as a person that formally worked with athletics, we made each of our coaches during their first meeting with the parents each season explain to them that their season ran from the day tryouts started, until the KHSAA championship game was played in their respective sport & they were committed from this point on to fulfill this commitment so there would be no surprises (vacation, concerts, etc....) only way out of it was family medical emergency, death, things that were our of their control. It worked well & I can say fall break, & spring break were not exceptions.

Edited October 7, 201411 yr by Johnny_Utah

as a person that formally worked with athletics, we made each of our coaches during their first meeting with the parents each season explain to them that their season ran from the day tryouts started, until the KHSAA championship game was played in their respective sport & they were committed from this point on to fulfill this commitment so there would be no surprises (vacation, concerts, etc....) only way out of it was family medical emergency, death, things that were our of their control. It worked well & I can say fall break, & spring break were not exceptions.

 

Pretty sure that WAS explained.

 

Combs has been around a while (took over a Lewis County program not many coaches would have; is in his SECOND stint at Knox). I don't think he suddenly "forgot" to tell parents/kids they should try to be there for the WHOLE season.

 

It's Fort Knox's first forfeit in a looooooong while. I don't remember the last time. And Fort Knox has been struggling for a while now.

 

But when you can only get 33 players TOTAL (varsity, jv, freshman) to come out (and some of those had ZERO football experience) while the soccer teams (who haven't been to region since the 90s, so it's not like they're tearing it up) have record numbers, you're kind of at the mercy of any parent/player who wants to play. Regardless if they're there every day or not.

 

It's NOT like Fort Knox is cutting the kids. Unlike many programs, it has to keep the bad apples (or throw some oranges and pears under the apples to make the basket look bigger).

 

Getting rid of the kids/parents who might have/did/could have let them know at the beginning of the season they were taking off fall break would have made it even more difficult to play the games Fort Knox has so far.

 

Simply getting rid of the "uncommitted" might be A solution, but I'm NOT sure it is the BEST solution in this case.

Pretty sure that WAS explained.

 

Combs has been around a while (took over a Lewis County program not many coaches would have; is in his SECOND stint at Knox). I don't think he suddenly "forgot" to tell parents/kids they should try to be there for the WHOLE season.

 

It's Fort Knox's first forfeit in a looooooong while. I don't remember the last time. And Fort Knox has been struggling for a while now.

 

But when you can only get 33 players TOTAL (varsity, jv, freshman) to come out (and some of those had ZERO football experience) while the soccer teams (who haven't been to region since the 90s, so it's not like they're tearing it up) have record numbers, you're kind of at the mercy of any parent/player who wants to play. Regardless if they're there every day or not.

 

It's NOT like Fort Knox is cutting the kids. Unlike many programs, it has to keep the bad apples (or throw some oranges and pears under the apples to make the basket look bigger).

 

Getting rid of the kids/parents who might have/did/could have let them know at the beginning of the season they were taking off fall break would have made it even more difficult to play the games Fort Knox has so far.

 

Simply getting rid of the "uncommitted" might be A solution, but I'm NOT sure it is the BEST solution in this case.

 

I dont have a dog in the fight, so there is no reason to use all caps to make your point, I just commented on how we used to handle it @ our place. How ever they run their athletic department is on them. I personally think that it is sad for both schools, the Ft. Knox kids not having the ability to field a team & for the DeSales kids not having their game/homecoming/etc...... overall it would have been dangerous for them to field a team with only 12 players for an entire game, ive seen it done before & it was disgusting.

I dont have a dog in the fight, so there is no reason to use all caps to make your point, I just commented on how we used to handle it @ our place. How ever they run their athletic department is on them. I personally think that it is sad for both schools, the Ft. Knox kids not having the ability to field a team & for the DeSales kids not having their game/homecoming/etc...... overall it would have been dangerous for them to field a team with only 12 players for an entire game, ive seen it done before & it was disgusting.

 

I've seen it done before too. Evangel Christian of Louisville (which no longer has a program, I don't think) against North Hardin. Evangel had a tiny roster (including two girls). Played at North because North Hardin said it couldn't get anyone else to play (had someone cancel on them in July, IIRC).

 

Game barely made it to halftime. Evangel finished with no subs after a couple of injuries (and players playing hurt).

 

It wasn't pretty. Frankly, Evangel would have been better off playing a smaller, struggling school. North Hardin would have been better off taking a bye week and scouting future opponents (especially district ones).

 

I don't think FK going to DeSales last week with 15/12 (after 3 let them know the day of the game they weren't playing) would have been good for either party (as much as DeSales wanted to blow out FK 66-0 on homecoming). Having the game stopped for lack of healthy players would have been far worse than a forfeit.

 

But like I said earlier, Combs has been through this before. FK has played games against good teams (like DeSales) during fall break before. Being committed and playing through fall break, labor day weekend are brought up.

