Should public and private high schools have separate divisions?
In the past 10 years in boys basketball, 11 of the 40 state titles have been won by private schools.
COMMENTARY
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - Should private high schools be separated from public schools when it comes to sports?
The subject came up again this week when Josh Hood, the girls basketball coach at Niles Brandywine, brought it up at the state finals. Hood’s team just lost 31-29 in the Division 3 state semifinals to Ann Arbor Prep. It was their only loss of the season, ending 26-1.
He didn’t bring any of his players to the postgame press conference. Instead, he wanted to talk about the gap between public and private schools.
“Until somebody does something, it’s not going to change, so what we’ve got is girls from our community that have busted their tails for 12 and 13 years to get to the pinnacle, to get to here, and now all of a sudden we lose again to a prep team,” Hood said. “It’s ridiculous. I’m sick of it. Nobody talks about it. I love those girls, I’ll go to bat for them, two-time defending public school state champions, because they’re the last team standing. They’ve done everything they can to bring a state championship to our community only for it to be taken away. Not happy about it.”
Click here to read the entire story by Eric Ingles of Mlive.com.
For the record, Ann Arbor Prep is a charter school. It isn’t considered a private school.
Niles Brandywine is a public school in Niles, Mich., with an enrollment of 371.
The Brandywine boys basketball team won the state title in 2024.
So are private schools really dominating high school sports? When you look at basketball and football, the answer is no.
In boys basketball, since 2015, there have been 40 Michigan state titles awarded in four divisions. Eleven are private schools. Three in Division 1, two in Division 2, one in Division 3 and five in Division 4.
In girls basketball, in the past 10 years, just seven of the 40 titles handed out were by private schools.
What about football?
In the eight divisions, there were 80 trophies handed out. Thirty-two of them were private schools. Six of them by Grand Rapids Catholic Central and four by West Catholic.
Should the MHSAA have separate divisions for private schools when it comes to the postseason? That’s unlikely.
So is there really a dominance by the private schools? Or is that just perception?
When the Ottawa-Kent Conference here in West Michigan was going to re-align in 2023, I suggested that it create a division just for the six largest private schools in the area. All of their enrollments are close enough to make it competitive.
On the east side of the state, there is the Detroit Catholic High School League, which has a stunning 33 mostly Catholic schools.
I don’t know if there really is a gap between public and private schools when it comes to success in sports, but there are a lot of fans from public schools that have suggested private schools recruit.
That’s a dirty word in prep sports.
I was at the boys basketball state quarterfinal game between Marshall and Grand Rapids Catholic Central on March 11. In the final minutes of the game, when it was clear Marshall was going to lose, its student section started chanting “Daddy’s Money! Daddy’s Money!”
So for a lot of fans, perception is reality.
It may never change, but it is worth discussing again.
