I’ve always acknowledged that words, not numbers, are my friends. So it remains.

I put up this post on Tuesday, linking to a story in the Marion (O.) Star about the Ohio High School Athletic Association’s look at conducting separate state championships for its public and private schools. The idea stemmed from a survey sent out statewide by school superintendents in Wayne County, Ohio.

I ran some numbers in that post that were, well, they were close, but they weren’t 100 percent accurate.

In short, I said that private schools have won 243 PIAA team championships since private schools joined the PIAA in 1972 (more accurately, PIAA was forced to accept private schools that year after the General Assembly changed the school code, barring PIAA from barring private schools). That number was incorrect; the correct number is 256.

I worked off of my PIAA all-time championships database on Tuesday and I did so in a hurry; I had a “date” with my ex-wife on the 8th floor of the Dauphin County Human Services building that turned out to be the most expensive “date” I’ve ever had with any woman. Anyone who has been to the 8th floor knows exactly what I mean.

The bottom line is I went through the database once, rapidly and did not double-check my work. Yep, made a few errors.

I went back through each sport and recalculated the numbers. As noted, private schools have won 256 PIAA team championships since joining PIAA (of all sports, I failed to add in the 13 football titles won by privates). I also said there have been 1,580 PIAA team championships all-time (I still believe that to be correct), but when I calculated the number of total team titles since 1972, I used a completely erroneous total of 951 that came from another calculation, and thus reported that private schools have won nearly 26 percent of the state team championships.

Um, no. Since 1972, the PIAA has crowned 1,399 team champions. Using these correct numbers, private schools have won 18.3 percent of the state titles since 1972. Private school membership has usually been around 15 percent of total PIAA membership, so the private school titles run at just a slightly higher percentage of representation.

I apologize for the error.

If someone wants to check my math – and please do – I have added the following pdf file: Public v Private

Unfortunately, my 100-mph error left readers with the impression that private schools have been over-represented in PIAA team titles by winning about a quarter of them when in fact their numbers are in line with their percentage of membership.

As you can see, the problem is child is basketball, specifically girls’ basketball. Private schools have won 51.9 percent of PIAA girls’ hoop titles, and that’s where the flame burns the hottest on the public-private issue.

But what’s just as important – maybe even more important – is to look at the percentages of the other sports. By and large, the publics completely overwhelm the privates. No private school has won a PIAA boys volleyball or dual meet wrestling title. Private school titles are rare in baseball, softball and field hockey.

While it’s not entirely accurate to say the public v. private dust-up is a basketball-only issue, there really isn’t any other PIAA sport that has percentages as out-of-balance as hoops. That’s the No. 2 reason why I have always argued against the concept of separate championships, although based on their dismal numbers in some sports, the privates just might think it’s a swell idea.

Anyhow, I needed to correct the research. Like I said, numbers and I don’t always get along. Just ask the folks on the 8th floor.

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Back in April, we posted details on District 3′s new and somewhat complicated power rating system, a cutting-edge system that brings considerable depth to the rating by weighting a team’s results and its opponents’ results by classification.

It’s been a while since I’ve addressed it here. With fall sports having already begun in a couple of sports and ready to commence next week in others, I’ve decided to re-post it today. For some folks, this will be their first look at the system. For others, it will be a welcome review.

It’s important for fans, players and coaches to understand the new system, which goes to greater depth than any power rating District 3 – and possibly the state – has used.

The new District 3 power rating system with examples and tiebreakers is here: DISTRICT 3 POWER RATING

The power rating will be used to seed the brackets for District 3 championships in football, field hockey and boys soccer. The district will also use the power rating for regular-season game only to determine at-large bids for girls volleyball (the district will still use league qualifying in volleyball). It will run pilot programs for girls tennis and a pilot for girls volleyball using all games including tournament results.

If deemed successful, District 3 will continue to use it in the winter for boys and girls basketball and team wrestling.

Its potent strength of schedule component, which accounts for one-third of the total power rating – weighted wins and losses account for the other two-thirds – helps to encourage the scheduling of strong opponents regardless of classification, eliminating a roadblock (or an excuse) often used in refusing to schedule certain schools.

It has two drawbacks: It will be time-consuming to implement (District 3 will count the results of all contests, including non-PIAA schools, although it will not weight the latter) and the power rating number itself is an unwieldy seven-digit decimal.

But in the main, it appears to be a superior mathematical power rating system and certainly worthy of experimentation by District 3. Other districts have already said they will be watching the results of District 3′s experiment with the system in order to ascertain whether it merits use in their own districts.

Disclosure: District 3 has hired me, as well as two others, to facilitate the power rating system. I will do the field hockey power ratings because the District 3 brass, sneaks that they are, know that I have a daughter playing field hockey and I couldn’t refuse. (Truth: it made sense to divide the work this way).

Any questions, email me at rod@rodfrisco.com.

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This story appeared in the Marion Star recently, indicating that the Ohio High School Athletic Association (OHSAA, the PIAA’s Ohio counterpart) is looking at separating the public and private school championships. (Hat tip to District 3 treasurer Bob baker and District 3 committee member Doug Bohannon for passing this along.)

Based on the story, this issue has some legs in Ohio. That’s interesting because the reasons for considering such a drastic move are virtually identical to the reasons the issue has been discussed – without success – in Pennsylvania.

As noted, only three states that have private schools as members of their state associations have separate championships. Other states have only public schools as members.

As it happens, Pennsylvania is ripe for a serious look at the matter, even though Catholic schools are shrinking in enrollment and numbers (Wilkes-Barre and Scranton, which each used to have numerous Catholic high schools, are each served by one now; several Philadelphia area Catholic schools have merged in the last three years).

The PIAA is currently in the process of reviewing its entire structure, from the public vs. private issue right down to how it qualifies schools for its championships. Never has the climate been better for actual change.

But the question here is: Should it change? Advocates of separate championships for public and private schools or at least a different system of classification for private schools are passionate about the issue. Proof is that the matter is revisited on an perennial basis.

Personally, I think this is Crybaby Central and always has been. The privates have an advantage available to them, but I can’t abide separate championships.

It is a fact that private schools have won a high proportion of basketball championships relative to their numbers, especially in Class AA and and Class A. The problem is especially acute in small-school girls basketball.

The privates show up pretty large in other sports as well, soccer chief among them. But by and large, private school dominance is a non-issue in a number of sports. There’s an enormous amount of data available on this issue, but we’re just going to focus on totals.

All-time, there have been 1,580 PIAA team championships in all sports (excluding gymnastics, which is absent complete results).

Of those 1,580 team titles, 243 – or 15 percent – have been won by private schools. That’s roughly the percentage of private schools that are PIAA members.

But private schools have only been PIAA members since 1972; PIAA has been conducting championships since 1920, starting with boys basketball and adding other sports over the years.

When the pre-1972 years are excluded, the percentage of private school championships jumps to about 26 percent, an over-representation, but one inflated by the basketball results.

Since this is a general, and not a scientific, exercise, I’m skipping past all of the necessary statistics and disclaimers and possibilities to get to a central point: Yes, privates do have an advantage because of their ability to draw from multiple public school districts and even nationwide (Milton Hershey comes to mind).

But so what? I get the advantage, but I can’t stand the whining. I wouldn’t argue against a reasonable remedy regarding classifications, but there is no way I would support separate championships. The great thing about the PIAA Championships is they are virtually all-inclusive since the addition of the Philadelphia Public League and Philadelphia Catholic League schools. In that sense, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

So, yes, there are some private school issues that merit serious discussion. But separate championships should not be a part of that discussion.

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