The Word on the street, No Go on the WOG, Christian McCain to Central Carolina Sports Academy

UPDATE:
The Word on the Street, was the Word of God Christian Academy in Raleigh, for Christian McCain, but we have received word this afternoon that a dead end has been cleared and Christian McCain is enrolled at the Central Carolina Sports Academy located in Greensboro.

McCain was the MVP in last year’s 3-A NCHSAA State Championship basketball game. Christian McCain previously attended Northern Guilford and Page.

Central Calolina Sports Academy has football and McCain is definitely set to go that route since he is receiving very serious interest from major DI college football recruiters.

McCain the #11th rated player among all high school football players in North Carolina……

We reported earlier today that Christian McCain was headed to Word of God in Raleigh and we were wrong and now as of today, McCain is enrolled at the Central Carolina Sports Academy in Greensboro operated by Clayton Banner…..

Christian is headed to the Sport Academy and remember, McCain is a good kid with loads of talent and let’s again hope he finds his way here in the Triad area……

Sorry for any confusion, but you live and die by the word on the street. Sources do tell us, they do not think Christian McCain will play basketball at the Central Carolina Sports Academy, but that he will focus on football and academics and try and get in all the classes he needs for college.

Christian McCain enrolled at the Central Carolina Sports Academy!

40 thoughts on “The Word on the street, No Go on the WOG, Christian McCain to Central Carolina Sports Academy

  1. Since when does Word of God in Raleigh play 11 man football? They have always played 8 man football and their schedule for this fall on Maxpreps is an 8 man league schedule.

  2. Indeed you are correct. Word of God in Raleigh plays 8 man football and they are definitely playing 8 man again this fall.

  3. If he is going to Word of God, which I am not convinced is true, I would ask who is advising him? Why would he leave Northern to play 8 man football for Word of God against a bunch of tiny little schools? If he not ineligible which I assume he is not, then why make this move?

  4. Very interesting indeed! I thought he went to Northern for their “academic reputation”……….maybe academics are even better at WOG? Why not just go back to Page………lol!!

  5. I wondered how long it would take u to update your article Andy. Like I said in my other post that Chris needed to focus on his books. I wish him the best on getting his act together in the classroom. Fine young man that needs to buckle down. I definitely will be rooting for him

  6. CCSA is geared for post grads and the classes are also I thought. Are they putting together a curriculim for high school students, I assume?

  7. Could someone please explain to me what is wrong with just playing high school football and going to class? Isn’t that how is has always been?

    These special school schools are not offering anything that these kids can’t get in a traditional high school. There are many great coaches in the public high schools, that have sent many kids to top level colleges.

    All that these special “academys” do is take a product that has been developed most often in a public school environment and charge the familys money. What do they offer?

    I can accept a program like this as a post grad option for a kid who may need more time for there body to fill out or who is a marginal player; but for a kid who is a top level prospect it is just a money-maker for whoever is running the program.

    This is just my opinion.

  8. so a kid can drop out of high school and then apply for Federal Financial Aid so he can go to a “private sports school”? This is no knock on McCain but this sounds wrong on so many levels.

  9. Well,

    I hope things get better for this student. Guilford County School system has probably
    erased his chance of getting a full D1 Scholarship to a Major Program. That would equate to something in the range of $80,000 to $120,000 on the average for an out of state school.

  10. How has Guilford County Schools done anything to his chance at a scholarship? He is one of the best players in the state according to the scouting services. All he needs to do is to play football and get his grades.

    Stop making excuses for these kids and their families. How does the school system benefit from making it harder for any of these kids to get scholarships? There is no logic to that reasoning.

    One thing that we can be sure of, as long as a kid is not in jail, and if he has the talent, he can play major college sports.

  11. From what I’ve heard, the McCain kid will be just fine. The schools that were looking at him when he was in GCS are still looking at him. One of the earlier posters said, “so a kid can drop out of high school and then apply for Federal Financial Aid so he can go to a ‘private sports school’? This is no knock on McCain but this sounds wrong on so many levels.” Why?

