AP & VHSL
- Thread starter KptVol
- Start date
For some unknown reason, the AP stopped doing a poll. If anyone knows a newspaper guy, they might should ask him why AP ceased doing polls.
AP stopped doing polls for the same reason that they stopped naming All state teams. Marshall Johnson was the driving force behind all of it. When he retired it took a hit, but he still stayed on his successors to keep it going. When he passed away a few years ago, all AP coverage of high school sports in VA went with him. He was a prince of a man and is sorely missed. Nobody, and I mean nobody, did more to get info out about high school sports for over 50 years. He was a treasure.
Marshall was also one of the first media members to really embrace VirginiaPreps.com and is still one of my favorite people who I've met through this hobby-job.
Every year at the All-Metro Banquet, Marshall would sit with our staff at the table and it took everything that I had not to just sit and quiz him all night about the history of football in the state.
His acceptance played a big part in our staff feeling like we were legitimized in the startup years.
On the plus side, we do a top ten ranking for each class in the state which is widely the second- or third-most hated thing on the site.
So, there is that.
I also ditto Bulldog 1150's comments. As for the AP Poll, at least at the Group A level, it was nothing more than the teams with the best records 1-10 near the end of its run.
Heck, I remember one year the AP all-state football teams coming out in March!!!
Heck, I remember one year the AP all-state football teams coming out in March!!!
As someone who was part of picking the AP teams for many years, I can agree with the comments about Marshall Johnson. He would send letters and e-mails to coaches in area that weren't served by AP newspapers to make sure players in those areas were considered. Same for the old Northern Region since the Washington Post wasn't involved with Virginia AP.
