Final Decade Statistical Analysis

With the 2000s now in the past its time to take a look at how each team faired throughout the decade. As some of you may recall, I did a similar analysis this time last year breaking down the nine year trend of each team. There were a few close races and it is interesting to see how everything broke down. Each team is listed, followed by their win/loss record, followed by their winning percentage. Also, I broke the 12 team league down into three different sub-groups based on their win/loss totals.


Tier 1
1. Olathe North, 100-19 (.840)
2. Olathe East, 81-26 (.757)
3t. Olathe South, 61-40 (.604)
3t. SM West, 61-40 (.604)
5. Lawrence Free State, 60-45 (.571)

At this point in time last year Olathe North was sitting at 87 wins and the only way they could reach the century mark was to win the state championship going 13-0. Well, low and behold they did it, bumping their average victories per season to 10. The Eagles (left) were also the only team to win a state championship during the decade, claiming titles in five of the 10 years.

Olathe East can hang their hat on the fact that they were the only team in the league to have a winning record in every season during the 2000s--even mighty Olathe North suffered a 4-5 season in 2006. Despite not winning a state championship during the decade, Olathe East was the model for consistency within a program. The Hawks were also one of only three teams to retain the same coach (Jeff Meyers) for all 10 years.

Olathe South (below) and SM West (right) both finished with identical records of 61-40. It was pretty crazy that the two programs played the exact same amount and won the exact same amount of games. Given the chances for variation of games with the playoffs, I find their identical win/loss record to be quite astounding. SM West won a total of seven games in the first three years of the decade, before Tim Callaghan was brought in as head coach in 2003. Following an initial season of 2-7, Callaghan and the Vikings finished off the last six seasons of the decade going 52-13 (.800). Olathe South's efforts could be described as boom or bust. The Falcons win totals had an eight win improvement from 2003 to 2004, and also a six win decline from the 2007 to 2008 (following the departure of head coach Mark Littrell), amidst state championship runner-up finishes in 2004 and 2007.

Lawrence Free State (right) slides into the fifth spot on the list with a 60-45 record. The Firebirds can thank Bob Lisher's spread movement for the success. The team was a lowly 25-34 from 2000 to 2005. In 2005 the Firebirds starting running a spread, zone read option offense. The process took a year, but in 2006 it helped the team explode to an 11 win season. Granted, athletes like Ryan Murphy, Craig Rosenstengle and Camren Torneden were essential to the successes of such an offense, but the change in philosophy worked well. The school won 35 games in the last four years of the decade, including a trip to the state championship in 2008.

Tier 2
6. Lawrence, 55-47 (.539)
7. SM Northwest, 49-47 (.510)
8. SM East, 39-59 (.398)
9. SM North, 39-55 (.415)

Nobody saw Lawrence's dreadful 1-8 season coming; the Chesty Lions slipped two slots to #6 on the wins list, getting passed by SM West and hated rival Lawrence Free State. When looking at the Lawrence's season by season results it appears that there was a general build up to the school's 10-2 season in 2005, followed by a gradual decline to the 1-8 record in 2009.

You could say SM Northwest's efforts are a more minor version of SM West's. The team achieved some of its best season's more recently with the arrival of Aaron Barnett, but despite this the school never posted a 10 win season. The Cougars were the closest representation to a .500 team during the decade.

SM East and SM North both finished with the same amount of victories but SM East made the playoffs in more seasons so they get the nod for the #8 slot.

Tier 3
10. SM South, 28-67 (.295)
11. Olathe Northwest, 17-39 (.304
12. Leavenworth, 11-79 (.122)

SM South appears to have really underachieved given the fact that they are 10 wins behind both SM East and SM North, two programs who you could argue had a similar talent pool. Olathe Northwest's numbers are obviously skewed since the school didn't compete on the varsity level until the 2004 season. However, their win percentage still only ranks them tenth among the 12 teams. Leavenworth remains the league's cellar dweller. The school suffered through four winless season during the decade, and peaked with a 4-5 squad, led by quarterback Adam Booth in 2004.

Playoff and League Results

State Championships: Olathe North (2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 (left), 2009)

State Championship Runner-Ups*: Olathe North (2004), Olathe South (2004, 2007), Olathe East (2005), SM West (2006), Lawrence Free State (2008)

State Semifinal Appearences: Olathe North (2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2009), Olathe East (2002, 2005), Olathe South (2004, 2007), SM West (2004, 2006), Lawrence Free State (2006, 2008), Lawrence (2005), SM North (2000), SM East (2001)

Sunflower League Championships**: Olathe North (2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2009), Olathe East (2003, 2005, 2008), SM West (2005, 2006, 2008), Olathe South (2001), Lawrence Free State (2006), SM North (2000), SM Northwest (2007)

*Olathe North played in Class 5A from 2004-2005.
**There were ties for the Sunflower League Championships in '00, '01, '05, '06, and '08.

Top Sunflower League Prospects by Year

I did a little research into the Rivals.com prospect database to see the Sunflower League players that have been considered "Division-One Caliber" over the past decade. Unfortunately, Rivals.com did not start ranking prospects nationally until 2002, so the Division-One players from the early 2000s and before do not appear. Here is what I came up with on a year-by-year basis since the class of 2002. Another thing to keep in mind is that "Division-One Prospects" are not necessarily the best players in the Sunflower League. Rivals rankings are based on potential, and not always production.

