Sallies Sues DIAA: ‘Save Us From Ourselves’
This is rich. Salesianum’s reputation has long started and ended with football. They have viewed Delaware football, especially public school football, with haughty disdain.
Accordingly, they have larded their schedule with out-of-state private school teams, and have only played enough Delaware teams to maintain their eligibility for state tourneys.
Well, now they’re in a bind. Because of COVID restrictions, they can’t play their out-of-state opponents.
Their solution? Demand, DEMAND, that the DIAA offer up some public schools to play Sallies. Schools that Sallies has traditionally looked down their noses at.
The DIAA’s answer?: ‘It’s not our problem.’ Hence, Salesianum is now suing DIAA to make them do what Sallies has long refused to do on their own.
I have a suggestion to Sallies: Take your Notre Dame knock-off helmets and stick ’em where the sun don’t shine.
It’s ridiculous that this is even a topic. Sports should not even be considered when students are not in the classroom.
This is what happens when a school is also a football factory.
My gripe is that cash-strapped public schools are still wasting money on a very expensive sport that’s also damaging to the brains of its players.
This is what happens when an athletics-obsessed governor can’t stand up to sports moms and dads with $PORT$ $CHOLAR$HIP cash on the brain who are living vicariously through their kids.
DIAA had closed the door on sports this fall until DPH suddenly reversed course and created some safety rules completely out of the blue. You can’t tell me that actually came from a bunch of epidemiologists.
Sure it was. Dr. Red Ruffinsor.
Fuck Sallies.
Full disclosure: I’m a Salesianum graduate.
I’m not sure that the school’s reputation has long started and ended with football. Its academics are top-notch. It has produced distinguished professionals in nearly every profession you can imagine. Salesianum also has long been a promoter of social justice. Certainly you know that it was the first school in Delaware, public or private, to integrate, four years before Brown v. Board.
The school has asked repeatedly to be admitted to the Blue Hen Conference so that it can play more in-state teams. This year, they had 5 BHC teams on the original schedule and just two out of state games. That is exactly what you have suggested they do. Delmar, on the other hand, had four teams from Maryland on its original schedule this season, but no one cares about that.
I’m not sure why you think Salesianum looks down their noses at the other schools. I’m fairly certain the Sals haven’t won a state title since 2013 and that they’ve taken their lumps against several opponents the last few years.
I never see this outright hate of any other school in Delaware. If you feel that way, fine. Just get your facts straight.
They recruit football players. Period. Something that no public school in Delaware can do. They recruit players FROM the public schools. They are the only Division One private school in Delaware.
It is the status that THEY have chosen. So don’t try to make them out to be victims.
A) they dont recruit football players. Never have and no need to.
B) they are the only d-1 private school becuase they are the only one large enough to be d-1
The crux of the charge is, was, and will always be what “recruit” means.
To illustrate, Ivy League colleges do not give out sports scholarships; they give out scholarships based on need. So do private high schools. Parents fill out the same FAFSA form they do for higher education financial aid. So, technically, they are not on sports scholarships.
At the same time, excellence in a sport paves the way into those Ivies for many athletes who otherwise would not be offered admission. It’s not beyond reason to think high schools can and will do the same.
Is this “recruitment”? I’d say one’s view depends mostly on whether one supports or opposes such practices.
Public schools can, and do, recruit. Don’t fool yourself.
No they don’t.
I know of instances where this has occurred especially within districts (bus stops a neighborhood apart) and within closely spaced districts aka Christina/Colonial where they can easily choice to a school thats feeder pattern is relatively close by and also votech schools picking kids off.
I agree, Mike, it’s not just a football school. Salesianum’s academics, at least by reputation, are second only to Archmere among Catholic schools, and it excels at many other sports beyond football. I used to cover high school sports in the early ’80s, when a lot of the griping was about their supposed recruitment of athletes, particularly in football.
As for Delmar, half the town is in Maryland so it’s a bit of a special case. It’s also not much of a football power, so nobody cares very much about its schedule.
On the topic of whether Sallies should be allowed into a tournament, I object to any tournament at all being held, so a pox on all their houses.
As a 1967 graduate of a City public school, Sallies always looked down on local football programs. They were and are a football factory. That said, they are also an incredible asset to Delaware’s educational system, but facts are facts – they always considered themselves a feeder for Notre Dame football.
As a 1969 public school grad, I concur.