2024 SWBL Offseason/Season

What is the ceiling for Oakwood? IMO it profiles similarly to Wyoming (in the Cincinnati area) and a smaller Upper Arlington (in the Columbus area). Those two have had a lot more historical success than Oakwood. Is 6-4/7-3 the ceiling here? Is an 8-2 type season once every 4-5 years reasonable? I do not look at the rest of the SWBL as insurmountable league that is extremely difficult to climb. While every season may produce a couple good teams, there is enough "oxygen" so to speak and scheduling flexibility for teams in the league to find some upward mobility.
 
4verts said:
What is the ceiling for Oakwood? IMO it profiles similarly to Wyoming (in the Cincinnati area) and a smaller Upper Arlington (in the Columbus area). Those two have had a lot more historical success than Oakwood. Is 6-4/7-3 the ceiling here? Is an 8-2 type season once every 4-5 years reasonable? I do not look at the rest of the SWBL as insurmountable league that is extremely difficult to climb. While every season may produce a couple good teams, there is enough "oxygen" so to speak and scheduling flexibility for teams in the league to find some upward mobility.
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The SWBL is tough man. The smaller schools will have an 8-2 run 2 or 3 seasons every 15/20 years or so (2015 Madison, 2011 Carlisle), but other than that the bigger schools really just dominate.

They’ve been getting more and more top heavy as Dixie, Shawnee, and Northridge have left so the traditional middle-of-the-road schools are now bottom feeders in the league. The bigger schools will have some off seasons and the small ones can go on runs but for the most part it’s VV, Eaton, Waynesville, and Brookville battling for top spots and then everyone else.
 
EagleEnjoyer69 said:
The SWBL is tough man. The smaller schools will have an 8-2 run 2 or 3 seasons every 15/20 years or so (2015 Madison, 2011 Carlisle), but other than that the bigger schools really just dominate.

They’ve been getting more and more top heavy as Dixie, Shawnee, and Northridge have left so the traditional middle-of-the-road schools are now bottom feeders in the league. The bigger schools will have some off seasons and the small ones can go on runs but for the most part it’s VV, Eaton, Waynesville, and Brookville battling for top spots and then everyone else.
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If the bottom wants to compete every year then they have to get more players out. The top is able to overcome an injury or 2 where as the bottom can not. Hopefully the new hires are able to generate some interest in their schools and get more kids playing!
 
EagleEnjoyer69 said:
The SWBL is tough man. The smaller schools will have an 8-2 run 2 or 3 seasons every 15/20 years or so (2015 Madison, 2011 Carlisle), but other than that the bigger schools really just dominate.

They’ve been getting more and more top heavy as Dixie, Shawnee, and Northridge have left so the traditional middle-of-the-road schools are now bottom feeders in the league. The bigger schools will have some off seasons and the small ones can go on runs but for the most part it’s VV, Eaton, Waynesville, and Brookville battling for top spots and then everyone else.
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I agree with this. I think some of that has to do with the demographics of the league and how they've changed adding larger schools like Edgewood and Ross. Oakwood is probably a 4-6 type of team as an average, with some years being below, and a few being above that mark. Oakwood also has some really strong sports in the fall other than football, in boys soccer. They have one of the best boys soccer programs in the SWBL.
 
ex_dc_atc said:
I agree with this. I think some of that has to do with the demographics of the league and how they've changed adding larger schools like Edgewood and Ross. Oakwood is probably a 4-6 type of team as an average, with some years being below, and a few being above that mark. Oakwood also has some really strong sports in the fall other than football, in boys soccer. They have one of the best boys soccer programs in the SWBL.
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It does seem like each school has sports where they compete and other sports where they struggle. It seems like fanbases only care when the struggles are in football and basketball. You don't hear near as much when a school's tennis team isn't competitive.
 
ex_dc_atc said:
I agree with this. I think some of that has to do with the demographics of the league and how they've changed adding larger schools like Edgewood and Ross. Oakwood is probably a 4-6 type of team as an average, with some years being below, and a few being above that mark. Oakwood also has some really strong sports in the fall other than football, in boys soccer. They have one of the best boys soccer programs in the SWBL.
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Being great at soccer and football is possible. Waynesville has won the SWBL 3 of the last 5 years and has had 4 soccer state Final Four appearances of that time span as well. I think a huge issue for Oakwood (and Carlisle) is that grass field. Kids these days just don’t want to deal with grass so they quit young and never get back on track.
 
