UIL admits private school!

Strake Jesuit recruits and they haven't done too good. But I think that's cuz it's an all-boys school.

I know I wouldn't go there.

 

I think Strake will be restricted to an attendance zone defined by the AISD boundaries. Anybody wanting to play from outside that attendance zone will have to sit out for one school year.

Also, SAA is just across the parking lot from Strake and it seems like there are some classes together. <i>Vengeance</i> can detail the exact relationship between the two schools.

 

While I agree with the notion that these schools will have the ability to go out and seek the best I doubt very seriously you will see it from either of them.

Both Dallas & Strake Jesuit have high academic standards and will not let just anyone much less a group of individuals come to the school just so they can have a high profile sports program. As EddieWas said, Strake does recruit (as does St. Thomas, St. Johns & Episcopal), but they restrict it, for the most part, to athletes that come close to or meet their academic standards.

As universities do, they some time will make some concessions, but again, I do not see De La Salle type situation happening at either of those schools. They are at or near their respected enrollment max so there is no real benefit to them doing that.

 

Actually Strake does do pretty well in most of their sports. I think their football team beat Jasper, Bay City, and some other respectable public schools. Their basketball team got 2nd in the Academy tournament. Their soccer team has been ranked pretty highly the last few years as well.

Now about recruiting, Strake definitey recruits. I don't think St. Johns, St. Thomas, or Episcopal recruit. If they do, it is not to nearly the same extent.

I do agree that this is a bad thing for private schools to be admitted into the UIL, as can be seen by other examples.

 

Episcopal probably recruited in the past for volleyball......other sports I am unable to comment about.

 

Episcopal definitely recruits as does Kinkaid. However, they generally just try to get a couple guys per grade that are really talented athletes and therefore can raise the level of competition in more than one sport. And, they generally just do it in key positions, like getting a promising young running back for football that can helpt to carry the team.

St. John's doesn't really "recruit," but they encourage good athletes to apply. But, SJS doesn't really lower admissions standards at all for athletes, and it is the toughest school to get into in Houston.

 

Also, to elaborate on what Mango said, Strake and St. Agnes are right next door to each other; they are not even across the street. They have about 2 feet of curb and grass that separates their parking lots. Certain classes are open to both schools, and the guys from strake and the girls from SAA can all have lunch together.

 

Well, I was going to respond earlier, but I wasn't sure how this topic would go, and I didn't want to put myself in a compromising position. I still don't, so I'm not going to say too much.

I suppose I'll begin with this -- contrary to EWS's opinion, Strake does do quite well in sports. Traditionally we've been a good basketball school, winning 5 of the last 6 state championships before the TCIL disbanded. Now the team really doesn't have any GOAL to play for but to have a good record. No postseason, no championships, no nothing. Our football team has become very good in the past 10 years to the point where it's really hard to get games because we tend to roll most other private schools, and public schools have nothing to gain by playing us, and it's not an "automatic 'W'" by any means. As evidenced by this past year's great performances against Texas powerhouses like Jasper and Bay City, following up last year's 10-0 season with an 8-3 season against a MUCH tougher schedule. Quick point of mention, Jasper has one of the top lineman recruits in the nation in Jorrie Adams. He's been called the best Defensive lineman in the country by many scouts. In the SJ - Jasper game, my brother was the OT guarding him. My brother shut him down!! Jorrie was taken out of just about every play, didn't get in on many tackles, rarely got any QB pressure and never got a sack. But I digress. Anyhow, the football team also has nothing to play for but a good record. No postseason play, nothing.

There used to be a league for private schools, but it ended up disbanding a few years ago because there weren't enough schools for it to be any sort of competition. Since that disbanded, the schools have been trying to get into the UIL so that they can have some sort of postseason play and a chance to get some of our athletes noticed by colleges. One thing that people don't realize when they talk about private schools "recruiting" is that if a player wants to play in college, going to a private school is NOT a good idea unless it's one of those sports mills like so many "prep" schools around the nation. The players don't get a whole lot of attention, and are rarely recruited by any colleges. Guys who would draw D1 interest if they were in a public school have little shot at anything above D3. Without being able to play top competition and have postseason play, scouts don't typically pay much attention to the private schools. This applies really more to football than the other sports, as the basketball teams do get to go to invitationals.

I don't want to comment on the "recruiting" angle. I will say this though - Strake Jesuit and Dallas Jesuit do not give any sort of breaks on admissions standards, athlete or not. At SJ and DJ, students are STUDENTS first and athletes second. There are a number of high profile Houston recruits (some of whom have been discussed on this board) who have applied to SJ in the past but been denied because they could not meet the academic standards. The Strake and Dallas Jesuit admissions standards are very high, and only a very small percentage of applicants can meet them. They are not relaxed for anyone. Strake Jesuit and Dallas Jesuit will never become sports farms like Mount St. Marys or other private schools around the nation.

As far as Strake being an all-boys school, what's wrong with that? It does have its plusses and its minuses. In addition, as Michael19P said, there is an all-girls school across the parking lot, and there are quite a few classes that have both guys and girls. Again, I don't really see what merit this has to the discussion . . .

I don't want to discuss this too much. Obviously I'd be the person to talk about it, but considering my position as an alumnus and employee, I don't want to put myself in a bad position. I probably shouldn't even be replying with this much, but I figured the above is all pretty well advertised by the school itself.

 

Well IF Strake gets into UIL (and they meet the new requirements about it so they will) they'll be bound by the AISD school boundary for their students, and any current students who live outside that boundary will have to sit out a year before they can play sports again. This seems rather fair, seeing as how "magnate" schools get student/athletes that would otherwise be outside their enrollment zone.

