I asked him about playing BR and Lausch again and the 7A field and I'll never forget him saying "Lausch is a beast but he isn't the best QB in 7A....the QB for Wheaton North is". He said he's been watching a ton of his film and he was just so impressed with his poise in the pocket and accuracy. He was a three year Varsity starter as well. He was a stud. He carved up Rita in the State Championship a week later. I think he ended up at Holy Cross I think, I'm curious in how he is doing there, I'll check.
Looks like he transferred to Wheaton College and threw for 29 TDs in 2024, not sure of this season
Mark Forcucci - Football - Wheaton College Athletics
Mark Forcucci (5) Quarterback - Major: Business Economics 2024: Transferring from Holy Cross...Third Team All-Region...Second Team All-CCIW selection...CCIW
athletics.wheaton.edu
Respectfully, we all know that he didn’t believe that. The X factor for a great HS Qb is their running ability. There is no chance Lynch would rather play Lausch than the WN QB. He put up 84 points on him in two games. WN QB was good, though.