Punahou taking players from other ILH teams

[puns_STOPrecruiting]

My son came home from school to telling me Punahou offered a full scholarship to 5 of our best freshmen. This isn't right. what happen to the integrity between the teams of the ILH. Punahou so disrespectful.

[saynotomercs]

As the follower/alumnus of a very proud program/institution, I don't take this very lightly. It isn't about recruiting- Saint Louis recruits and has recruited for many years, so I'm not against recruiting at all.

What Punahou does is neither illegal nor unethical. Free market.

But it's still a slap in the face. Saint Louis administrators need to acknowledge that Punahou is trying to dominate the school. THEY ARE ENGAGING IN AGGRESSIVE COMPETITION. THEY ARE THE PEOPLE WHO ARE TAKING MONEY AWAY FROM YOUR SCHOOL.

WINNING IS PARAMOUNT. AND WHEN POSSIBLE, EMBARRASSING PUNAHOU ON THE FIELD IS A NECESSITY.

It's fine if people want to go to buffandbluer pastures (if that corny phrase sounds familiar, it's because I used it suspecting that Punahou would try to fatten itself with OUR PLAYER DEVELOPMENT well before these actual accusations manifested) and seek them out- but Punahou offering scholarships to 9TH GRADERS en masse from another HAIS school is different. Saint Louis needs to stand up for ourselves, and hit them in the mouth when we can.

Marcus Mariota was very, very close to becoming an O-man.

This rivalry has been an all-out war for awhile now, whether Kirimitsu, Hamamoto, Paola and Arceneaux want to admit it or not. It's bigger than just football- it's about revenue.

[jaySend]

lol

[puns_STOPrecruiting]

So you are saying offering a full scholarship is not recruiting? they have the money to hand pick and rape other public and private schools. By the way my son goes to saint louis. They do not recruit outside of the program. Once you pay for a year then they reward you. They do not go the outside league games looking for talent. Also as a Kamehameha school alumn just getting in is hard enough. So we are left with no chance. We have to deal with what we got. This should go across the board! nuff said!

[fanoffb]

My son came home from school to telling me Punahou offered a full scholarship to 5 of our best freshmen. This isn't right. what happen to the integrity between the teams of the ILH. Punahou so disrespectful.

Can you indicate who is being recruited and who is doing the recruiting? I would think that no coach at the high school level would be going up to students from another school with scholarships in hand. I think we always hear the rumors of private schools going into areas and plucking out students however it always seems to be hearsay so actually getting some names and specific details would be great to lend weight to the argument. I've heard in the past about this private school doing this, or that private school doing that, or even public schools having students from other districts being wooed, however I can't give you any specific names or details to back up those rumors so I can't really say whether it is true or not. I know that the Word of Life kids a couple of years ago tried to gain admission to many of the other private schools, and while St. Louis accepted them, Iolani, Mid-Pac, and Punahou did not because the students had not yet taken the private school test to make them eligible to gain acceptance into the other schools. That is not to say that the other schools didn't want those students, however their school rules prevented them from doing so.

I also think we need to be careful about how we associate individuals who support a school versus individuals who represent a school. I am sure that every school, public and private, as a number of proud alumni and wants to see absolute best for its school. I am sure these alumni will approach others to sway them. With what these individuals say or do, we need to make sure we don't characterize them as employees of a school but rather supporters.

puns_STOPrecruiting, I am not saying that what you posted is not true so don't take this as me dispelling your statements. Rather all I ask for is more clarity. I remember a couple of years ago, near the end of John Hao's coaching tenure, there was a lot of unhappiness with the program. Did this coincide with Mariota's flirtation with Punahou? However I don't know if flirtation is the wrong word to use because I'm not sure what saynotomercs meant by stating Mariota came close to being a student at Punahou. At what point in high school (or perhaps it was earlier) was Mariota and Punahou a possibility? Of course he would have had to sit out a year to the transfer rule, as would these 9th graders, so it would seem like a big commitment for a student-athlete and his/her family to make to leave one school to go to another. Some choose to make this commitment because perhaps there is more than sports that they are looking at. I can't say that I know of any but perhaps they are just lesser known.

puns_STOPrecruiting, thanks for bringing up the topic.

[gopunahou]

So you are saying offering a full scholarship is not recruiting? they have the money to hand pick and rape other public and private schools. By the way my son goes to saint louis. They do not recruit outside of the program. Once you pay for a year then they reward you. They do not go the outside league games looking for talent. Also as a Kamehameha school alumn just getting in is hard enough. So we are left with no chance. We have to deal with what we got. This should go across the board! nuff said!