    Why the concern about whether there is a cost or not? Students and adults “invest” in themselves all the time. They attend private schools, enroll in special programs to get extra training, go back to school, etc. Why would you assume he applied for federal financial aid, anyway? Do you know his family or their situation?

    It’s interesting to me that other kids in the county (athletes) have recently transferred out of the system (GCS) and received high praise for being proactive in trying to improve their grades, etc. I didn’t see any snide comments about them “dropping out of high school” when they transferred to private schools, so why would you say that about this kid? I’m just saying that some of the comments are so biased against some of these kids that it is unbelievable.

    My daughters graduated from high school 3 years ago and weren’t nearly as “high-profile” as some of these kids are, but I certainly would not have hesitated to put them in what I thought was a better situation if I believed it was warranted.

  12. Doing whats best for your kid is great, but whoring your kid around is not good. Go ahead and say that I don’t know the family but I do know he was supposed to be at Eastern Guilford then went to Page then went to Northern and now is going somewhere else. Give me a freakin break no kid is the next coming of Christ. All of this is ruining or has already ruined the purity of high school sports.

  13. Why the concern about whether there is a cost or not? Students and adults “invest” in themselves all the time. They attend private schools, enroll in special programs to get extra training, go back to school, etc. Why would you assume he applied for federal financial aid, anyway?

    You are correct. I did assume. My assumption was based on the fact when I went to the Central Carolina Sports Academy’s own website and clicked on the link about how much the school cost it simply brought up a page directing students to apply for FAFSA. I always thought this academy was for high school graduates who lacked the grades or SAT scores to get into college, to give them a chance to attend community college to work on grades but continue to play football. A very noble idea. I never thought it would be used by high school aged kids as a means to bypass high school.

  14. The fact is that if your school system supported him as a student athlete he would not have to transfer to a prep school period.

    Mr Brian states “Stop making excuses for these kids and their families. How does the school system benefit from making it harder for any of these kids to get scholarships? There is no logic to that reasoning.”

    Mr Brian does not have the big picture but I will not attack him.

    Say this over and over and maybe it will come to you.

    If the student athlete has the support of his school system he would not have to transfer to a prep school.

    No matter what happened between Coach Kowalewski and the Athletic Director John Hughes, Page Coach Robert Kent and the Coach Shoemaker of Ragsdale. You should not treat your students the way they treated the students at Northern.

    If there was a problem with rules and compliance. You fix the rules and how each school comply with rules. You do not try to criminalize the kids.

    Jay Canty is leaving Coach Shoemaker for his senior season. Maybe you should investigate why so many players do not like to play for this coach. There appear to be a problem for some coaches when a player is playing AAU basketball also. Duece Bello did not want to play at Ragsdale. A lot of coaches do not like the fact that recruiting does not depend so much on the High School coach anymore. Because it is hard to gage how good a player is if his high school team only plays local non competitive teams. That is why AAU is so big now. Because the college coaches and scouts beleive that if you can compete at the highest AAU level you are likely to be able to compete at the college level.
    This hurts coaches with good records that play small non competitive teams.

    If you are good it should not matter who you play. Just play. Play the best competition you can find and don’ t worry about your win loss record. Find your weakness and get better. Do not cry and complain to the school board that the other team is better. Just practice a little harder.

    Do run all the good competition out of town, because you do not want to lose.

    Just play ball.

  15. no buddy, college coaches like AAU because they can see multiple players at once. Has nothing to do with the competition because its awful basketball anyways. Plus 75% of the AAU coaches are trying to whore kids out to get jobs, so soon the NCAA will put the ball back in the high school coaches’ court, and if you ask a straight forward college coach, they will tell you thats what needs to be done. You know nothing about college recruiting, you just made that obvious.

