[killbilly usmc]

Not trying to fight duck. I'll just say what I've seen being around 2 programs. I'm from Marshall County a big 1 school county. I'm also a Mayfield fan. Schools like Marshall have a lot of athletes, but they are spread out across a lot of sports, so they are competitive in multiple sports, but no powerhouse in any. Teams like Mayfield may not have as many walking the halls, but Football is priority, and a higher percentage of there good athletes buy in to being a part of the football program even if they play other sports. It seems like Marshall kids mainly stick to one sport. If these teams could ever get most of there good athletes to buy in to playing football they would be much better. You have good kids in basketball, baseball, and soccer that has never touched a football. Small powerhouse programs in football have established thereself and get a lot of good players out. Marshall isn't disadvantaged by athletes Football just isn't a must so they suffer, which is not the fault of the powerhouses. I was in ag, and welding with a lot of kids that didn't play in any sport, but could have been a good athlete. Before I became a fat tub of lard, I was one of the faster kids, and didn't play a sport in high school. The 3 biggest freaks of nature I seen growing up in school didn't play any sports, and would have all been standouts.
Sports just doesn't matter to some schools, but the die hard fans of those schools will complain when they get stomped thinking they are at a disadvantage when they are not. The big disadvantage is your school culture, but if your school doesn't have football as priority, you will usually lose to a school that has that as there priority.