Not sure how many of y'all have interest in Kelly Catholic football but...

[DannyShapiroBE]

...the Bulldogs today opted to play in an independent district for the next two seasons.

Jason Smith believes the change will help rebuild the football program.

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[bobbymcgee]

No one calls it “Kelly Catholic”... it’s Kelly. Back when you were in grade school in 2011 they actually competed in the state championship game 

[DannyShapiroBE]

11 minutes ago, bobbymcgee said:

No one calls it “Kelly Catholic”... it’s Kelly. Back when you were in grade school in 2011 they actually competed in the state championship game 

Grade school to a full-time job in six years? I'll take it.

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[dBerrySports]

I used Kelly Catholic in stories I wrote when I was there. Way back in 2013, when Danny was a wee lad, barely out of grade school.

[WOSgrad]

I use Kelly Catholic here all of the time......so does TAPPS.........so does maxpreps

Dang Danny, you were in grade school in 2011 and now you are a grown man?  Wow! You need to write a book!

[aki1994]

10 hours ago, bobbymcgee said:

No one calls it “Kelly Catholic”... it’s Kelly. Back when you were in grade school in 2011 they actually competed in the state championship game 

Angry little elf

[jv_coach]

If I was a private school guy, I would just do an outlaw schedule of 11 games.  Might be more money in it that way.

[bobbymcgee]

That may be but you don’t see Kelly Catholic on any jerseys or the team call themselves that.

anyway the point i am trying to make is that this article is written like “poor poor pitiful Kelly they can’t compete with all of these big bad schools” when in fact it wasn’t that long ago that they WERE competing against this level of competition and not losing games to Legacy. I understand that they probably should be in this loser district based on recent performance but the story that is missing here is what the heck happened to this school , why have Houston schools surpassed them so much and what can they do to restore the program or is this going to be the new normal? Is it a bigger issue in regard to the school itself?  Apologies for the rant but just some food for thought. 

[DannyShapiroBE]

10 minutes ago, bobbymcgee said:

That may be but you don’t see Kelly Catholic on any jerseys or the team call themselves that.

anyway the point i am trying to make is that this article is written like “poor poor pitiful Kelly they can’t compete with all of these big bad schools” when in fact it wasn’t that long ago that they WERE competing against this level of competition and not losing games to Legacy. I understand that they probably should be in this loser district based on recent performance but the story that is missing here is what the heck happened to this school , why have Houston schools surpassed them so much and what can they do to restore the program or is this going to be the new normal? Is it a bigger issue in regard to the school itself?  Apologies for the rant but just some food for thought. 

The article is written that way because that's what Coach Smith said.

Did you not read it? 

"It's like an AK- 47 against a butter knife," Smith said.

Kelly's not producing (or recruiting) D1 talent like St. Pius X or other teams in its district. Also, as Smith mentioned, participation numbers are low and the losing of the past five seasons haven't helped that.

Also, and this is underrated, this new district cuts out what was going to be one or two long trips per season to Central Texas.

[Raiders94]

Sounds like they need to go out and recruit like the other private schools.

[AthleticSupporter - Jock]

34 minutes ago, Raiders94 said:

Sounds like they need to go out and recruit like the other private schools.

That's what I was about to say.  Look at how the basketball team is doing it.  There also has to be an emphasis and an interest in being a Winning Football school.  That philosophy was squashed and eliminated when Eskue, Credeur, Williams and staff were run out of town in the 90s.  Kelly has never recovered after that but the angry, non-football parents accomplished the equality across all programs that they were so hell-bent on.  By the way, the football program led by that coaching staff won 3 State Championships in '86, '87 & '89 and never lost to St. Pius, St Thomas, Strake Jesuit and others.  As the old saying goes, "Be careful what you ask for because you might just get it"

[WOSgrad]

Facts:

1.   Since that 2011 season, Kelly Catholic has gone 9-41 (a .180 winning percentage).

2.  Since that 2011 season, Kelly Catholic has gone 2-21 in district play (those two district wins were against Katy St. John XIII, which went 0-9 and 1-9 in those seasons that they lost to them).

3.  The lack of players is not something that is new under Coach Smith.  His predecessor Al Rabb, always lamented to me in his years at Kelly that he did not have the manpower to compete with the St. Pius' and St. Thomas' of the world.

I am sure that Jason Smith wishes he had the answers to it.  I think that by stepping back and rebuilding, he thinks it might be the answer.  And yes, at one time, very recently, Kelly was able to compete with these schools.  But the last few years have shown that not to be the case anymore.

Hopefully, they will be able to rebuild to the point where they can.

[MackLewis]

No one wanted to play Kelly when Coach Eskew was there in the 90’s!  He always had a very good ball team.

How times have changed.  Hope Coach Smith can turn it around.

[AthleticSupporter - Jock]

Oh and the '85 team lost in the State Championship game, so that's 3 titles and one runner up in a 5 year span.