  16. CoachKnow,

    Let me see if I understand what you are saying…Are you saying that there is no need for high school basketball, since college coaches think so highly of AAU and less of high school basketball, because playing at a high level of AAU prepares the kids better for college basketball?..I mean, is this what I’m reading? However, I may be reading way too much into your statement…

    Let me say this though…If there weren’t OTHER coaches putting bugs into these kids ears telling them out much better this other coach at Northern or so and so coach at this so called school is, then some of these kids wouldn’t be thinking that they should leave their present coach…Granted, there is that possibility that there is one kid who just can’t get along with their coach, and it is better if they split…However, when nothing but “higher profile kids” leave these coaches, then this tells me that there are people out there who are recruiting these kids by bad mouthing these coaches and telling them how much better they could have it at their school…

    So CoachKnow, how about not being so arrogant?..High school sports have done great things for kids and scholarships…McCain could have stayed at Northern, and as far as I know, those were his plans, and as long as his grades were okay then he would have been able to have the D-1 pickings of his choice…After all, he left Page for the academic reasons, which now tells everyone in the community how much of a lie this was to begin with…People aren’t stupid…They see and understand what goes on with these high school recruiters who are selfish and greedy…Plain and simple…

  17. I did not indicate that there is no need for high school basketball.

    Dear Page Fan you have interpreted my words wrong. Let me try to be clearer.

    The travel and recruiting budget for universities does not allow for unlimited visit to watch the number of players they would like to see. At most high school games there are two teams. The home team and the away team. At a typical high profile AAU travel event you can expect to see 32 teams at the age group 17U , 32 team at the age group 16U and 24 teams 15U. Most of these team are comprised of a roster of the best players in an city, region or state.

    When it comes down to planning the events that you will cover, you make sure you budget to cover these massive events to get the max out of your money. What happens is the smaller 3A/2A/1A schools get left out, unless they have a high profile player on their roster. Such as what happened with Northern, Dudley, and Word Of God this past season. Now that PJ Hairston has made a verbal commitment to UNC and Nothern has been dismantled, Jay Canty is off to Charlotte. Westchester County Day has some names that will draw attention. Oak Ridge may rise, but this may not be a good year for basketball recruiting in Guilford County.

    Now here is the big question. Would you choose 2 high school teams to recruit or would you choose the 88 AAU teams to recruit?

    Understand that sports is good for any school. I do not think the school system should decide what level of competition is at which school.

    Here is another point for coaches that aspire to be a university coach. You must be able to recruit. Once the word is out that Coaches in Guilford County can not recruit.
    How can they convince an Athletic Director to hire them as a coach without the crucial recruiting skills.

    AD. Who is the highest profile player you have recruited to your program?
    Coach. We do not recruit in Guilford County
    AD. Have you recruited any AAU players for an AAU team?
    Coach. No we do not believe in recruiting in Guilford County.
    AD. Are you aware that this school is not in Guilford County.

  18. I just don’t see how this is the fault of GCS. the kid had a grades issue. How is that the fault of GCS? Making your grades doesn’t seem to be a problem for most athletes in GCS. Sounds like Christian has moved from district to district in search of something. He’s a great athlete – in two sports. Just make the grades and many doors will open.

    As to the boys not playing at Ragsdale. Jay was not eligible to play at Ragsdale. He does not have the grades to be eligible to play in any public school. He can reclassify and do his jr. year again giving him a “second chance” to qualify on the academic side. Duece never played school ball at ragsdale. He hung with a rough crowd in middle school and his family found a way to change his environment. Wise move on their part and some of the cost is paid for. Can’t blame his parents.

    Shoemaker can be tough to play for. He makes you do those things like off-season weighlifting and running programs. Makes the kids work. Not everyone likes that. And you have to make your grades. He can’t fix that. Every teacher at that school made themselves available to Jay. Free tutoring after and before school, extra work to raise his grades, everyone watching him to make sure he was with good kids. Everyone knows the opportuities Jay has and wants him to achieve those. Hopefully his new venue will be the right place for him to realize his dreams. 99% of the people out there in the community are pulling for him.

