I've been yelling about this for the past 3-4 years. Because Ignatius was unbelievably great in the 90's many people, including the alums, have come to expect playoff competition every year. While Ignatius has won a few titles since then, the Cats have won only one in the past decade. While the Ignatius squad typically had over a 100 kids come out for varsity football, this year the number was 75. I don't know if this can be attributed to more moms declaring they don't want their kids to play a concussion prone sport or some other things. Kids that would normally play football are now flocking to the lacrossse and rugby teams. In the meantime Ignatius hired a soccer coach who has turned a moribound sport in to a world beater. Kids all over Cleveland want to attend Ignatius in the hopes of making the Ignatius varsity. State title wins began to accumulate and some soccer authority awarded the Cats national champs five times. As for hockey, the Cats are looking for a five peat this year. You can't tell me that some of those hockey players, with a little more time spent in the weight room, wouldn't make great linebackers. I have been vocal in my opposition to the turn taken by the hockey team in the past two years, witht he Cats playing what I consider a "semi-pro" schedule. To answer your question, I think that Ignatius with 1500 boys, has offered such a variety of sports (any other school in Ohio has a crew team?) that the football team has suffered.
Per the Ignatius athletics website, the school currently has 16 varsity sports, with approximately 1,000 of the ~1,500 students participating in those sports. There's a lot more students playing sports than just those in the football program.
The soccer program success isn't some new found achievement. It has been extremely successful since coaches McLaughlin '85, Jim Brennan '85, Joe Popelka '84 started leading the program in the mid-90s. The soccer program just was in the shadows of the football program and its well publicized success from the late 80s to the early 2000s. McLaughlin has achieved >400 wins as the varsity coach and Brennan has achieved >300 wins as the head JV coach over 24 years. The Ignatius soccer program started winning district and regional championships in '95. Finally in 2004-2005 is when the state championship breakthrough came through, much like football did in '88. That 2004-2005 soccer team had not only 3 high school All-Americans, but also 3 NCAA All-Americans. Coaches McLaughlin, Brennan and Popelka emphasize success in the classroom too - 9 of this year's squad earned Academic All-Ohio honors.
Likewise, the hockey program took it up a level starting in 2006-2007 and finally broke through with a state championship in 2010. Since 2014, the hockey program has been on its own championship run. Credit goes to head coach O'Rourke '90 and his assistants Gramc, Holz, Schoenholz and Geither. Together, they've taken the hockey program to a higher level.
The common thread is coaches that emphasize success in the classroom and in competitive athletics.
