oldschool2

I'd have to see some statistics on that. I'm not believing that high household incomes doesn't correlate to money pumped into public school athletic programs. And also.. money that it takes to put student athletes through offseason leagues/camps/training. I'd never say that exceptions aren't out there.. but you won't convince me that the ratio of kids of affluent homes and kids of poor homes is anywhere near equal in total numbers when it comes to participation in year round playing/training. There's just no way.

Do you not believe that the money put into sports programs have an overall more positive impact than those same programs in schools that can't put similar funding? (facilities, equipment, training programs, coaching caliber, number of coaches, kids' time/ability to train, etc.). So that doesn't matter because of some exceptions that prove otherwise? If that's what you're saying, let's just agree to disagree. And in the case of Onalaska and Brock.. I don't think it matters how closely Onalaska develops the football program to how Brock did it. It will not yield the same results.. or even close to. Large in part to the list of things I just provided.

Median household income is generally used as a benchmark for measuring relative poverty. I already said that there are exceptions. You listed some of said exceptions. Now do median household income for Mart, Brock, Aledo, Allen, Austin LT and WL, Katy... I think the comparison made in this conversation was Brock and Onalaska. I'd bet a considerable amount of money that the median household incomes in this particular comparison is an indicator to how much money is in the community, how much money is paid in school taxes, how much money in pumped into the athletic programs. I agree, it's not always an accurate representation.

Definitely not solely on median income. But it's a factor.. and one that's pretty frequent among football powerhouses. There are very few consistently dominant high school football programs that don't have very much money in the community. But on the other side of the argument.... Moneyball is a very real thing.

The median household income in Brock, Texas, is approximately $95,876 to $104,443 per year, based on recent 2026 data. As of 2026, the median household income in Onalaska, Texas, is approximately $51,912. It's not going to be the same.

You listed some former Tarkington head coaches that were hired with losing records. How do you know they were the most successful coaches from the applicants at the time? How do you not see how what I posted has a lot to do with what you posted?

I think you're assuming that coaches with winning records just inundate all head coaching opportunities with unlimited interest. Big name coaches (or ones with winning records) don't normally apply for this type of job. Are they supposed to just scrap every resume until they get to a winning one? I'd think that most schools try to hire the best candidate of the ones that apply for the job.

There are probably plenty of good football coaches that are interested in the job, but a proven winning football coach isn't likely to be interested in a job like Tarkington. Because coaches that make a name for themselves go on to better jobs that are normally competitive. Or at least high paying. Schools like Tarkington that are neither historically competitive nor high paying will not attract known successful coaches. Sorry.. that's just how it works.

Depends on who you ask I guess.

Community support.

I've advocated to facilities upgrades for forever on this site (since I created an account). I used to catch a lot of ridicule from the old school mentality of, "it was good enough for my grandparents.. it's good enough now".. when in reality, if you're not providing top notch facilities, then your kids will go somewhere that has them. It's recruiting without recruiting. Plus, knowing that these tax rate increases are so small in the grand scheme of things.. it's beyond my level of comprehension why communities wouldn't want a school they're proud to show off. There's an enormous sense of pride associated with knowing that other schools are potentially jealous of what you have when they come to visit. Just pass the bond. Upgraded facilities will have a positive impact on your students' experiences for long after you've died.

Just out of curiosity.. what suggestions do you have to make the district appealing? Money?

I didn't say the coach hasn't done great with what he has. I has that barely breaking .500 THIS YEAR and missing the playoffs isn't great (regarding the basketball team). That's not a knock at the coach at all. When you don't have horses.. you don't have horses. But the season overall for the team overall was not great. Maybe as good as it could have possibly been.. or better. But that doesn't necessarily make it great.

No offense intended. What you mentioned is certainly above Tarkington's historic standard.. for most sports. But mediocre or a step above isn't something I'd ever use the word "Great" with. .. Which I know that you said the year wasn't great. No question that 20+ wins and a playoff appearance is better than many, but other than this recent 6 year stretch you're talking about.. how often were even winning records happening? 6 years is not a long time. They're dropping, right? That'll definitely help.. or should. I don't know..

Great? I mean.. they had a kid that scored a lot of points. But they finished a little better than 50% and missed the playoffs. That's a great year? Plus.. wasn't the scorer a senior? Might be back to the struggle bus next year.