  19. “Here is another point for coaches that aspire to be a university coach. You must be able to recruit. Once the word is out that Coaches in Guilford County can not recruit.
    How can they convince an Athletic Director to hire them as a coach without the crucial recruiting skills.

    AD. Who is the highest profile player you have recruited to your program?
    Coach. We do not recruit in Guilford County
    AD. Have you recruited any AAU players for an AAU team?
    Coach. No we do not believe in recruiting in Guilford County.
    AD. Are you aware that this school is not in Guilford County.”

    ……I am now dumber for reading that. Thanks. You have reinforced that you have ZERO clue about college recruting.

  20. Deuce did actually play ball for ragsdale in his freshman season…actually he never really saw the court because of the “hard to play for coach” that they have at Ragsdale. It just goes to show you how smart of a coach he is and how he uses his players. If Jay had left Ragsdale at the same time Deuce did than he would be getting offers from big name D1 schools from all over the country and he wouldn’t be in the academic situation he is in now. THERE IS A REASON EVERYONE IS WANTING TO LEAVE RAGSDALE!!!! LOOK AT THE COACH AND ITS NOT BECAUSE OF THE OFF SEASON WORKOUTS AND STUDY HALL YOU HAVE TO DO THAT EVERYWHERE IN HIGH SCHOOL!!!!!!!!!!!!

  21. Coach Know,
    I have read many silly posts over the years including ones that were clearly written by 15 year olds. However, even including those, your above post with the scenario of the coach being interviewed by the college A.D. still beats out those others ones as the most hilarious and idiotic post I have ever read. It makes me wonder if you are really serious or just putting on to try and be funny. I am praying it is the latter and also assume you are not really a coach. One of my buddies is a high level DI college basketball assistant, and I cut and pasted your post and sent it to him because I thought he would find it hilarious. However, I am guessing you may actually just be joking around.
    As for Shoemaker, most people claim he is a good coach. Perhaps not everyone likes playing for him and you can say the same about any other high school coach around here and many of them are outstanding coaches also. Trashing a local coach anonymously on this site does not carry much credibility regardless.
    As for McCain, I won’t pass judgement as I don’t anything about his personal situation and he is just a kid, not an adult. I don’t see why he wouldn’t just stay at Northern and not keep bouncing around from school to school, and I certainly fail to see how GCS did anything to ruin his getting a chance at a scholarship. That is just silliness, but if he wants to go to private school and thinks that is a better situation, then I certainly would not fault him at all for that. I imagine he will do quite well in the end wherever he ends up. I have heard he is a nice kid.

  22. Go ahead and attack me, attack the truth, attack the kids.

    Again like I said if your School system supports a student athlete. The student
    athlete would not have to transfer out of a school or school system.

    I would not say that you are dumb haha. You are not enlighten.
    These links may help get you started.
    bobgibbons.net
    hoopmasters.com
    Boyshoopscout.com
    hoopgroup.com
    ncaa.org
    nchssa.org
    fullctpress.net
    scout.com
    jucojournal.com

    You may not agree. But you don’t have to be my enemy either.
    Just show me some facts.

  23. fellas,
    who cares whether shoemaker is a good coach or not? in my opinion, he should be helping these kids with their academics to help them improve. that is the measure of a good coach, not just wins and losses. that comment is not just a slam at shoemaker by the eway. the same could be said about other coaches in this system. most don’t really care about the kids, and they are just as selfish as the parents in their own way. wake up everybody—these kids respond to “tough love”—what they need and want is someone who truly cares about them, whether it’s parents or coaches!
    have a nice night!
    peace!!!!!
    dale

  24. First I did not trash any coach. I only raised the question of why are top players
    leaving this school.

    When one of your family members or friends change jobs what do you say about
    that friend or family member? Would you say that your mother is a bad employee.
    Would you say your wife is dumb because she did not like the work environment?

