Grants starting qb and rb are soph. They have two frosh starting in the Ol. I'm sure there are other spots on O and D where soph are starting. The group that played sat I am pretty sure are made up of soph and frosh. Unless starting a different position the varsity starters don't play in those games. That rb you saw is a frosh in his 2nd year of playing football. The qb might have been a jr and if not it was a frosh. The frosh and soph class combined are pretty solid. That's if everyone stays.

Then the future is indeed bright! There are a bunch of sophs starting for Cooper too so we feel good, looking ahead. Heck, I am nowhere near ready to put this season behind us yet.

Grants starting qb and rb are soph. They have two frosh starting in the Ol. I'm sure there are other spots on O and D where soph are starting. The group that played sat I am pretty sure are made up of soph and frosh. Unless starting a different position the varsity starters don't play in those games. That rb you saw is a frosh in his 2nd year of playing football. The qb might have been a jr and if not it was a frosh. The frosh and soph class combined are pretty solid. That's if everyone stays.

 

I also know Grant has a starting LB that is a soph (although he rolled his ankle 2 weeks ago so didn't play this week) and last year was the first year he ever played football.

 

I think things are turning around for Grant. It may take some time, but they are turning around. As long as things continue in the direction they are going they should be just fine. They have one big advantage over some of the other schools in the district. They don't have schools near by competing for athletes etc. They should be just fine. I hope Coach gets the time he needs.

I will say this, success does not happen over night. It will take time to build the program. I can say that for two off seasons before this one they was no weights being hit due to the changing of coaches. In high school football that is hard to recover from. especially in the district they play in. One of the hardest things is to teach them how to win. With the current schedule that is what it looks like Siple is trying to do. I wish him and the team the best I know how hard it is to get parents, community and players to buy in when there is NO support at the top. I think some people have unreal expectations. This program is young and hopefully if Siple stays he can build it, but it is not going to happen overnight and changing coaches is not the answer. Look at they fact that they have only had one coach stay over 4 years, changing coaches every time things are not going well will lead to nothing but continued apathy and the results will not happen. They still have one game left, maybe they can make a turn for the best to lead into the off season.

How long has Grant been playing 5A football?

How long has Grant been playing 5A football?

 

Since the begining of 6 classes.

 

Started at 2A in 92, moved to 3A in 97 I think, then to 5A when classes changed.

Since the begining of 6 classes.

 

Started at 2A in 92, moved to 3A in 97 I think, then to 5A when classes changed.

 

For some reason, I thought they were still 3A.

Since the begining of 6 classes.

 

Started at 2A in 92, moved to 3A in 97 I think, then to 5A when classes changed.

I was curious what your thoughts about last Fridays game was seeing how the team you called the absolute worst in the district put up 42 points in the first 2 qtrs.

How interesting is it that Coach Siple is willing to ID himself (a practice I don't recommend for coaches normally) and to publicly state his position, whereas the antagonist in this little drama still throws slings and arrows from behind whatever rock it is he has crawled behind. And make no mistake I have no dog in this fight other than a passing interest. Football is a tough sport in which to build from scratch (excluding the fine upstanding folks at Fairview) and "fans" with "little league mentality" almost always expect far, far too much. Just because they're your kids doesn't mean they are great, or even good players. Coaches don't work miracles, they have success over time. You Jaws, are EXACTLY what is wrong with youth and high school sports today.

 

And I have been coaching for some 30 years. I've been successful and I've been not so successful. And I have NEVER lived in the community in which I have coached. That might be one of the most ridiculous things I've ever read. My suggestion is get on board and help or get out of the way and watch the band. They ARE pretty good you know.

I would like to give a little history about how the Grant County program got into the shape it is in today. When David Arvin was hired as head coach in 2011 he brought in a youthful attitude and was a big believer in using the latest and best training techniques and equipment. He talked the Boosters into leasing a Speed Tracs speed and agility machine. The exact same machine that a number of prominent universities, such as Universty of Texas, Florida State and Tennessee utilize. In addition to hundreds of high schools, mostly in the southern states. I think we all know the type of speed the teams from this part of the country have. They used this machine during one off-season and the results were incredible. When used in conjunction with the new weight system the boys really improved. He was also able to get wireless internet in the locker room and coach's office, yes there was no internet in 2011 in a high school coach's office. David Arvin installed a no huddle spread offense. Prior to this Grant County was a traditional 2 RB, 2 WR offense which ran the ball a majority of the time. Those of you who know anything about football know how difficult it is to totally change your offensive scheme. David Arvin used a QB who last played QB in the 6th grade and won 3 games the first year because GC had a few skill players to run this style offense. Because David Arvin was not from the area he was only able to hire 3 assistant coaches his first year. Another blogger has already mentioned why it is so difficult to hire assistants in Grant County and I agree with their post. David Arvin was fired after one year because what I believe were disagreements with the administration. This took place in late March 2012. Kevin Siple was hired around the May/June 2012 time frame. Coach Siple also runs a spread offense but at a slower pace. The same QB played under Coach Siple but was benched after 6 games. The team won 2 games last year. Coach Siple said he was pressured by the then AD to get rid of the speed tracs machine prior to his first year because of Title IX concerns. Any boy or girl in the school was able to use the machine. David Arvin even volunteered to teach other school coaches how to use the machine. Coach Siple did not want to rock the boat, especially after seeing what happened to the previous coach who questioned the administration and got rid of the speed machine. The AD then left his post and took a job at the board office. Coach Siple also struggled getting assistant coaches. His first year he brought along some coaches he coached with at Bracken Co and previous schools. After year one 3 of those coaches did not return. Now onto what I see are the problems with this years team. The offense uses a 5ft 6in 240lb running back in the spread offense. All the spread offenses I have watched at both the high school and college level use a small and fast RB who can run screens and hide behind the offensive line on draws. I believe the current starting RB would be a great pulling offensive guard. The offense must be able to stretch the field by throwing the ball 15-20 yards down field. This year Grant Co's offense throws WR screens and quick throws to the WR at the line of scrimmage. Since they can't stretch the field the DB's press the WR's and put 8 defenders in the box which nullifies any running game and short passing game. This team does not have the QBs or skill players to effectively run Coach Siple's offense. As far as the defense goes they run a 3-4 defensive scheme. In order to run this defense you need a very large NT to occupy the center and a guard in order to let the LB's run free. GC does not have a large NT, which allows them to be blocked solely by the center which allows the guards to pull or fire off into the LB's. Maybe a change to a 4-3 defense would improve their results. It seems like they are not willing to try a different scheme. I do know Coach Siple and a majority of the coaches and they are good people. I do think they need to coach to the kid's strengths and not try and make kids do things that they are not able to do successfully. Both the current QBs, WRs and RBs and the future QBs, WRs and RBs are not capable of being successful in this offense. Grant Co has an above average size OL and alot of young big OL in the pipeline. A change to a pounding style offense would allow the kids to use the talents they have. I believe in a rural school with a limited pipeline of kids, a coach needs to look at the talent he has and adjust his offense/defense in order to maximize their talents. I hope the best for these kids and coaches and hope they are able to win in the near future.

