by bradyg » Wed Apr 16, 2008 5:15 pm
I'm not going to lie, declining enrollment has some part to this , but I also think it's also due to the fact that there are less "old-school" coaches out there. My dad told me that when he was a freshman, they played the senior class in practice and beat them. The only reason they didn't get to play in varsity games was due to the fact that the coaches thought it was the seniors god-given right to play before a freshman. I think a lot of coaches are also realizing that if they have a heavy senior class that aren't winning, it's best to play younger kids in order to build more experience and have a winning team in the future. A lot of the teams that make it to state aren't just seniors and juniors who are suddenly playing due to a graduating upper class, these teams are made up of players who played as freshman and sophomores because they were good.