    What is good for Johnny may not be good for Joe.

    You have one coach, Coach Kowalewski that many kids want to play for. Then you have a couple of coaches that players are trying to get away from. You have coaches complaining because they left their program to be at program and coach that they felt they could succeed with and did succeed.

    You can dress it up. Spin it around. Justify. But it comes down to sour grapes.
    What did you do to help your student athlete succeed?
    What did you do to help your student athletes succeed?
    What did you do to help your student athletes succeed?
    What did you do to help your student atheletes succeed?
    What did you do to help your student athletes succeed?

    Why were the Northern players better? Were they born basketball players?
    Did they not practice?
    What did they do that other teams could not do?
    What did the individual players do that made them good athletes?

    I will tell you why they were better because they put in the time in the gym.

    While the other kids were at the beach, sitting around playing video games,
    going to the movies, and going to parties all summer. These boys were in the gym
    getting better.

  25. K’s players do work hard and there his staff works very hard to mentor the players in his programs ( for the most part ). There are a lot of people who criticize him, but I will give him a lot of credit—kids do want to play for him and one of the biggest reasons is that he respects his players and still disciplines them and has high expectations—he lets them make mistakes and gives them a foundation to be their own men. If they fall short, then he does not dis’ them–he gives them additional chances to make the grade. as people. like him or not, he does care!

  26. PARENTS SHOULD BE HELPING THEIR KID WITH ACADEMICS. IT ISNT SOLELY THE COACH’S RESPONSIBILITY. IT ISNT A COACH’S JOB TO RAISE SOMEONE ELSES KID. KIDS WANTING TO PLAY FOR A CERTAIN COACH BECAUSE THAT COACH PROMISES THE WORLD, AND A BUNCH OF CRAP ALONG WITH IT. GRASS IS ALWAYS GREENER MENTALITY.

  27. Dear CoachKnow,
    Please do not say that you are not bad-mouthing GCS or its coaches, because that is all you have done in every post. It is not a coach’s job to “Fix” grades for the students or give them a free pass with regards to their academics. Jay Canty and Deuce Bello have both struggled academically since middle school. Coach Gonzalez practically held their hands throughout their three years at JMS, spent numerous hours with them and offered tutoring. And, at Ragsdale the entire staff there bends over backwards for these athletes who are struggling. At some point it has to become the responsibility of the students themselves to do the work, not just on the court or field, but in the classroom! They have to want to make a better life for themselves and put forth the effort to help themselves! My kids have gone to school with these two former Ragsdale players, and while they are nice boys and talented athletes, they need to take responsibility for their own actions and future. It is not Coach Shoemaker’s responsibility to baby these kids and do their work for them, or give them the grades. He won’t do that, nor does he put up with any nonsense from his players. He makes them work hard and he expects the best from them, just as any other good coach does. It doesn’t matter what school you go to or who the coach is, if an athlete is capable of playing at the college level, the college coaches will find him. But, they do not want a “D” or “F” student/athlete – these athletes must be able to pass their classes!

  28. I find it disturbing that we are attempting to blame the GCS or coaches for a kid’s failure in the classroom. It is a relatively simple equation. If you don’t keep your grades up, you don’t get to play. If you show up in class, do your homework and do some studying, you will be successful. If you don’t put in the same effort in the classroom as you put on the field, you will not be successful. Almost all schools offer remedial help for students who are really behind. If you can’t pass high school courses, you have business going to college anyhow. Instead of transferring their children to other schools, put your time and effort into getting your child up to speed academically. This will pay dividends in the long run.

  29. I doubt the Northern kids were any better or worked any harder than many of the other programs in the area. The basketball team was stripped of its state title and all games from this past season were forfeited ala Univ. of Memphis. So in that regard, they were NOT better.