Bravo Papa Bear, couldn't of said it better.

 

I also was surprised Coach let it be known who he is on here and for that I applaud him. I wouldn't recommend it to everyone but he sounds like he doesn't care and has nothing to hide....I did the same when I first came on here and everyone knows who I am and I get grief now and then but I have nothing to hide either, although I'm not in a position like Coach is.

 

I've heard nothing but good things about him and know the underclassmen on that team love the game and believe in what he's teaching them.

 

The cowards that hide behind a keyboard but blast a coach yet refuse to step up themselves to help the program always make me wonder what the issue really is.

To run a spread offense you need at least three legit guys that can coach. I have no idea about Grant in that regard but there is no place to hide a coach. In many other offenses you can but not when you line up to spread. There are other spread styles (one back east coast offense as some refer or the old Redskin offense) which can hide a coach. Once again I do not know if this is the issue but it most certainly can be a factor.

 

As Tony Franklin will tell you if you can't beat press then you'll see it every game until you can. In the GCHS games I've watched there hasn't been a ton of press but zone and rally to the ball. I personally believe in throwing fast screans against man and press but that's me.

 

The defense they play is a 35 though they have started to adjust into some even style fronts. What fashion of 35 I don't know. The 35 can be tricky depending on which version you run.

 

There is a difference between talent and skill set. There is a difference between taking advantage of what a player does well and a player not being able to do something because that skill set has not been developed. It takes time, coaching and a player truly wanting to develope those skills for those things to happen. Some coaches will drop certain things from their scheme because the players just don't do those things well.

What I've seen from Grant this year and last year, it's not the offense that is the big problem.

You can't win when you cant stop the other teams offense.

 

All this talk about styles of offense and coaches for the offense etc makes me kind of laugh. The offense isn't the problem. When the defense can't stop anyone you aren't going to win many games.

 

Friday night, I don't know the stats off the top of my head but I don't think they stopped Cooper's offense the entire first half. LAst year was the same problem. I did see Grant's offense have a couple good drives which is a good sign, but the defense was not good.

 

Talk all you want about spread or 2 back offense or whatever, it really doesn't matter. The offense is maybe 30% of the problem with Grant's team, the Defense is 70% of the problem at least.

 

Cooper had their JV playing most of the game, they had a kid (who everyone was so happy top see) score who never would of dreamt he could or would score in his HS career. It was awesome for that young man and everyone was jubilant to see it happen. Cooper's offense wasn't unstoppable, if it were they would be undefeated this year. How many games did Grant play this year that had a running clock involved? I'm guessing more than just Friday Nights game. that is defense folks.

The defense does need some work, but when the offense consistently goes three and out the defense gets demoralized. I think the defense knows if they give up 2 touchdowns the game is over. The best way to keep an offense from scoring is to keep them on the sidelines but the GC offense consistently puts their defense in bad situations. I believe the team is averaging around 13 pts a game, you won't win many games with that average. Now the defense has given up over 40 a game. If you have a defense that has trouble stopping the other team you have 2 options. First you use ball control to minimize the other teams offensive opportunities or you can try to out score them in a shoot out. Right now Grant is not capable of getting in a shoot out so they may want to try ball control.

Hellbird: not trying to be a jerk but just a honest question. Do you or have you ever coached? The other question would be how many of Grants games have you watched?

 

You are correct when you can't stop the other team it's an issue. When you can't score it's an issue. My comment about the number of coaches you need is not a knock on the HC. It's a legit issue depending on the system you run. It's a statement about the current staffing limitations.

 

Grant has gone pretty much two platoon with 6 total coaches. That is not easy. Everyone of those 6 better be solid. Now my definition of solid and someone else's might be very different. I have a pretty high standard there.