Is there a better high-school baseball program in the area than the one at Carmel High?
Every year, that program is strong. This year, it has started out 5-0.
In fact, it's kind of interesting that East Suburban Catholic Conference rivals Joliet Catholic and Carmel are both state powers in football and baseball, but really, really, really struggle in boys basketball.
Why is that?
Variety of reasons. However, football and baseball tend to go hand in hand. Basketball? Not so much.
It's really hard to win big in the "Big Three" sports, let alone at a school with only 1300 students. Schools like Stevenson and Warren SHOULD win in all of the sports and yet they don't always excel.
Yes, the Carmel baseball program does things the right way.
Carmel recruits! Let's not forget that anyone in Lake County can go there and if some parent thinks that their kid will get "more exposure"(what a joke) at Carmel, they will pay the 30 grand to attend. Look at the public high schools some of their starters would attend and consider how good that team would be with that athlete. That said, I do agree that Coach Gandolfi does a great job with his talent but it is not a level playing field.
Oh, yes. What an advantage it is for Carmel to have their 1300 kids (compared to way more for NSC schools) pay $34000 to go there!
But if they have the money and want to go there, they can. These other schools cannot go to little league and youth football games and talk to the parents of the better players about coming to their school. It happens. I'm not ignoring the fact that it is expensive but the public schools do not get athletes from other communities to load their roster. Quantity does not always equal Quality.
Do you really think they go sit in the stands of Little League baseball gamees? My family attended Carmel. My bros were real good athletes, but Gandolfi never saw them play, except at his camp. Why did we go? Better education and b/c we're Catholic. 95% of the kids at Carmel also attend Catholic grade schools. Are they recruiting the players when they're 5?
You really think Gandolfi sits in the stands at Little League baseball games? My whole family attended Carmel and my brothers were real good athletes. I assure you the only time he saw us play was at his camp.
Want to know what my frieds did have in common? About 95% of us attended Catholic grade schools. Look at the football program. It's the same thing. Are they recruitng when kids are five?
Grayslake Central has been pretty consistent with baseball(just beat Carmel) and basketball(sectional finals) of late, but as mentioned tough to be good in all 3. The football program really struggles, splitting the schools really hurt football.