It's all about the money.Carroll has lost revenue in the River Ridge. Nobody travels to see a bad game. They are hoping that the Radfords,Giles,Floyd's etc. will bring in more fans for gate money.This is what the A.D . Advised.
Things usually are about the money, no doubt. But competition goes hand-in-hand with that. You said it yourself - nobody travels to see a bad game. Yes, Carroll's AD blamed the fans from the other RRD schools for all of his school's woes, but I called a
massive load of BS on that in a lengthy post this past winter. Rather than admit that his school and athletic program face a lot of tough challenges that need to be addressed, he just threw all the blame at all the other district schools.
What he doesn't seem to understand is that as thrilled as he seems to be at the prospect of being a 4A school that will be playing bad 1A teams, the other schools in the River Ridge will be
ecstatic to see Carroll County go. I suspect, I should say. No more mandatory trips to Hillsville; no more empty visitors' stands when Carroll comes to town; and best of all, no more one-win albatross around the neck when it comes to the VHSL football ratings scale.
Believe me, Giles will have absolutely
no trouble with Carroll in football. It's hard to overstate just how wretched their program is. Carroll's AD thinks they're headed for greener pastures, but the ironic thing is, their football team will be hard-pressed to win more than two games in Three Rivers district play next year. Aside from Auburn, who will the Cavs have a
good chance of beating? Of course, they're probably going to go 0-for-four years in the River Ridge (although C'burg might be sweating this year), so even one district win would be an improvement, I suppose. Still, I doubt people will flock to Hillsville to see a smackdown from Alleghany or Radford, any more than they flocked from Roanoke to see a shellacking from PH or Cave Spring. Most people don't want to travel to see one of the worst teams in the state, in some of the poorest facilities, when the outcome is a foregone conclusion. And I will add that, counter to what their AD claimed, Salem more than filled Carroll's visiting side in the Spartans' only visit there three years ago.
In just about every other sport except softball, and perhaps girls basketball, Carroll Co. might be competitive, and nothing more, in the 3RD. Aside from those two sports, they've been at or near the bottom of the River Ridge in most everything else. They will probably dominate district competition in softball for one year if the pitcher Nester is still there, but after that, I imagine they'll be like a normal 2A in that sport, as well. If I were a fan of almost any 3RD school, I wouldn't be too concerned about Carroll County.