As a private school alumnus (Second Baptist woo ) I'm glad to see it personally. It seems like everyone in Houston (and to a lesser extent Texas in general) thinks that private school sports are for second class athletes. The Chronicle gives very little attention to private schools outside the This Week section (unless there's a truly outstanding team, like Westbury Christian's basketball squads) and it will be interesting to see how these private schools match up.

 

Sorry about my post. I guess I should read into things before I post them. I had no idea about the all-girls school thing.

Sorry, about saying they weren't any good,too. I just hadn't seen them in the playoffs lately, but this post explains it.

 

When were you at Second?

 

Wow, I am REALLY disappointed in the UIL for this. I hope that they put some very strict restrictions on recruiting for sports if they decide to let private schools in. I have always taken pride in the fact that Texas doesn't let private schools recruit and then beat the pants off of the public schools year in, year out in sports. I am only like an hour from Evangel High School, and let me tell you that its a JOKE. Even though the school only has a few hundred students, the Louisiana HS athletics governing body has put Evangel in 5A and it still doesn't matter, they dominate.

I hope the UIL rethinks...

 

Doesn't Lebron James go to a private school? If so, I'm sure he was recruited. Recruiting goes on all around the country, all those basketball players that go to prep schools before college. I'm pretty sure Strake recruits. As far as academics are concerned, I would bet that as soon as recruiting wars start, acadmeics will won't be stressed as much.

 

SJ and DJ aren't allowed into TAPPS. Both schools are too big for TAPPS, and frankly are usually quite out of TAPPS' league in sports.

LeBron does go to a private school. There are a lot of private schools around the country that I have already called "sports mills". They are there not for academics, but mostly for sports. Those schools are a joke and an embarassment as they don't put any emphasis on academics in the admissions of atheletes.

Strake Jesuit and Dallas Jesuit are NOT like those schools at all. In Basketball, there are quite a number of high-profile players who apply but never get in. I don't want to give any names, but suffice it to say that several of Houston's top players were denied admission to SJ based on academics. SJ and DJ do not bend the rules and admissions standards to let athletes in. SJ and DJ will never become like those schools. They put academics first in admissions and first in school.

This does open the door for abuse, I agree. But SJ and DJ are not ones to bend the rules for athletes. If they did, I am pretty certain SJ would be ranked top ten in the nation for basketball based on some of the players who have not been able to meet the admissions standards over the past four years. I wouldn't be blown away if some other private schools in Texas were to go "sports mill" like so many other "prep" schools, but DJ and SJ will not become like that.

 

Damn, I am glad you did not elaborate or tell us all that was on your mind...lol

 

As a person who has had 6 brothers & sisters who have attended St. Agnes & Strake, dating back to the late 60's, and Bellaire Blvd was a residential street and the property at Gessner and Bellaire was all owned by Strake Jesuit, I know a bit about the schools as well and that is where I get my angle.

As an employee, I respect your opinion and as seen above, and it seems to coincide with what I said. I understand your position and not wishing to confirm or deny anything, but I will. I know first hand of instances of recruiting.

That said, I know of NO instance where any athlete would stand out (as in a student who would not qualify academically).

Also, could you confirm, and explain 2 other issues addressed in my comment?

1) On admission standards:

2) Enrollment and importance of athletics & profile:

 

Thanks for your comments TheHorns. You've certainly been with the school for some time.

On point no. 1 -- You are 100% correct. Strake Jesuit and Dallas Jesuit will NOT admit students just for sports. Furthermore, any potential athlete who applies is given the exact same treatment as every other applicant. Every applicant must meet the academic requirements just to be considered. That doesn't even mean the student will be accepted. But if you cannot meet the academic requirements, you will not be considered. Period. It doesn't matter if you are an athlete or the son of a Houston "big-shot". The admissions standards are the same for everyone.

I was actually talking to the director of admissions about this very topic today (in anticipation of more BBS questions) and he ran down a list of people who didn't get in. There are a LOT of recognizable last-names in that group. Sons of some of Houston's biggest names -- people who could be a huge benefit to the school. Unfortunately, they were not able to meet the admissions requirements, and were not considered for admission. Again, I won't mention names, but I was very surprised at some of the names. And as I've mentioned before, if all of the athletes who were not admitted could have met the academic standards, we would be fielding one of the great basketball squads in the nation. And I am not exaggerating at all when I say that.

Getting into a Jesuit school now is a very academically exclusive thing. Only the very best and brightest can even make it in, and of those, only the VERY BEST can excel. My four years at SJ were harder than my three years in college. By quite a bit, really. And if you ask most Jesuit graduates, they will say the same thing. If an athlete is at SJ and cannot handle the difficulty, he is treated like any other student -- no breaks. If he can't make the grades, he's inelligible. There are no "look the other way" policies here. You can either cut it academically or you can't. Now, at your "sports mill" schools like Mt. St. Mary's, that's not the case, but we are not a "sports mill".


no. 2

I can't speak for Dallas Jesuit, but I do know that they are pretty well as high as they are going to be admissions-wise for some time. They have a bigger landlock there than we do in Houston, but they have a "more efficient" use of space than we do, with two large building consisting of their campus. Here at SJ, we are laid out just like a college, with about a dozen buildings scattered over the campus. In keeping with the look and the atmosphere of the school, we will not be able to build very much more, and virtually all plans now are merely to rennovate or re-build existing infrastructure. SJ has been growing over the past ten years to the point of having around 800 students. For now (and perhaps permanently), we are pretty much holding where we are.

It is important to note that the Jesuits have been educating students for five hundred years, using the same principles of personal excellence that have made Jesuit schools consistently among the best in the world. No hopes for athletic glory will change that. While I agree that there are many private schools that put athletics first, the Jesuit schools are not among them.