A little of topic but is Washington State High School football underrated (Bellevue: rent, to buy)

[downnice]

We are soo underrated in this state. We have Skyline, Bethel, Curtis, Federal Way. In the Past Lincoln was great and so was Bethel, Puyallup and Rodgers. Now Graham Kapowsin football is on the rise..

When will this state get the respect like Texas, Florida and California

[Andy]

We do have the respect from some of those states thanks to Bellevue High School. Bellevue snapped De La Salle's mythic winning streak and have beat other national powers as well, including Trinity of Texas in September.

The reason WA doesn't get the same respect as CA, TX, and FL is population size. If Washington had 20,000,000 people, we would be getting the same respect.

I wouldn't call Federal Way a football power. They are having a good year, but they are traditionally a basketball school. If I were to list the top football programs in WA, and I am sure I'll miss a few, I'd list:

Bellevue, Skyline, O'Dea, Tumwater, Prosser, Pasco*, Curtis, Kentwood, Lakes, Capital, Puyallup, Ferndale, South Kitsap, Snohomish*, Gonzaga Prep

HM: Lynden, Woodinville, Bothell, Issaquah, Kennedy Catholic, Auburn, Franklin, Lincoln, Cascade (Everett), Archbishop Murphy, Newport (Bellevue), Richland, Kamiakin, Union, Evergreen (Van.), Walla Walla, West Valley (Yakima), Kelso

* - new high schools have split these schools student base, possibly taking away the better football talent areas in the process.

[skinem]

I've coached high school football for years in a couple diverse places...CA, OR, and Alabama.

I grew up playing football in Washington. Coaching in Oregon I coached against WA schools.

To summarize up the quality of football I'd say this...the best in any of those states can play with the best anywhere.

But, top to bottom, the best was Alabama. It's on an entirely different level there. It's a cultural thing and far and away a bigger more important thing than anywhere out west. It compares with Texas and Florida.

It's just not as important to people in Washington. Or Oregon. Or California.

[Andy]

Originally Posted by skinem

It's just not as important to people in Washington. Or Oregon. Or California.

It depends on where you are in WA, OR, or CA. In some areas high school football isn't that important, in other areas it is huge. SW Oregon is big time high school football country from Coos Bay through Roseburg to Ashland. In Washington the South Sound and Tri-Cities areas are high school football country.

[hamellr]

Originally Posted by Andy

It depends on where you are in WA, OR, or CA. In some areas high school football isn't that important, in other areas it is huge. SW Oregon is big time high school football country from Coos Bay through Roseburg to Ashland. In Washington the South Sound and Tri-Cities areas are high school football country.

I would disagree. There is nowhere the amount of devotion on the West Coast for Football that there is in the South, Texas, Ohio, or even Pennsylvania. There are places that breath High School Football day in and day out. Where that is the only topic at bars, restaurants, and on the street. Where every one is an ex football player, the women know the game as well as the guys, and there is no question over the high school spending a huge chunk of it's budget for football, even at schools that have never had a winning program and never will. If you're in town on "business," you planned the trip specifically so that you could catch the local game. Places where kids have exactly two opportunities in life, play football for a College scholarship or the Military.

Parents will do whatever they need to do so their kids have all the best equipment possible, and will spend hours a day helping to train and drill their kids. The rent check may be six months late, but they'll find a second job just to buy a pair of cleats.

Nothing in Oregon or Washington even comes close to the devotion to High School Football displayed in the South, even the Ducks/Beavers Rivalry is a shadow of what the South is like. Only God is more important then Football in some of these places, and even then, he's in the bleachers on game night.

[Andy]

Originally Posted by hamellr

I would disagree. There is nowhere the amount of devotion on the West Coast for Football that there is in the South, Texas, Ohio, or even Pennsylvania.

I think you missed my point. High school football is a big deal in some places in the NW, not so much in others. It depends on where in the NW you are. I grew up in one of the areas that was/is high school football crazy. Where people know who the star athletes are, where families of players have signs in their yards with their son's name and number. In other areas they don't give a rip. That is why there hasn't been a facilities war up here yet. Not everyone has the open wallets like Bellevue or the massive community support like Prosser.

I have relatives in PA, and compared to where I grew up in the NW is less of of a high school football area. So that state too, like the NW has high school football hotspots and not so spots.

[hamellr]

Originally Posted by Andy

I think you missed my point.

No, I didn't miss your point. I was refuting it.

My job takes me around the US dealing directly with High School Football Athletes, Coaches, Parents, and Trainers and have yet to observe anywhere in the PNW the kind of devotion you see in the South.

[lovingthegreen]

Originally Posted by hamellr

the women know the game as well as the guys

When I went to graduate school at the University of Tennessee after living the vast majority of my life on the West Coast, this is one of the things that I noticed that most surprised me. Women in the South really know their football. You may get exceptions on the West Coast, but it blew me away just how knowledgeable women as a whole in the South knew details about their football teams and football strategies, etc. My experience may have been primarily with college football but it appeared that high school football was similar in that aspect.

[Andy]

Originally Posted by hamellr

No, I didn't miss your point. I was refuting it.

So there are no high school football hotspots in the NW? B.S. You did not refute my point. You are talking about something else entirely.

[skinem]

Andy, do you have any first-hand experience with football in the South? If so, where? If not, please...

I am familiar with Washington state "hotspots"...it doesn't compare.

An example...the county where I currently live in Tennessee has one county high school. It played for the state title a couple years ago. The entire county has a population of 28,000. State playoff officials claimed an attendance of 25000 at the game--and estimated 15,000 were from my county. 15,000 of 28,000? Over half the county was there? Unbelievable support. (One cop friend of mine told me it was nearly creepy how empty the county was.)

When I coached in Alabama I had my own coaches tv show. As stupid as that sounds, it's true...a high school coach's show. I can't imagine why in the world anyone would watch much less decide making one was a good idea, but there it was. That was over 20 years ago. It was ran during the football season, then re-ran off-season. On Monday nights after practice we had what we called "Monday Night Football" (I know, not too original.) where we grilled burgers, hot dogs, etc, and then played the game tape from the previous Friday night's game for the public and broke the game down like we do for our team, and then did the same for the tape we had on our upcoming opponent. We'd have any where from 150-300 people show up. Our games were broadcast live on TV and several radio stations. We left the lights on the school's baseball field so that the local tv stations' news helicopters could land, get some footage and fly off to continue their tour of games for their Friday night high school football shows. Which pre-empted their Friday night news shows. We got police escorts to away games. Local restaurants fed our teams, ranging over the years from 80-140 players, 5 or so managers, 7-10 coaches...for free.

The above was not unusual. You could also multiply the above dozens of times over and apply it to virtually any average, run-of-the-mill high school in Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia, Mississippi, Florida, and Texas.

And then you have your football-factory schools...

And, the above doesn't even hold a candle to what college football is down here.

And, you know what's even scarier to me? That's how it was when I last coached in Alabama in 1992...and it has not gotten smaller. In fact, it has gotten even more crazy.

I don't see any comparison in the Pacific Northwest. In the South, it's part of the culture. In the PNW, it just isn't.

Like I said, the best there can play with anyone. But, top to bottom there is no comparison. Culturally, there is no comparison. (As to whether or not that is a good thing is a whole 'nuther discussion.)

For someone to claim other wise I would have to suspect they have no true frame of reference.

And, Andy, it's not a population thing...Washington's population is over 6,800,000 as of 2011. Alabama's was about 4,800,000; Tennessee's 6,400,000; Mississippi's at about 2,900,000.