I bet Punahou ain't the only school that offered your kid's school mates and know for a fact that other schools recruit more than we. Point the finger at another school as well.

[fanoffb]

Let's keep it about the topic and not attacks or assumptions on other individuals who are on the Forum

[soleu]

LOL really people.

Punahou taking players from other ILH teams

Are you serious? So where's the "ILH taking players from OIA teams" thread?

[Pun Dad]

This whole thread is based on a dubious hear say from a high school kid.

A few facts, Punahou will not contact an athlete unless that athletes parents initiates contact with the school.

The athletic scholarships are very limited, they do not come from the school but from the booster club and most are partial scholarships. the athletes would have needed to apply to the school and have been admitted.

Very few slots exist for incoming 10th graders. As they only fill vacancies. As they have not made admission decisions yet, it is highly unlikely that any offers were made.

The facts add up to near certainty that this is a false rumor.

[saynotomercs]

gopunahou, while we both acknowledge that Iolani recruits to its D-2 program, Punahou's overall impact on talent distribution throughout the entire state is much greater. We're almost talking about apples and oranges here.

I don't think what Punahou is doing is "wrong"; I'm just alarmed at the attitude at Saint Louis right now. Here is a school that competes in the same league as you that is trying to intentionally or unintentionally diminish one of your most important recruiting tools. Saint Louis' market is Catholics, average students and athletes. In an environment with more competitive academic schools like Iolani and Punahou and a cheaper and more resource-laden school like Kamehameha, Saint Louis needs to do a better job defending its turf. And it starts on the field. Saint Louis cannot afford to let Punahou become better than them in both academics and football. Showcasing seniors is not more important than winning. Winning helps everything.

punstop, thanks for your observations. The after-admission scholarship method may in fact be the case most of the time, but I'm pretty sure there are a few students who were offered enticing financial packages before the first semester. This is not suggesting that Saint Louis actively scopes out youth leagues, which I don't think they do.

[saynotomercs]

Pun Dad, they certainly initiate contact. Perhaps not in every case- but it sure happens.

[gopunahou]

gopunahou, while we both acknowledge that Iolani recruits to its D-2 program, Punahou's overall impact on talent distribution throughout the entire state is much greater. We're almost talking about apples and oranges here.

I don't think what Punahou is doing is "wrong"; I'm just alarmed at the attitude at Saint Louis right now. Here is a school that competes in the same league as you that is trying to intentionally or unintentionally diminish one of your most important recruiting tools. Saint Louis' market is Catholics, average students and athletes. In an environment with more competitive academic schools like Iolani and Punahou and a cheaper and more resource-laden school like Kamehameha, Saint Louis needs to do a better job defending its turf. And it starts on the field. Saint Louis cannot afford to let Punahou become better than them in both academics and football. Showcasing seniors is not more important than winning. Winning helps everything.

punstop, thanks for your observations. The after-admission scholarship method may in fact be the case most of the time, but I'm pretty sure there are a few students who were offered enticing financial packages before the first semester. This is not suggesting that Saint Louis actively scopes out youth leagues, which I don't think they do.

Thanks. I am just hoping that this doesn't turn into a double standard. People seem to like to let others take dumps on Punahou while those same people equate trashing Iolani to kicking a puppy. The ironic thing about all of this is is that St. Louis is the school that made other ILH schools feel the need to go after aspiring players. And can you blame us for trying to sell our program? We weren't going to settle for being the whipping boy of St. Louis and Kamehameha, which is where we started when the ILH went divisional.

[bow89]

Contrary to Saynotomercs opinion, I believe that it is wrong for ILH teams to recruit players from other teams once they enter H.S. Recruit kids all you want in middle school, but once a student participates in athletics for another ILH school, he should be hands off. The ILH should adopt the rule that many conferences use for college athletics. If you are transferring within conference, you should sit out 2 years. If Punahou is truly interested in these students for their academic ability, then they should have no problem waiting 2 years for a student to be eligible.

[gopunahou]

Sorry to go back to Saynotomercs' comment, but St. Louis will always remain a place where kids aspire to play. That's what happens when you dominate the ILH and state for 20 years. I've got a better chance of sleeping with a model than St. Louis does of being an unattractive place for aspiring football players to play.

[twnoexcuses]

Question A: Does the student and the student's family want the student to go to the new school?

Question B: Does the school want the student?

Question C: How does it help the student to bar him/her from playing interscholastic sports at their school, assuming grades and behavior are at acceptable levels?

Question D: Why, if a student meets standards all other students meet, is what a student does at school anyone else's business but the students', the students' family's, and the school's?