Andy's Take: Public vs. Private athletics debate isn't new, despite recent calls for change

There’s much ado about nothing when it comes to the public versus private school debate as more and more voices are coming out of the wood works to state the unfairness between schools.

To be honest, this isn’t something contemporary as this has been going on for awhile. Heck, even this sports reporter can remember his one and only experience against a private school back in 2005.

Playing my senior year at Gulf (Fla.), finishing my fourth year with the program, a rarity nowadays it seems in high school sports, the Buccaneers had a Oct. 21st meeting with Ocala Trinity Catholic (Fla.).

We didn’t know much about the Celtics because there wasn’t social media to go back on to watch clips on Instagram or X, formerly known as Twitter. Recruiting sites were more so in their early goings so checking out profiles of players for Trinity Catholic was the best way of trying to do any kind of scouting as we didn’t prepare for the Celtics because of the following week being dubbed as a district championship game against Hudson.

The moment we walked on campus, I remember players of Trinity Catholic knowing the names of players on our team, who weren’t even wearing their jerseys when walking into the locker room.

Players like former Florida Gator John Brantley and former South Carolina Gamecock Deion LeCorn both starred on what would be that year, the eventual Class 2B state champions.

The team I was on wasn’t too shabby itself as we featured eventual USF commit Alton Voss at quarterback, along with a handful of other future college hopefuls.

Once toe hit leather in that game, it was over as the Celtics cruised to a 66-0 victory over the Buccaneers.

I tell that little mini story from my high school playing days to make the point of this kind of stuff isn’t changing. What has, however, is how all of a sudden it’s been perceived as a bridge too far when the gap between public and privates has spanned decades, not just recently.

Miami Edison (Fla.) head coach Luther Campbell, better known as Uncle Luke, made a post that has over 2,100 likes and 200-plus shares on his Facebook this past Monday, calling on the Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) to do something regarding the gap between public and private schools.

“In my opinion, the Florida High School Athletic Association must fix the biggest problem in Florida high school football: public schools vs. private schools is NOT a level playing field.

Private schools have:

– Unlimited resources

– Million-dollar facilities

– Coaches making six figures

– No real restrictions on bringing in players year-round

– Agents funneling out-of-town kids to their programs

Meanwhile, public-school coaches work for an $800 stipend and can’t compete with that infrastructure.

Schools are even opting out of regions because they don’t want to face these “super-team” private programs. That tells you everything.

With new redistricting and scheduling coming, now is the perfect time for FHSAA to put all private schools in their own conference.

Fairness matters. Competitive balance matters. The kids deserve it“

Fairness and competitive balance is all anyone would seemingly want on any level, but the public/private debate doesn’t just reside out of the Sunshine State. It is one growing in several other states around the country.

I was just in Massachusetts for Thanksgiving week and went to checkout the rivalry game between St. John’s Preparatory School–Xaverian Brothers, with the Hawks winning the game 21-18 in a thriller.

Xaverian Brothers’ facilities in Westwood, Mass. would rival that of just about any school in the state of Florida and pull many of the best high school football players in the region as does St. John’s Preparatory.

Both teams will face each other this weekend for Massachusetts’ Division I state championship, which has brought up the debate up north if separating public and private schools should be a thing.

Don’t worry, Massachusetts and Florida, this hot topic heads out to the Midwest as well, with Mount Carmel head coach Jordan Lynch, a former Northern Illinois star quarterback, sounding off about public/private debate within his own state.

‘‘Everyone has it tough,’’ Lynch said via a report. ‘‘There are pros and cons to every school. At the end of the day, look at yourself in the mirror. If you didn’t win or you are just not good enough, accept that. Stop looking for excuses. It’s kind of getting exhausting.’’

The Mount Carmel Caravan just defeated the Oswego, 20-3, to notch the program’s 17th state championship. The Panthers have won a couple titles themselves in 1992 and 2003, but has been on a two-decade plus drought since they last hoisted a state championship trophy.

How would state associations possibly tackle an issue like this?

Take a look at the state of Georgia, which the Georgia High School Association (GHSA) separates its public and private schools into different classifications. This would seem like a good approach that many states should take as the issue continues to takes new legs when it comes to the gap between public and private schools.

There’s examples of how it can be done throughout the country. It’s up to the respective state associations to decide if that’s exactly the rout they would like to go in as it would be gin to pit many of the state’s top teams against one another on a weekly basis.

Would that exactly be a bad thing? In my opinion, why not? Good on good, iron sharpens iron or whatever cliche saying you want to use, that’s what is being preached out there.

Maybe we will see change across the nation when it comes to this seemingly never ending private versus public debate, but seeing how long this has already gone on, it seems like an argument falling on deaf ears.

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