At times, the amount of adults crying over public vs. private high school sports in Illinois is almost laughable. Especially every fall when football starts. DYK: Illinois has roughly 5 public high schools for every 1 private high school, yet you’d think from X that private schools are an invading army destroying high school sports. The scoreboard in Illinois: 676 public schools, 126 private schools. Here's the part of this debate that gets completely lost: Mount Carmel isn't every private school. Loyola isn't every private school. There are small and midsize private schools across Illinois trying to keep enrollment up, balance budgets, raise tuition as little as possible and simply keep their doors open. The IHSA uses 8 football classes, a 1.65 enrollment multiplier for non-boundaried schools, multiplier waivers and a success-factor system. Is it perfect? Nope. But here's something public-school critics should understand: The system can hurt private schools, too. Imagine a smaller private school gets one unusually talented group of kids. They have a great stretch. Those kids graduate. Now the next group, which may be nowhere near as talented, pays the price for the previous group's success and find itself competing against substantially larger programs. Then they get hammered. The people screaming about competitive balance can’t be found then. Funny how that works isn’t it? I’ve watched it time and time again. Selfish and clueless. A private-school administrator recently made an interesting point to me about the constant focus on Mount Carmel: "The main issue with the multiplier and success factor is it hurts smaller private schools...and there's literally nothing you can do with the 8A programs. They can't be multiplied up." That's the conversation Illinois should be having: Stop treating every private school like they're all the same. They aren't. Mount Carmel and Loyola aren't representative of every Catholic or private school any more than East St. Louis or Lincoln-Way East represents every public school when it comes to football. In fact, look at the IHSA's own all-time football wins list: 1. East St. Louis (public)
2. Mount Carmel (private)
3. Loyola (private)
4. Tuscola (public)
5. Arcola (public)
6. Wheaton South (public) Success exists on both sides. So how do you create competitive balance without punishing kids for the success of kids who came before them? There may not be a perfect answer. To put a lighter note on this ongoing topic, the debate is starting to resemble the WWE Royal Rumble. Public-school adults hammering private schools. Private-school adults hammering public schools. Now smaller private schools are hammering the heavyweight private programs. Adults grabbing a folding chair each fall. I just grab my popcorn and watch adults with fake-name accounts tweet like a 2 year old. And before anyone twists this into something it isn't, let me state this: Jordan Lynch is great for high school football. Read that again: He’s great for high school football. He brings attention to the sport. He helps kids. He's passionate. He's been enormously successful as both a player and coach. The last week or so, Jordan Lynch has been in the headlines but this about the bigger conversation. I’ve spent years working in industries like utilities, aviation and tech, where organizations constantly studied data, trends and changing conditions. That's exactly what the IHSA should continue doing. It should never - ever - react on emotion of a year or two. Make decisions based on what's best for all kids - public, private, city, suburban, rural, big school and small school. Kids get only four years of high school. They just want the adults out of the way so they can have fun and play. #MoreThanJUSTGames

Today in Illinois: There seem to be two reactions to Mount Carmel football coach Jordan Lynch being suspended for two practices after his team practiced in pads before they were technically allowed to: 1. “Mount Carmel always cheats.” 2. “Who cares? It’s two practices.” Both miss the bigger issue. Liability. Forget Jordan Lynch. Forget Mount Carmel. Insert any coach, any sport, any high school. If a student athlete suffers a catastrophic injury during a practice being conducted outside established rules, what happens next? Did you see what happened in Texas earlier this week, where a student athlete suffered just that and died? Now you're talking about attorneys, insurance companies, depositions and questions like: Who authorized the practice? Who knew about it? Why were kids in pads when the rules said they couldn't be? Did the school knowingly allow it? Did administrators properly supervise the program? Did the governing body adequately enforce its own safety rules? Suddenly, something adults dismissed as “Who cares? It's just a couple practices” isn't so small anymore. Are some people jealous of Jordan Lynch and Mount Carmel football? Absolutely. Is a two-practice suspension going to change the trajectory of Mount Carmel's season? Probably not. But that's not the point. Rules involving student athlete health and safety aren't written only for the day when nothing happens. They're written for the one day when something does. And when that day comes, nobody in a courtroom is going to care about the rivalry, the message boards, competitive advantage or who hates Mount Carmel. They're going to ask one question: Did the adults responsible for protecting kids follow the health and safety rules? That's the bigger conversation adults should be having. #MoreThanJUSTGames

The boys session at Nebraska boys state soccer hit 7,529 (Gretna vs Lexington, Lincoln Southwest vs Omaha South). The girls brought in 4,599 (Lincoln Pius X vs Blair, Omaha Marian vs Elkhorn South). #nebpreps