I think we're talking about a couple of different things here:
1. Top 4A schools
2. Correlation/importance between success (wins) and having a roster full of club players versus non-club players.
3. Role of development for a coach in high school.
IMO, there is no way you can be considered a top 4A school without having a roster full of quality club players. Unlike 5 man basketball where having one Baby Shaq on the court can totally alter a game....11 man soccer requires depth as well. A team with 2-3 very, very good players and 2-3 very average players....a good coach will identify and exploit the marginal players. So, to be at the top of the heap competitively...you better have quality at every position. Don't have to be superstars....but you need to be a good solid player, at the least.
So this kind of takes care of points 1 and 2. To be a top prgoram you need a good solid base of club players....along with good coaching and a couple of superstars. But it starts with having that base.
Last point has to do with development. If you coach at a school with 13-15 club players on your roster, individual player development is probably lower on the totem pole. A statement that I'm sure is anathema to every coach out there...all of whom profess development to be a core objective. And it is...to a point. But if you are a top 5 / top 10 program its probably a whole lot more important to teach tactics, fitness, and that you be a solid, creative game coach.
For schools like ours (Nation Ford), where we have maybe 6-8 club players on the boys side and the girls side.....the role of a good coach will quite naturally HAVE to be more about development. Out of necessaity....not for some lofty goal, but because you have to.
We will be like Cantona....with a bunch of athletic and competitve kids who wouldn't know a push pass from a bounce pass. To be a reasonable team.....we're going to have to focus more on individual technical skills becasue without those you can't do any of the tactical work that you might like to do.
For coaches like this....be they in Rock Hill, CLover, Fort Mill or the lower part of the State.....the trick will be...to a casual observer, can you turn a non-Club player, into one who kind of looks like a Club player by the end of the season. Are there kids....who played little role on the team at the beginning who have earned significant minutes by the end of the season.
If the answer at Rock Hill and CLover and Nation Ford is yes....then the coaches have done a great job, regardless of wins and losses.
