Eyes on Ballard

[Ram]

CoachJ, I appreciate what you are doing at Ballard, and am more appreciative that you take the time and effort to explain your program in this thread. Keep up the good work.

[CoachJ]

CoachJ, I appreciate what you are doing at Ballard, and am more appreciative that you take the time and effort to explain your program in this thread. Keep up the good work.

 

No problem...sometimes it's good to be an insomniac. Tough for anyone outside a program to know the "why's" and who better to explain them than the guy who deals with it every day.

 

Incidentally, I can't disagree with any of the points here about how we should be more prominently mentioned in the 'big 3-4' discussion. Talent at our place IS very good...haven't always had all the pieces in all the right positions and sometimes we had to recruit the halls to get the 'talent' to play FOOTBALL, maybe their Soph or Jr year (why one year we struggled mightily first 3 games but almost upset Scott County on their field in playoffs). Fortunate to have a bball coach in Chris Renner who doesn't discourage kids from playing football -- actually pushes some TO football to help their toughness!

 

Feel like now we might have the right schemes on both sides of the ball I feel comfortable with (took some time and some tough decisions to get it there) AND good "6A depth" at each position as well. Definitely don't have the 'burners' that Male has or the 'crazy depth' T or X have but we're thinking this year we might be able to compete with the top guys pretty well.

 

I tell our guys that despite how hard they work in off-season, great numbers, hard-working coaches, etc., it ultimately ONLY comes down to execution and until we're done with camp, there's no way to predict what kind of 'execution team' we'll be.

 

Until then, we're even honored just to be "in the conversation."

[soccerfan000]

Got to know Coach Jackson over the last few years....a very good man with extreme pride in his program! He works hard for his players and does much more than many other football coaches. He has done good stuff at Ballard and would make any school proud.

[GreatLakes]

I think Coach J is top notch, pro active coach, who genuinely cares about the kids and the program. Great to see them reach Semi's last year. I've visited Ballard a couple times and it's crazy to notice how nice their Gym is(obviously) but the weight room and Football field were kind of disheartening for a big city 6A program. Hopefully Devante Parker will be able to throw some loose change their way in a few years

[psychicscubadiver]

Not sure whose schedule you're looking at. Our non-district games (only ones we have control over) are Oldham Co, Male, Desales, Manual, Western & Doss. Include Trinity (district game) & we are playing 3 of the previous "super district" and a reigning state champ of a lower class. I think that would compare pretty favorably to any other Jeff Co public for strength of schedule (kudos to Central who has similar scheduling philosophy).

 

 

 

I think it's true to say "couldn't get MOST Ky teams;" we didn't go along with the "boycott the privates" nonsense many chose to engage in. My philosophy has been if you want to ever beat them, you must get more familiar with them. I don't remember it being late in scheduling cycle when I called Coach Lampley about a home-and-home, but I think we had someone cancel on us to open up a week so they were who I called but the only week they still needed didn't match up with the week we needed.

 

I used the one listed at maxpreps.com, and I now belatedly realize that Allen Central and Western Hills are listed on the same days as your DeSales and Western games. I wasn't expecting y'all to put Elder or even Highlands on the schedule, but PRP, Butler, Meade County or Central Hardin would be local teams strong enough to challenge Ballard without overwhelming them. I still think Oldham County, Western and Doss are cupcakes, but you are right about the schedule being as strong or stronger than most other Louisville publics. I think the only schools with stronger schedules are Male, Manual, and PRP.

 

Incidentally, it seems that Calpreps.com got the same flawed data as maxpreps because their team preview also lists those two games.