I have spent more than half of my fall Friday nights in a press box at a high school football stadium over the last 40 plus years. Probably over 80%. I took a few years off, after I got married and my kids were young. But you learn stuff up there that's not about the game. Half of the press boxes, the scribes sit in the same place, sometimes even next to scouts from teams, that will be playing one or both on the field in the next week, or two or three.
Dallas ISD scouts a few years ago told me that they have a rule in their district that they cannot scout more than one game against any team. When they play each other in district games, it's okay, because they are playing teams with the same restrictions. Fair is fair. There isn't enough money to pay sub varsity coaches to scout more than that.
So in a press box when the playoffs are getting near, one young guy who teaches in DISD is there by himself, scouting a game where his school might be playing either team. A best guess is made about who that might be, so he can focus on them.
A one school town like Allen is the opposite of that. They will have two guys there to scout each team that they might play. Often, there are contingencies where there might be a half dozen teams or more that they might face in the first or second or third round of the playoffs. And all of those teams get two sub varsity coaches there to look for tendencies, pace of the game and of course showing how they lined up on each play, both offensively and defensively. With two guys for each team, they get a lot more information and get more right. It's an enormous advantage.
Now college teams aren't allowed such a tactic. No representative on any staff is allowed to scout any team on their schedule. It's part of why the Jeff Lebby deal was such a big deal last season. That's not my point.
My point is that Ivy league teams usually only play each other with maybe one other school thrown in. So the fact that none of them are allowed any athletic scholarships is just fine. (BTW, I had a friend whose son was recruited by an Ivy. When I reminded him of that no ship thing, he smiled and told me that just about every athlete at an Ivy League school qualifies for an academic scholarship, so while many or most there don't really need a ship, anybody that does is usually on an academic ship.) And so if Ivy schools play each other, then it shouldn't be that big of a deal, though I have no idea how you figure out who a football player is without at least a little scrimmaging. But I looked at Harvard's schedule last year. They played ten games, seven were a conference game. They also played Rhode Island, Lafayette and Georgetown. I had no idea that Georgetown is still playing football. Or maybe they returned to playing football.
Harvard was 9-1 while going undefeated in their three non conference games. If this rule lasts for long, I have no idea how well they might do outside of their league games in the future. Maybe the rest will help them compete better. Heck, who knows. If OU had dealt with those kinds of practice restrictions, maybe Dante Hickson would have been a two year starter. We wouldn't have known his ability to break tackles, but he'd have played a lot since he was such a highly ranked recruit.
But to me, that's a little like being a basketball coach who doesn't allow shooting during practice. It's kind of the basis of the game.
Next thing the Ivy's will do, is require penalty on game day for a pancake block. Or ban hitting dummies in practice, because the guy holding the dummy might get hurt.