SWBL_24 said:
Being great at soccer and football is possible. Waynesville has won the SWBL 3 of the last 5 years and has had 4 soccer state Final Four appearances of that time span as well. I think a huge issue for Oakwood (and Carlisle) is that grass field. Kids these days just don’t want to deal with grass so they quit young and never get back on track.
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Yet most soccer coaches I know want grass.

If kids are opting out of football because they have to play on grass, they probably aren’t going to be helping you win games on turf.
 
SWBL_24 said:
Being great at soccer and football is possible. Waynesville has won the SWBL 3 of the last 5 years and has had 4 soccer state Final Four appearances of that time span as well. I think a huge issue for Oakwood (and Carlisle) is that grass field. Kids these days just don’t want to deal with grass so they quit young and never get back on track.
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That's very true. You have some strong football programs that have strong soccer programs, Kirtland comes to mind. However, I don't know that it's the norm necessarily either. Not at the smaller school level we'll say, DIV and lower.
 
ThursdayAllAmerican said:
Yet most soccer coaches I know want grass.

If kids are opting out of football because they have to play on grass, they probably aren’t going to be helping you win games on turf.
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I don't see the connection to turf vs. grass either. To be honest, I think we may have many schools wanting to go back to grass in the future.
 
ThursdayAllAmerican said:
Yet most soccer coaches I know want grass.

If kids are opting out of football because they have to play on grass, they probably aren’t going to be helping you win games on turf.
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Grass puts the whole program behind. From ages 12 - 18 if the kids have to play on grass they start to loose the joy in football which leads to low numbers. There is a reason Carlise and Oakwood have the 2nd and 3rd smallest football teams. It is a huge problem for specifically Carlise who has been successful recently but there numbers are declining.
 
If I could interject a little bit, I have a little bit of perspective dad in the last few years. Tippecanoe has had a rather big upswing in football, and at the same time you cannot dissuade an opinion on our soccer program, I for one could typically care less about soccer But soccer on a grass field absolutely Brings a football field in our program. Only the varsity football team could play on grass but yet three programs of varsity JV and freshman were still allowed to play on the grass field at the city park. This is not good for a grass field With football games only having six or so games on a grass field. You would have to expect that better than 25 or 30 soccer games would be played on the same grass field when you start off with a goose goat pasture this is not good for one playing service Three years or so ago tip city actually made the investment to put in a turf field. That investment was awesome. As far as the kids being able to play on a decent field surface let’s forget for a second that the stands and infrastructure surrounding it sucked that being said it has elevated our program to where we are actually respected in the state in relation to both the football and soccer. The soccer team actually won the state championship last year so let’s forget about a lot of different things and say that if there is only a football team playing on a field surface grass is fine. Other than that if you have more than two teams playing on the field surface, you have to have artificial turf , I don’t want to sound like I’m being an alarmist but reality is reality you have to play on what you have and you have to deal with what you have that being said I just want the kids to be able to play sports in high school and have a good and safe time with that. I will shut the hell up. Sorry for the semi drunk rant..
 
