HS Football Participation decline

The game is played at such an intense level in skill and size that it all but eliminates any hope of 99.9% of kids really having a chance to go far in the sport. In my day you played to have the experience and be with your friends, that is all but gone and the majority of the public schools now are left with lack luster programs and athletic student body for such a sport, the best talent has coallesed forming super teams and by watching those the casual high school participant quickly realizes its a bad sport to knock heads for little reason or outcome. Leave it to the best, those whom possibly have a future in it. And ya, wussification!

Good topic, Bick.

Absent an enormous sociological study, it’s anyone's guess as to what the primary cause for the drop off is. There are a number of candidates and the safest response is to say that it is "multifactorial", as we like to say in the trade.

1). My guess would be the wussification that you refer to. This seems to have developed fairly recently and rapidly. Two of my sons played for Jim Hartigan, possibly the apotheosis of an OC hardass, uncompromising and old school HSFB HC. He wore down more kids than I can remember over the course of their high school careers. One of the best X and O's coaches I’ve seen at this level but he would eventually run out of talent. Different kids are motivated in different ways and the most successful coaches know how to use carrot and stick. But too many kids are emotionally unprepared to handle even the suggestion of a stick.

The wussification extends to parents and not just the kids. One of my sons attributes playing for Coach Hartigan to getting him through Ranger training, but at one point he was ready to throw in the towel too. I told him he was in HS for academics and that I was tired of hearing him whine, if he didn’t want to play football there was always coed volleyball. He kept playing. I think my response would have been typical for the time and that was only 20 years ago. Today I think most parents would be inclined either pull their kid or to contact the principal and start a petition to replace the HC.

2). The publicity over recurrent concussions and CTE has played some role, especially for the marginally athletic kids who are not that big and whose parents see them - correctly - as more at risk for injury.

3). Athletic alternatives such as lacrosse that still offer the outlet for physical aggression and, if you will, machismo projection but do not require 11.5 months/year of weight lifting and practice.

4). Video gaming. I don't know your guys' experience but I am increasingly concerned about the nonproductive time spent by kids playing on their computers. It seems almost like a drug in reducing motivation.

5). I would think that demographics would affect individual programs over time but alone is not sufficient to substantially reduce state or city wide participation, at least to the degree that we have seen.

It looks like I’ve wussed out myself and gone with "multifactorial."………………………………Luca

I can tell you that head coaches who have been at the same high school for 31 years and won four national championships have to put up with just as much B.S. from administrators and parents as short-timers at public schools.  I've been told repeatedly what has changed the most in high school football is the unbelievable increase in the assholiness of parents who feel entitled.

Luca - between your apotheosis and MDDad's assholiness (ASSume that's what you call the pope when he's being a jerk?), and don't know whether to crap or go blind.

This is better than The Learning Channel.

Supposedly 22 kids came out for Freshman ball @ El Toro. Ouch.

Wow, and ET once a powerful and proud football program.