  30. the best athletes around will most likely go on and play at the next level, no matter if they play aau, Showcase or any of the other form of travel ball.

    I think the showcase style ball is more set up for the average to above average athlete, who needs professional marketing to try to amaze the recuiting scouts.

    the shame of it all is that many parents and athletes think that the more $$$ that they spend,,, the better their chances are of cutting a deal to play at the next level ,,,and maybe for now their right.

    the only big winners in that arena are the promoters that put on the event.

    not so many years ago, an athlete was judged on his ability to compete in his sport for his high school,,,,,even if playing on a losing team.

    back then coaches wanted to see how a good athlete reacted to adversity,,,how he could handle himself if things did nt go his way,,,,could he keep his cool while battling from behind,,,,,and most of all was he the type player who would lead the team into playing above their capabilities and sometimes win games they should nt.

    these athletes were playing for a purpose,,,pride , loyalty and team.

    things have changed,,,most of todays athletes are programed to play for # ONE,,,,,
    individual stats must come first, with team way down the list of priorities.

    baseball ,,,especially,,, has become somewhat of a ” country club sport “,,,,,parents with money doing their best to buy a spot for junior,,,the shame of it all is that a whole lot of talent gets left behind if this is the future for recruiting.

    people ask me,,,Who is the best pitcher or catcher in the class of 2010 ?

    I answer,,, Probably some poor kid bagging groceries at food lion down in eastern N.C.
    who has never heard tell of a showcase event.

  31. Okay, if I offended you by the questions I rasied about any particular coach, I apologize for those questions and statements.

    I would hope that there will not be any negative comments towards anyone, especially student athletes.

    Please support your student athletes. If you can not help them stay away from them.
    I you do not have anything good to say about them Do not say anything at all.

  32. I have seen the transcripts I do know the facts and GCS has let one student down for sure. They used him in his sport and continued to say they where helping when in fact they were not. Now they blame child. The school did not give him the help the state would allow him to have because they did not think he really needed it. I think a failing child shows he needs some special help. Parents please go on line read the NCAA rules visit your childs school and follow the progress of your child. The site will tell you how many of what credits your child needs and a lot of useful inofrmation. Do not wait until they are a junior to look at the site and plan your childs future look now. Just because the coach says it is ok does not mean it is. Make sure they are on a path to go to college. This childs path was changed without the knowledge of the parents. He would not have been able to go to college coming from the GCS system. I promise if you saw the way this childs classes were done you would be shocked. Everyone who has looked at them so far shook their head and said the child abused by his school. Watch your childs schedule and control theirs courses so they will have the right credits to graduate, meet the NCAA requirements and move forward.

  33. How can you say anything other than that is the parent’s fault? Why would any parent let their child’s academic future be dependent on anyone other than themselves and their child?

  34. They are at fault they trusted the school to do the right thing , did not get involved until it was to late and did not yell loud enough when they figured out what was happening. That is why I wrote the reply so no other kid would be in this position.
    Why do you always make sure a kid has PE but never guided studies. The parents requested guided studies multiple times. Why do you put a child in classes they can pass but not the ones to get them in college and make them take those over even when they are passed?

    Parents don’t always be trusting be educated.

  35. The requirements for high school graduation were given at my son’s freshmen orientation open house meeting. I can’t blame GCS or the school counselor if they are not achieved

  36. CoachKnow, the main reason most kids want to play for Coach K is the fact that he can provide for them. He has been doing it since AAU and it continued @ NG. He was doing the same thing @HPC. And the kids on those teams had the same grade issue as many kids in the county. Just check the report cards of the kids @NG. This is how this article started about the one that is tranferring to work on his grades. That shows that Coach K did not have this kid best interest. I do not know coach shoemaker, but I applaude him for making them work. I see too many coaches be okay for kids not to work and that affects any other sports program. Parents are the most problems we have.

Comments are closed.