Tippy Canoe said:
If I could interject a little bit, I have a little bit of perspective dad in the last few years. Tippecanoe has had a rather big upswing in football, and at the same time you cannot dissuade an opinion on our soccer program, I for one could typically care less about soccer But soccer on a grass field absolutely Brings a football field in our program. Only the varsity football team could play on grass but yet three programs of varsity JV and freshman were still allowed to play on the grass field at the city park. This is not good for a grass field With football games only having six or so games on a grass field. You would have to expect that better than 25 or 30 soccer games would be played on the same grass field when you start off with a goose goat pasture this is not good for one playing service Three years or so ago tip city actually made the investment to put in a turf field. That investment was awesome. As far as the kids being able to play on a decent field surface let’s forget for a second that the stands and infrastructure surrounding it sucked that being said it has elevated our program to where we are actually respected in the state in relation to both the football and soccer. The soccer team actually won the state championship last year so let’s forget about a lot of different things and say that if there is only a football team playing on a field surface grass is fine. Other than that if you have more than two teams playing on the field surface, you have to have artificial turf , I don’t want to sound like I’m being an alarmist but reality is reality you have to play on what you have and you have to deal with what you have that being said I just want the kids to be able to play sports in high school and have a good and safe time with that. I will shut the hell up. Sorry for the semi drunk rant..
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Yup, turf is a game changer. Perfectly maintained grass is better than perfectly maintained turf, however high schools don't keep there grass perfectly maintained and have up to 5-6 hours worth of practices in the fall. Players don't want to deal with mud when it rains or dust when it doesn't rain because high schools don't take care of their field. Every high school in America should install some quality turf, do a small bit of weekly maintenance to keep it in good shape. After about 10-12 years or so depending on use a new field will probably be necessary and then you repeated that process. At Waynesville, which has a successful football program and a extremely successful boys and girls soccer program, turf was installed in 2013 I believe. A new field will be needed within a few years it is fantastic. You don't have to worry about over using it and upkeep is minimal so it is open to any community members at anytime. Almost everytime you go drive past it you will see a team practice, players training on their own, or some younger kids playing ulitmate frisbee or something like that. Very very impact for the community and allows for everyone to become a better athlete.
 
SWBL_24 said:
Grass puts the whole program behind. From ages 12 - 18 if the kids have to play on grass they start to loose the joy in football which leads to low numbers. There is a reason Carlise and Oakwood have the 2nd and 3rd smallest football teams. It is a huge problem for specifically Carlise who has been successful recently but there numbers are declining.
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I really don't understand your argument. There's plenty of great programs with grass.
 
SWBL_24 said:
Grass puts the whole program behind. From ages 12 - 18 if the kids have to play on grass they start to loose the joy in football which leads to low numbers. There is a reason Carlise and Oakwood have the 2nd and 3rd smallest football teams. It is a huge problem for specifically Carlise who has been successful recently but there numbers are
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Are we talking grass? Or grassss??

I don’t understand this argument at all.

I’m not sure some people on here aren’t smoking grass. LOL.
 
Turf, Grass. That isn't why kids are not playing football. There are Multiple reasons that numbers are low. I believe last year someone had numbers on football, numbers as whole was down at most places. I know Carlisle Numbers will be up this season and for a few years to come. Changes within the program help the kids get excited for football again. I think other sports and other interests are the reason numbers are low as well. Carlisle the past few years the numbers have not been very good. Hopefully a leadership change proves to be the difference. Only time will tell.
 
SWBL_24 said:
Yup, turf is a game changer. Perfectly maintained grass is better than perfectly maintained turf, however high schools don't keep there grass perfectly maintained and have up to 5-6 hours worth of practices in the fall. Players don't want to deal with mud when it rains or dust when it doesn't rain because high schools don't take care of their field. Every high school in America should install some quality turf, do a small bit of weekly maintenance to keep it in good shape. After about 10-12 years or so depending on use a new field will probably be necessary and then you repeated that process. At Waynesville, which has a successful football program and a extremely successful boys and girls soccer program, turf was installed in 2013 I believe. A new field will be needed within a few years it is fantastic. You don't have to worry about over using it and upkeep is minimal so it is open to any community members at anytime. Almost everytime you go drive past it you will see a team practice, players training on their own, or some younger kids playing ulitmate frisbee or something like that. Very very impact for the community and allows for everyone to become a better athlete.
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I know that Oakwood does a really good job with their grass field. The crew takes really good care of it during and after the season. The biggest deference for them is when they built the new stadium down by the Old NCR building. It took all the other sports like Soccer, Field Hockey, Lacrosse, that used the field, away so the wear and tear is way down now. There are reasons that kids in Oakwood don't play football, but I can assure you turf is not in the top 10.
 
