Athletics have changed over the years in Hampton Roads, Virginia, particularly in High School Football. Football programs seemingly shied away from bettering young athletes and keeping them on the right track to focusing on building “super teams” to better benefit the coaches and the school’s reputation. Lately we have watched a few of the area's top athletes coincidentally join forces at the same schools, regardless of what school zone they were originally assigned to, raising eyebrows all across the area. It has become such normality that more and more coaches are obtaining reprimands for recruiting violations, posing a very interesting question: Should the coaches who utilize the talent that they are given and actually work to build their team up from the ground be given more credit, or should the coaches with teams consisting of above average players continue to get all of the praise?
We wanted to get the opinion of some of the coaches in the area so we caught up with Salem High School (Virginia Beach, VA) Head Coach Robert Jackson and Lake Taylor (Norfolk, VA) Head Coach Hank Sawyer. Surprisingly, both coaches’ answers were fairly similar, in that they love coaching and they see their teams as family, not just athletes. and if a student wishes to leave they wish them the best of luck. They also added that the building of “Super Teams” does not really matter to them because they do not have to face them, which most would assume would be in reference to them playing former Ocean Lakes HS(Virginia Beach, VA-Public School) Head Coach Chris Scott now Head Coach at Bishop Sullivan Catholic HS (Virginia Beach, VA-Private School) where many top student athletes have already transferred to play next year.
I was really interested to find out what some former Hampton Roads Football players thought about joining super teams, so I asked a few what they thought and would they have left their home school for an opportunity to possibly join a better team, I also asked would they have left the public school ranks to join the private school ranks.Anthony Cooper, top player in the state when he attended public school, Bayside High School, and later be signed to Division I school University of Virginia responded to us shortly after we reached out and stated that his “ feelings toward High School Football that it is now weak, because I feel like the competition is not fair anymore and all the best athletes [are] playing on the same team or going to private school to build a powerhouse. I’m glad I played in an era where every team had the best talent and competed each week and I wouldn’t want to change nothing about my high school football career [and] I had the opportunity to put Bayside on top for 3 years in the beach district and also bring new records to bayside. My coaches were great. I played by the best players that came out of Bayside and made a name for themselves. I’m truly blessed to have the opportunity I had at Bayside.”Next we asked David Dean, also a top ranked player in the state that later attended the University of Virginia and now an NFL Prospect, and he reached out to us and gave us this statement, “I loved the experience I had at green run for it was four of the best years of my life. I wouldn't trade that experience to play for any other school or coach. Even though I did not win any state titles I trusted my coaches, the process, my team, and my talent. I knew it would be my own talent and work ethic that would put me in the position I am today. I believe public schools in the Hampton roads area hold some of the best talent in the nation and I had the opportunity to play against some highly talented guys. Public school football in the Hampton roads offers a level of competition I feel no other area in Virginia can offer.”We were fortunate enough to have one final player, Sage Harold of the NFL, reach out to us for this specific article, and he stated that, “There is no other school I would've wanted to spend my years at. Ocean Lakes was one of the best things that happened to me. It helped mold me into the man that I've become now. I'm all for teaching young men how to fight through adversity in life, not just the game, to show them that there's a reward for hard work and dedication. A championship does not make a champion it's the result of teamwork in this sport. Building good character and a great reputation are things that show the qualities of a champion, not the championship.”
Based off of these players statements, it is evident that high school is way bigger than just winning and losing; it is suppose to teach these young kids about life. It seems that if you have a dream of playing college football, or even going to the NFL, there are plenty of coaches in the Hampton Roads, Virginia area that can help you accomplish that. The education system is up to par in both public and private Hampton Roads school curriculums, setting young athletes up for success academically affording them the opportunity to be at the top of their classes and getting into some of the top colleges in the country. Hampton Roads should continue to treasure the coaches who have their athlete’s best interest at heart and slowly weed out the coaches who are only interested in building “super teams”.