Where are the Thompsons, Rypiens, Rosie's. Bledsoe's, Halliday's

[CougEd]

even the Leaf's, Brinks and for the UW the Chandler's, Millen's, Huard's, Tui, etc? Where are the instate QB's that used to be the foundation of these programs?

Then you have the Pointers, Hunters, Mobley, Child's, Holmes Darling, Derting and the list goes on and on. Where are they? Has CTE meant more kids not playing? Are they playing other sports or no sports at all? It has been 8 years since we have had a state of Washington kid start at QB for us. Was Locker the last state of Washington kid who started and had some success at UW?

 

[COUGinNCW]

I can’t speak for the west side but football in Spokane is way down. When I went to HS in the 80s the GSL put 8-9 kids into D1 schools the year I graduated and that’s not counting the kids going to Montana, Idaho etc. The last 10 years it’s 1 to 3 and that’s including schools like Air Force and Montana. I went to the Ferris Vs LC game last week and Ferris had less then 30 suited from a school of close to 2000. Those 2 schools have had to combine to field 1 pop Warner team at the Jr High level (no school programs for the city schools). CDA on the other hand has 7 Jr high pop Warner teams feeding 2 High Schools.

What are all the kids doing? Good question. Lacrosse. Soccer has gotten bigger and everyone in Spokane thinks they are going to be a basketball star. Some of those kids used to play football in the past but now you “have to” specialize. I also think there is a bunch of kids that do a lot of nothing. The club sports scene is also making it hard for kids to compete at a high level unless they have serious financial resources so a lot of them give up before they even get to HS which probably takes a lot of them back to the whole lot of nothing.

 

[wazzucougs96]

everyone in Spokane thinks they are going to be a basketball star. Some of those kids used to play football in the past but now you “have to” specialize. I also think there is a bunch of kids that do a lot of nothing. The club sports scene is also making it hard for kids to compete at a high level unless they have serious financial resources so a lot of them give up before they even get to HS which probably takes a lot of them back to the whole lot of nothing.

Hammer meet nail. Youth sports has become a cesspool of year round playing one sport only BS.

By the time kids get to tackle football playing age their parents already have them on different sport and they do not play other sports.

 

[BiggsCoug]

I can’t speak for the west side but football in Spokane is way down. When I went to HS in the 80s the GSL put 8-9 kids into D1 schools the year I graduated and that’s not counting the kids going to Montana, Idaho etc. The last 10 years it’s 1 to 3 and that’s including schools like Air Force and Montana. I went to the Ferris Vs LC game last week and Ferris had less then 30 suited from a school of close to 2000. Those 2 schools have had to combine to field 1 pop Warner team at the Jr High level (no school programs for the city schools). CDA on the other hand has 7 Jr high pop Warner teams feeding 2 High Schools.

What are all the kids doing? Good question. Lacrosse. Soccer has gotten bigger and everyone in Spokane thinks they are going to be a basketball star. Some of those kids used to play football in the past but now you “have to” specialize. I also think there is a bunch of kids that do a lot of nothing. The club sports scene is also making it hard for kids to compete at a high level unless they have serious financial resources so a lot of them give up before they even get to HS which probably takes a lot of them back to the whole lot of nothing.

There is competition for kids attention. Other sports, social media, fortnite, etc. I dont know if coaches have accepted that they may have to go out and compete for kids attention and participation. Also, football is hard. You are going to lift weights, there isnt typically success right away, you have to sweat, someone may yell at you, someone may kick your ass… and kids havent been made to be accountable. The scoreboard doesnt lie. There is no way to somehow talk your way into a draw or tie. If you won, you won. If you lost, you lost. Its easier to quit for a lot of kids than to get better. And no one can be labeled a loser these days.

The culture needed to be a successful football school is really really hard to build at the high school level.

 

[spongeandshoot]

even the Leaf's, Brinks and for the UW the Chandler's, Millen's, Huard's, Tui, etc? Where are the instate QB's that used to be the foundation of these programs?

Then you have the Pointers, Hunters, Mobley, Child's, Holmes Darling, Derting and the list goes on and on. Where are they? Has CTE meant more kids not playing? Are they playing other sports or no sports at all? It has been 8 years since we have had a state of Washington kid start at QB for us. Was Locker the last state of Washington kid who started and had some success at UW?

If you look at todays kid and compare him to an average kid when I was in high school...or when you were in high school, I think that might be a big part of the problem.

Kids today(on average) play inside on their xboxes and are soft and out of shape for the most part...so there is less of an athletic pool to start from. And the pool in Washington wasn't that big to begin with.

And I would be thrilled to have an Alex Brink here right now.

 

[dgibbons]

even the Leaf's, Brinks and for the UW the Chandler's, Millen's, Huard's, Tui, etc? Where are the instate QB's that used to be the foundation of these programs?

Then you have the Pointers, Hunters, Mobley, Child's, Holmes Darling, Derting and the list goes on and on. Where are they? Has CTE meant more kids not playing? Are they playing other sports or no sports at all? It has been 8 years since we have had a state of Washington kid start at QB for us. Was Locker the last state of Washington kid who started and had some success at UW?

Retired.

A coach is responsible the team he puts on the field. Even Wulff.

 

[Fab5Coug]

Where are they in general, or where are they are on our roster specifically? I think the internet age has made it way easier for other schools to recruit nationally.

Just quickly looking at the top 5 kids from the state the last few years.

2021: UW landed 2. 2 to Ohio St, 1 to SC
2020: 2 to UW. 1 to tOSU. 1 to Stanford. 1 to WSU (who has already entered the transfer portal)
2019: 2 to UW. 1 to Nebraska, 1 to Oregon, 1 to Cal
2018: 3 to UW, 1 to FSU, 1 to WSU
2017: 3 to UW, 2 to Stanford

I don't know, but I bet if you looked back to the years of Don James and Mike Price, you didn't see nearly the number of kids leaving the state.