Will Independence start their climb back this season; tough match up early against North Mecklenburg.
Indy will be improved, but so will North Meck. The Vikings had a young team last year and also didn't have big numbers, but Eric Morman will resolve the numbers issue.
I like Mike Natoli and what he's done at Independence. The Patriots probably have much to prove after (1) the last 3 seasons and (2) having to forfeit the last two games of the 2018 season.
While Independence could potentially win this game (anything is possible the first few weeks of the season), North Meck is a moderate favorite to win this game.
So how will he resolve the numbers issue? This is an issue facing many schools. Population is exploding in that part of the county. But football participation numbers are dropping. Winning can help those numbers, but not until next season. I've not heard about numbers for this year. But I do know that several programs in CMS are suffering with numbers.
Coach Morman relates well with the kids and knows how to challenge them without running them away from the game. I also imagine he knows how to relate to the concerns of the parents.
I believe that the NC high school football culture keeps evolving throughout the years. One of the biggest cultural challenges in my surrounding area is promoting high school football to the Latino students. Over the past few seasons, I've seen increased participation from the Latino community. However, the Latino participation rate lags way behind the average participation rate of all groups.
The other cultural challenge in my area goes with safety. Some might question if this is a cultural issue or more of a societal issue, but in my area, it's definitely a cultural issue. More and more parents in my area believe that football is a barbaric sport. The mindset is very strong and more and more people are drawn into this camp of people.
With all challenges, strong communication skills can mitigate the risk of lower participation. Not just with athletes, but strong communication skills apply with bands (lower participation rates), boosters, and the fans.
Relating etc isn't going to change the turnout of players; it isn't helping elsewhere. Like him or not, to see how Rocky White was treated by his team after he was let go; that tells you just how well he related with players and families. There were very few families at South Mecklenburg that wanted a change. Yet they had low turnout AND some of the very good players found their way to other schools.
Winning a lot might help a little. However, schools are losing players to Hough, Mallard Creek, Vance, Myers Park, Butler that could help them win. So... the winning is tougher for other programs.