*Players listed in bold received Division-One offers in high school.

2002

Maurice Mack, Olathe North

Royal Whitaker, Olathe North

Jonathan Lamb, Olathe North

Whittaker Potts, SM East

Mack was ranked by Rivals.com as the 30th best cornerback in the nation, although he went on to play linebacker at Kansas State...Whitaker (right) had a Big Ten offer from Minnesota, but elected to play D1-AA football at Southern Illinois...John Lamb had a successful career as a safety and receiver at Kansas after he earned a spot as a walk on.

2003

Jim Bouknight, Olathe North

Roy Loren, SM East

Andy Schumm, SM South

Derrick Newman, Lawrence

Adam Venegas, Olathe North

Brandon McAnderson, Lawrence

Beau Gadwood, SM Northwest

Venegas went on to have a dominant career on the offensive line at North Texas...McAnderson starred as a running back for Kansas, and helped the Jayhawks to win the 2007 Orange Bowl...despite rushing for 2,793 yards and winning the Simone Award as a senior, Bouknight did not go on to play Division-One football.

2004

Ryan Torain, SM Northwest

Josh Lawrence, Lawrence

Todd Haselhorst, Olathe East

Mike Rivera, SM Northwest

Dain Dillingham, Lawrence Free State

Haselhorst was one of the most highly recruited offensive lineman in the Midwest as a senior, and he went on to play at Kansas...Rivera enjoyed a dominant career at SM Northwest before moving on to player linebacker at Kansas, and now the NFL, where he plays for the Chicago Bears...Dillingham had several offers for football, but elected to attend Drake University to player both football and basketball...Torain didn't receive an offer out of high school, but eventually made it to Arizona State after a couple JUCO seasons at Butler C.C...Torain is now in the NFL as a running back for the Denver Broncos.

2005

Mack Brown, SM North

Connor McKay, SM South

Andre Jones, Olathe East

Adam Booth, Leavenworth

Ian Handshy, Lawrence

Brown attended Colorado for a year before head coach Gary Barnett was fired...Brown is now the starting quarterback at Baker University...Jones was probably one of the best players I have seen in the Sunflower League that didn't go Divison One...Handshy (right) eventually made the Kansas roster and has contributed sparingly over the past few seasons.

2006

Tyler Lawrence, SM West

Derek Miller, Olathe East

Brady Croucher, Olathe South

Anthony Hill, SM South

Justin Pessetto, SM Northwest

Scott Penny, Lawrence

Nathan Hickey, Lawrence

Brandon Lassiter, Lawrence

Hickey and Lassiter both went on to play at the Air Force Academy...Lawrence backed up Todd Reesing at Kansas for three years before completing his degree a year early, and leaving the team as a junior...Hill missed out on his entire senior season due to a knee injury, but he now plays receiver for Oklahoma State...Miller has been a dominate safety for D1-AA Missouri State for several years now...Pessetto is an offensive lineman for Kansas after walking on several years ago.

2007

Dee Bell, Olathe East

Brian Murphy, Lawrence Free State

Ryan Murphy, Lawrence Free State

Christian Ballard, Lawrence Free State

Mike Ruder, Lawrence Free State

Jervon Graves, Olathe South

Victor Butler, Leavenworth

Blake Lawrence, SM West

Dorian Williams, Olathe East

David Leonard, SM West

The class of 2007 was as loaded in terms of talent as any class over the decade...Ballard went on to play defensive end and Iowa, and was a starter there last season...Ryan Murphy (right) plays cornerback at Kansas, while his twin Brian Murphy transferred from Kansas to Emporia State to receive more playing time...Lawrence has received quite a bit of playing time at Nebraska and is penciled in to start in 2009...Leonard has been a focal wide receiver for Wyoming for several seasons now...Jervon Graves has started at defensive end at Utah State since his freshman season...Bell plays running back at Kansas State but still hasn't cracked the top of the depth chart...Ruder had an offer to Wyoming during his senior season before he tore his ACL in a pick up basketball game...Ruder now plays defense at D1-AA Missouri State.

2008

Alex Carder, SM Northwest

Will Brown, Leavenworth

Travis Tannahill, Olathe East

Nick Williams, Olathe Northwest

Terrence Thomas, SM East

Aaron Sawyer, SM North

Jarard Milo, Olathe Northwest

Although deep in talent, the class of 2008 lacked alot of Division-One offers...Milo had an early offer to Minnesota, but he never ended up accepting it and he is now playing at Butler C.C...Tannahill is currently a tight end at Kansas State...Carder plays quarterback at Western Michigan.

2009

Jake Byrd, Olathe South

Justin Scott, SM West

Kevin Young, Olathe North

Grahm Saunders, Lawrence Free State

Darron Harvey, SM West

Mark Fancher, SM Northwest

Fancher (right) received a late offer to play at Air Force where he will be a receiver this upcoming fall...Scott and Harvey both had offers from Army, but Scott elected to play at the University of Nebraska-Omaha, and Harvey at Butler C.C...Kevin Young had offers from all over the nation and ultimately decided on Kansas after decomitting from Nebraska.

2010

Michael Lisher, Lawrence Free State

Lucas Vincent, Olathe North

Tre Walker, Olathe North

Dallas Buck, SM North

So far, the class of 2010 only has four players listed as potential prospects, although that list is sure to grow during the season...Vincent committed to Missouri in April to play defensive line...Walker has committed to Kansas State.