Very surprised to see this happen.

The guys who have attended Tony's "The System" clinics are all closely connected. I wouldn't be surprised if the connection isn't from the clinics. Best of luck to Coach, he did a great job there.

 

Also, best of luck to players and South community. I am sure things will work out for the best and the administration will make a move real soon. The posts about spring ball sounded as if things were going pretty well.

The guys who have attended Tony's "The System" clinics are all closely connected. I wouldn't be surprised if the connection isn't from the clinics. Best of luck to Coach, he did a great job there.

 

Also, best of luck to players and South community. I am sure things will work out for the best and the administration will make a move real soon. The posts about spring ball sounded as if things were going pretty well.

 

I will say this about Irwin (SL) and Duncum (NL). Both left their respective programs in better shape then when they took over. That is all you can ask.

I will say this about Irwin (SL) and Duncum (NL). Both left their respective programs in better shape then when they took over. That is all you can ask.

They did a good job, but geez, there was no place to go except up in both programs when they took over.

They did a good job, but geez, there was no place to go except up in both programs when they took over.

 

It could have gotten worse. They could have gone from 1-9 to 0-10!

 

But I get your point, there was much more room for improvement upward than downward! But to get them into having winning seasons and solid playoff appearances (SL's win over Lafayette in 2005; NL's near upset of AAAA runnerup Scott County in 2004) is something that many only hoped they would see. And they each did it by showing improvement in each season. Irwin's team improved each season, even after losing solid players, moving from no playoffs to #4 seed in 2003, #3 seed in 2004, then #2 seed in 2005.

Without question, both programs improved under those coaches. Given the right support and hiring of the new HC and staff, South could be ready to take the next step.

There are some holes to fill (as their always are in high school ball). They lost Zak Marcum (WR/DB), Cory Brown (RB/DB), Josh Riley (WR/TE) and some very solid linemen. But they bring back some solid players as well as QB Ricky Bowling (soph) who put up some big numbers in 2005 and several solid WR's from a very deep corp of receivers.

 

Where's Slugo? He usually would be all over a SL football thread, especially one like this. He would probably have even more information for us!

Jim Brown would be a wonderful choice-he has coached in the Armed forces and a couple of small colleges if I am not mistaken.

Is he going to Hoover or Pelham?? I know that both of those schools have ties to the offensive system that he ran at South.

Pelham HS, where former E-town coach Brett Burnett is the head coach. Going with Irwin are assistants Chad Hicks and Travis McDaniel.

 

The SL job opening will be posted within the week.

Jep is a great coach and an even better person, he didn't make this decision lightly. He will be a good situation at Pelham and will play the best in 6A Alabama football.

The sad part is that until the BOE revisits the base salaries for coaches, we will continue to see head coaches leave for greener pastures. The base pay rate for coaches in Laurel County hasn't increased in over 15 years. For all they do for the student athletes, I think their time should be worth a little bit more.

If you guys want the story, you can go to http://www.thetimestribune.com I have to say, Jep is a great guy and coach. He called me Sunday night to give me the scoop and he's just a great gentleman.

If you guys want the story, you can go to http://www.thetimestribune.com I have to say, Jep is a great guy and coach. He called me Sunday night to give me the scoop and he's just a great gentleman.

 

So you knew before the rest of us and held out? Shame on you!

 

But I guess if you want to be trusted in your profession, you have to keep secrets for periods of time thereby depriving us (the general public) of the information!

Friendship means more to me than letting the word out. I knew things would be on here on Monday.

Friendship means more to me than letting the word out. I knew things would be on here on Monday.

 

:thumb: I was surprised bigtime by this one.