[Ike Cooter]

If my son is or was trying to get a football scholarship and he had a choice as an elective between choir, guitar, personal finance or advanced weight lifting with a certified lift trainer, there is not a bit of doubt with me which class he would take and I would not be a bit ashamed to say he took it.

As for discipline - there are loose ships and tight ships. You can discipline differently at Trinity or Highlands because there are 3-4 kids ready and able to step up if someone gets booted. It's different at a smaller school. As much as we want to say rules are black and white, discipline is increasingly a world of grey scales. I think in extreme cases, coaches who mete severe sanctions to players should let the team vote on a secret ballot if they want a suspended player to return to the team. A good coach will know his players, the parents, his community and what techniques to use. What works at St. X would not necessarily be the right mix at Louisville Central or Mayfield. Discipline that worked for Bear Bryant in 1965 would not work for Nick Saban today

Kids who are good enough to "excel" not just sign with a college are more often than not the ones who are academic first students. Whats wrong with a kid learning finance, business managment or home economics rather than lifting weights. Again schools should be academics first athletics second. Thats why its called extra curicular activities. And again I would bet the farm that the number of high school athletes that participate in college athletics is less than 10% so why push them towards classes which does nothing to prepare them for the future unless they are going to be certified personal trainers. Which again I'm sure the percentage of CPT's is less than 2%. I guarantee if you ask any coach he will stress academics first whether he means it or not is unknow.....