Shame on the Chandler school district and in particular the folks at the very top of the district, i.e., the superintendent.
The number of transfers and juggling of players between its schools each year particularly in football is plain embarrassing.
Getting a huge mouthful of winning and success this decade has whetted the Chandler district’s appetite for victory so much that competition for athletes within the district has become darn near cut-throat. Two of the district’s coaches aren’t even on speaking terms.
It’s become so bad I wouldn’t be surprised one day in the near future to find a student who has played at all four of the district’s high schools.
Maybe the AIA should get that investigative arm that was just established in the spring headed south and start scrutinizing. It doesn’t take a brain surgeon to see there’s a festering problem in the Chandler district that the district doesn’t want to address or won’t address.
Or maybe I should look at it from their side. All their schools are winning and in the playoffs routinely. What could possibly be wrong with that?
An embarrassing, shameful situationSeptember 24th, 2008, 2:36 pm · 3 Comments · posted by Les Willsey3 CommentsLeave a Reply |
Transferring students between high schools in the East Valley or the Phoenix Valley is not new nor is it centered in Chandler or was Chandler the birth place of this activity in the East Valley. I have been in high school sports since the 60’s in the area and which ever school or coach developed the dominant program in any sport the student athlete and parents who wanted to be in the best state programs who ourchase homes, apartments or move iin with relatives or give custody to a relative who lived in the area having the dominant program and Coaching. When communities started having more than one high school in the district it picked up. When Mutt Ford went to Westwook High after having he legendary program at Mesa High transfers were common place, When Karl Keifer was at McClintock in Tempe the fathers and athletes flocked to his program from outside the district, When Sammy Duane in basketball went to the new Corona del Sol High School from Tempe,,,district and out of district kids rushed in…….when whats his name took over the now defunct East High basketball program in Phoenix his players were from all over the valley, St Mary’s and Brophy has always had top athlete’s from throughout the entire valley….in the skilled positions…..I could go on for ever where the issue and practice has always existed. If parent want their student athlete in a top quality program they find the rules and then do what is necessary to meet the rules……a successful and top coach and school program does not have to recruit they built the program and the top kids come. Danny Ainge would hold summer camps then recruit the best qualified athlete’s to transfer to Highland High to supplement his son’s team to go to state. When AIA allowed summer camps and practice the situation got worse because fathers would team with other fathers and coaches to take the best kids in the camp to selected high schools they were involved. With the advent and growth of Charter High Schools, Christian Schools and private schools the issue will be difficult to
legislate.Jerry Loper used to have outstanding kids from Chandler playing at Westwool so I made him a offer he could not refuse to Coach Chandler High and with his reputation and program draw kids to Chandler instead of having poor program and our kids going to Westwood, St Mary,Brophy, Mountain View or McClintock. Chandler recruits and hires successful coaches and pays them well and support he programs with facilities, tools, equipment and recognition. I suppose in your comment the Superintendent should try to dumbdown the programs to make them undesirable for former out of district students not to want to follow AIA rules in transferring ,,,,buying or renting and living in a home in that schools attendance area. When the Mesa Schools were at the top of the heap and had the same thing going on and you were the Mesa Tribune……..it was not an issue. When the sports power in the east valley switched to Chandler District your sports desk and newspaper has lost objectivity and cool. dale hancock
Dale; Very well said, I think you hit the nail on the head.
There’s one major problem with dale’s argument…when the mesa school’s were dominating as an entire district (and not just mt. view), transfers just weren’t very common like they’ve been in Chandler. Dale says “the same thing was going on” in Mesa, but in reality, that is simply not true. Sure there was on occasional transfer here and there…but compared to whats occured at Hamilton and recently chandler high…it was nothing even close.
In 2005, 8 of Hailton’s 22 starters were transfers…this season, it seems as if chandler high has 4-5 starters who who played at different schools last season. That never happened in Mesa ever, at any school, and not even close,and dale knows he cannot support his false statement. furthermore, the comment about kids going to chandler instead of westwood, mt. view, or brophy because of Loper makes no sense whatsoever, and is simply not true. Loper was far more succesful at westwood than at chandler. he is one of the few mesa coaches who was able to beat jesse parker’s mt. view teams on a semi consistent basis…
Chandler high has never in its existence even advanced to a state title game.
Simply put, your argument that Mesa schools once had the same thing going on is a false statement with which you cannot even come close to backing up. Could dale even name 2 impact players that have transferred to mt. view in the last 10-15 years? Can dale come up with one signifigant transfer from Red Mtn when they won consecutie titles in 2000-’01? I don’t think he can…same with Mesa High when they won titles in the early 90’s…all homegrown kids. In 1994, Mesa had 2 high profile transfers (Shay Johnson and Gerald Green), but that team fizzled out in the playoffs.
In reality, if not for Hamilton, the chandler district wouldn’t even be a discussion topic when it comes to top football programs. But most any high school football fan could come up with atleast 10-15 impact players that transferred to Hamilton since it opened its doors, many of which were D-1 caliber players.
So while I suppose its admirable for dale to attempt to defend his district in chandler, the facts and numbers are overwhelmingly obvious that the chandler schools have no scruples when it comes to accepting and allowing so many transfers, and have nearly relied and counted on impact transfers to succeed and compete. In summary, dale did not hit the nail on the head. In fact, he did not even come close to the nail.