By EARL COX
Sports Columnist
If you think the public-private school battle has calmed down, listen to this:
St. Xavier football coach Mike Glaser said on the school's radio broadcast of last week's St. X-Male game that if the public schools want to split off, he'll be ready with a quality schedule.
"We'll schedule some of the strong teams in Cincinnati, some from Nashville. We'll play Lexington Catholic and Bowling Green and some other quality teams in the state."
If the Kentucky High School Athletic Association is unable to have private and public playoffs, there has been talk that Jefferson County Public Schools will balk at playing St. Xavier and Trinity.
"What will happen is this," one public-school booster told me. "On Monday, public schools that are scheduled to play St. X and Trinity will call the Catholic schools and say that they are forfeiting this week's game. The $1,500 forfeit check is in the mail. And this will go on all season. Where will that leave St. X and Trinity?"
Meanwhile, Julian Tackett, assistant KHSAA commissioner, has asked the high school football coaches association members to be patient, that something could happen in December that would produce a compromise between the private and public schools. Tackett reminded the coaches that "this is JUST sports. Perspective is key. Two student-athletes, one participating in a contest in soccer, one traveling home from the State Golf Tournament, lost their lives in the last two weeks."
Tony Branch, former Seneca High basketball coach who is now director of athletics at Jeffersonville (Ind.) High School, sent the Kentucky athletic directors and coaches a list of Jeffersonville football players who have left the Indiana school to play for Trinity. That, as Dr. Rob Mullen, Trinity's president, has pointed out is not against KHSAA rules.
One of the Trinity players mentioned by Branch is current star running back Donald Barnett, whose "current residence," according to Branch, "is in Jeffersonville."
Branch wrote that current Jeffersonville star freshman Ed Wright "was courted in middle school by St. Xavier. They had him on the sideline of their state championship game in 2004."
Added Branch: "It is obvious that Louisville private schools identify our best athletes in middle school as early as the sixth and seventh grades and then implement an organized recruitment process to persuade these selected athletes to att/files/storyimages/their schools. This recruitment consists of handing out business cards, having current private school student-athletes email them, invites (sic) to open house and shadowing phone calls, and offers of financial aid. It is alarming to me and damaging to our athletic programs that Kentucky private schools can come into our state and recruit our best athletes to play in Kentucky high school athletics."
For the record, here's where the debate is. The KHSAA member schools voted last week to allow private and public schools to play during the regular season, but to have separate playoffs. The next day, the KHSAA Board of Control went against its member schools and voted not to recomm/files/storyimages/that the State Board of Education split the schools. Unless there is a compromise, the State Board or the state legislature can take up the matter.
While Male allowed St. X to broadcast its game at Male, some public schools won't allow either St. X or Trinity to broadcast games when the county schools are the home teams.
Some Jefferson County Public Schools are so backward that they won't allow Insight to show even delayed telecasts of games.
St. X's Glaser, who in addition to being head football coach is director of admissions at the Poplar Level Road school, said during the radio broadcast of the Male-St. X game that St. X is planning to add television for some of its games next season