 

But this is what happens when you have a struggling, shrinking, transient program in a district which makes it darn near impossible to have success.

 

Dropping to 1-A in a different district should/could help FK, but it could be years before the program is back to its glory days ... if it survives, that is.

 

Not many programs began the season with just 33 kids (total for all three teams V-JV-F).

Not many programs had just two returning players total who were even in the program the prior year.

 

It's an unfortunate situation.

 

But instead of being surprised of what happened this weekend, here's a question:

 

Based upon what people have pointed out about FK's struggles, why are we not surprised a forfeit like this didn't happen sooner than it finally did?

might have already been answered, I didnt read every post, but if a team forfeits, they owe the other school the contracted amount that was agreed upon when the contract was signed unless they give proper notice & it is agreed upon by the administration of both schools. I see a lot of football contracts in this state that go for $5000 or more, so there isn't much cancelling when it requires that kind of payout. Things that cant be controlled, inclement weather for example, can cancel a contest & no payout has to be made "IF" the teams cant make it up (usually the following day) or if they have a common bye week later in the season. If those two options cant be met, then there is no $$$ that exchanges hands. (I will say that most schools will push off the contract & extend it a year if this happens though so there wont be tension between the schools.

 

Some correct me if I'm wrong, but are contracts drawn up for district games? Since they're required to be scheduled, I didn't think contracts were necessary.

 

If Fort Knox were a top 10 program, there would be 50 kids playing and the issue would be moot

 

Exactly.

 

Heck, the year after they beat Glasgow in the playoffs, the numbers rose the following season. It wasn't a big increase by any means, but they were higher than the previous year. Kids wanted to be a part of the team after they saw it beat Glasgow, which was 8-2 entering the playoffs. It also helped that Combs ran a spread-style offense that kids loved.

 

This year, he can't do that because of the lack of experience of a lot of his players. He's had to simplify a lot of things by going to the single wing, which (obviously) hasn't been very successful. They were able to move the ball a bit against E'town and Fort Campbell, but not so much against the other teams they've played.

 

Like I've said previously, I don't know what the answer or solution is. I'd really hate to see the program shut down, especially because of the history, but it wouldn't surprise me in the least if that's what happens.

Edited October 7, 201411 yr by True blue (and gold)
Rule 2

Contracts are done on every game we were ever involved in: Football, Soccer, Volleyball, Basketball. not so much in baseball & softball due to the sheer amount of weather related events that occur & the relative ease of picking up games, but no matter if it was a district game or not we always had a contract, especially football.

We also have contracts in softball since have been coaching high school. (1995)

Contracts are done on every game we were ever involved in: Football, Soccer, Volleyball, Basketball. not so much in baseball & softball due to the sheer amount of weather related events that occur & the relative ease of picking up games, but no matter if it was a district game or not we always had a contract, especially football.

 

I have a HUNCH that district contracts are not quite like non-district regular-season games.

Because with districts, you can't just pull out of a game and go play somebody else. And you're guaranteed, simply by being in a district, of having a return game the following year.

 

Non-district contracts have to spell all of that out. Bowl-game buyouts/cancellations are huge..

 

I'd be mildly surprised if there are football district contracts and absolutely floored if the forfeit/cancellation fee for a football district game is in the 3-5 K range. Mainly because like I said earlier, the chances of pulling out of a district game are a lot less than of a team getting crushed by a team in Year One of the contract and getting out of playing in Year Two.

PATHETIC on the part of those so called PARENTS who did this.

 

Keep in mind, all of these 'so called parents' as you put it serve in the military (or their kid would not be at Fort Knox) so this could be one of may two or three times at most during the year that they could take leave without pulling the kid out of school.

Let's stipulate that's the case. Then it's on the A.D. for even scheduling it.

 

A Soldier is not going to consult with the AD to get his leave approved, the AD would have no idea about this type of stuff, especially when he is planning the schedule up to a year or two in advance and the soldiers leave is more likely less than 6 months in advance based on Army requirements

.......

I agree with the above. There is no quick fix for the Fort Knox program when you are in the transient military state they are in. Fort Campbell went through the same pains in the late 1990s-2000s pre-Shawn Berner.

..........

 

That is true, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan gave stability to soldiers at Fort Campbell for nearly 10 straight years which helped considerably to Fort Campbell's program so much. Now folks are back to being moved every couple of years so that transition happen every year again. And that does not even account for the situations where the parents, for whatever the reason is, decide to move off post. If you haven't noticed, Tristan Luke is no longer at Fort Campbell, his parents opted to move off post so now he is in Clarksville, TN.

 

Until a few years ago, Fort Know was a training post, so they were not getting families stationed there much. Since that has changed, they have been moving units in and out which causes even more problems with the schools ability to field sports teams due to the constant turnover.