We’re now in beginning April and summer workouts are right around the corner. Whats people got coming back? I know VV loses a bit, qb hurts. BV loses qb and top skill position. WV brings back qb and top skill position. How’s the league shape out this year? Can’t imagine any besides those 3 winning out the small school side. Big school side who knows about Monroe? BB will be stout again, and must think it’s up to them to lose it. Edgewood could be strong. Last year it seemed small school side was much deeper than big school side. My guess in april

Small school
1. Waynesvile
2. Brookvile
3. VV
4. Eaton
5. Madison
6. Oakwood
7. Carlisle

Big school
1. Bellbrook
2. Edgewood
3. Ross
4. Monroe
5. Franklin
 
hoser3 said:
Uh Edgewood opens withD1 Milford, D1 Springboro, Badin a D3 power inthe state, and also has CJ a GCL team. Stupid scheduling.
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...........and rebuilding/realigning the entire coaching staff. Should be interesting. I'm curious to see what the young man comes up with.
 
Uh schedule is a result of the Edgewood powers that be hiring an AD who is a Badin guy thru and thru. Uh I say drop Badin Butler county all-star team. Quit playing D1 schools and schedule D2 teams.
 
Bucky_Bronco said:
We’re now in beginning April and summer workouts are right around the corner. Whats people got coming back? I know VV loses a bit, qb hurts. BV loses qb and top skill position. WV brings back qb and top skill position. How’s the league shape out this year? Can’t imagine any besides those 3 winning out the small school side. Big school side who knows about Monroe? BB will be stout again, and must think it’s up to them to lose it. Edgewood could be strong. Last year it seemed small school side was much deeper than big school side. My guess in april

Small school
1. Waynesvile
2. Brookvile
3. VV
4. Eaton
5. Madison
6. Oakwood
7. Carlisle

Big school
1. Bellbrook
2. Edgewood
3. Ross
4. Monroe
5. Franklin
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UH , likely Edgewood will be 0-3 to start the season. Whoever made this schedule should be fired.
 
Bucky_Bronco said:
We’re now in beginning April and summer workouts are right around the corner. Whats people got coming back? I know VV loses a bit, qb hurts. BV loses qb and top skill position. WV brings back qb and top skill position. How’s the league shape out this year? Can’t imagine any besides those 3 winning out the small school side. Big school side who knows about Monroe? BB will be stout again, and must think it’s up to them to lose it. Edgewood could be strong. Last year it seemed small school side was much deeper than big school side. My guess in april

Small school
1. Waynesvile
2. Brookvile
3. VV
4. Eaton
5. Madison
6. Oakwood
7. Carlisle

Big school
1. Bellbrook
2. Edgewood
3. Ross
4. Monroe
5. Franklin
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Eaton loses quite a bit from last season. It may be tough sledding for the Fighting Eagles in 2024. I think that where you have them placed is very much justified.
 
BigK72 said:
Divisons came out yesterday. Most noteworthy, Valley View and Brookville are now DIV
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Saw that. Those are two favorites to win D5 R20 every year. Now they go to region 16 with the likes of Wyoming, Clinton Massie and Alter. Tough Region.

Saw Versailles moved up to Region 20 from 24. MAC schools are always powerhouses.
 
Crazy Horse said:
Saw that. Those are two favorites to win D5 R20 every year. Now they go to region 16 with the likes of Wyoming, Clinton Massie and Alter. Tough Region.

Saw Versailles moved up to Region 20 from 24. MAC schools are always powerhouses.
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region 20 lost:
1-VV
3-Brookville
4-Zane Trace
5-Purcell Marian
7-Northeastern
8-Bethel-Tate
9-Blanchester

Waynesville has to be excited!
 
dograt said:
region 20 lost:
1-VV
3-Brookville
4-Zane Trace
5-Purcell Marian
7-Northeastern
8-Bethel-Tate
9-Blanchester

Waynesville has to be excited!
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Yes they are for sure. But they can’t like seeing Versailles moving in. But definitely a lot easier path for those two.
 
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