Lost every game in their pool.

 

Actually, Pikeville beat Western Hills in our second game.

 

Does anyone know how Pikeville did?

 

Our kids performed well considering. 3 of our 4 top receivers, all but one of our linebackers, and all but one of our DBs were on Mission Trips and/or family vacations so we played with a mix of varsity and JV kids. Plus, we had 9 kids total who had to play offense and defense. 3 of the kids we rotated at 2 linebacker spots are actually Defensive Linemen...I was VERY proud of them for choosing to take a Saturday and do something they knew would be tough just to allow us to have enough players.

 

We knew we'd have a tough time competing with teams there who pass for a living and had big numbers (especially Dunbar and Greenville, who both looked VERY sharp in executing their offense). But we went to it so our new QB could get experience working through reads against defenses. So PHS fans shouldn't worry about our "record" there. Also, a new rule at our school forbade us from doing any 7-on-7 work with our basketball/football kids through the month of June (due to allowing them to "focus completely" on summer basketball), so we hoped this would be the ONE time this summer we could work on our passing game with all the VARSITY kids we had coming back (the mission trips and vacations sort of killed that one though:cry:)

 

I think if they'd let us run fullback-Trap, we'd have had a BIG DAY!

 

The teams that beat us (Dunbar and Greenville, SC -- both made it into the Championship pool) both had 7 totally different kids for offense and defense and on offense did a good job finding our young kids and taking advantage of it. (Greenville went hurry-up no-huddle to wear us out -- smart move on their part.)

 

Good learning experience for our kids -- got to see how important it is to have "all your bullets" when you go to a gun-fight and to realize why we -- even at a Single-A school -- need to get as many athletes out for football possible. "Iron Man football" sounds great and tough and all that, but the reality of it today is at ANY level, if you're playing with the same kids on offense and defense and the opponent can platoon somewhat (like NewCath can, for instance), you're at a HUGE disadvantage.

 

The one varsity receiver we had there -- Daniel Harmon -- had a big day despite the other teams knowing he was our "go-to-guy" and drawing double-coverage. He's a real play-maker and only going to be a Sophomore. We had Chaz Jackson -- a returning CB -- playing Safety to get experience at a different position and he played well despite it being new to him. Mayo had a good day and a bad day -- expected for a "new" qb. As the day went on, he improved a lot on decision-making.

Also, a new rule at our school forbade us from doing any 7-on-7 work with our basketball/football kids through the month of June (due to allowing them to "focus completely" on summer basketball)

Gotta love Kentucky. The first basketball game isn't til the first of December with the district tourney at the end of February. The first football game is August 18! Guess Pikeville is getting all those D1 hoop stars in shape. Did you agree to that Coach J? Looks like the football/basketball coaches could work out their own agreement instead some stringent "focus on basketball" rule laid down by the school. Is Pikeville known for their basketball prowess?

Sorry if I painted a totally-negative picture of what our summer's been like here working with basketball program. Allow me to explain some...

 

Did you agree to that Coach J?

Didn't really have a choice. Though I didn't fight it too hard based on a couple of my basic principles...

* 7-on-7s are useful, but not critical, to success in a season (unless you play a team like Male every game, that plays "pass-league defense" -- 5-under, 2-deep).

 

* There was NOT a restriction on WEIGHTLIFTING and TRAINING toward football. To me, keeping up GENERAL strength, agility, and toughness training in June is more important than the FOOTBALL-SPECIFIC stuff you can do (though it definitely can help some -- mainly qb reads, receiver route-running details, and db/lb pass defense). Sometimes in the past, the more I've done 7on7s, the less time we could spend in the weightroom and on the running track.

 

This also allowed me to have the time to take linemen to a line-camp for the first time...that may help us this season more than any 7on7 tournament.

 

* two-sport kids shouldn't be "run-ragged" in June. I've done this in the past...I got the June bball schedule, scheduled our passing practices and games in time-blocks where they didn't play and strongly urged them to pull "double-duty" and make it to every passing opportunity...while at the same time, the basketball coach had a policy that basically said if you didn't do EVERYTHING they did in the summer, forget about making the team.

Doing that killed them physically and otherwise. I don't want to do that again to kids.

...let's face it, while we as football coaches WANT our kids there in June, the basketball coaches pretty much REQUIRE it. If we REQUIRE it too, the ones hurt the most are the KIDS -- and can actually turn them against you as a coach.

 

Getting out of school as early as we did in May allowed us to get 3 days with them before basketball stuff started, so we got to put in a lot there with our varsity kids (though I didn't get any of our baseball kids as they were in teh middle of tournament play and that work didn't help us much this past Saturday, as the work was done over a month ago).

 

Looks like the football/basketball coaches could work out their own agreement instead some stringent "focus on basketball" rule laid down by the school.

Actually, our basketball coach, Bart Williams, was VERY willing to work with me and we figured out a June schedule to allow 2-sport kids to do some football stuff without killing them. The "policy" didn't come from him.

 

The basic premise for this policy isn't an altogether bad one (remember, no restriction on them "training" for football), and is actually DUE to football being strong at Pikeville. It is that since we usually play deep into November, the football kids that also play basketball miss about a month-and-a-half of basketball practice. Giving them June is to basically make up for what they'll miss later.

 

I'm hoping that in the future, there will be a Thursday, Friday, Saturday in early June (after baseball is done) where we can get ALL our kids without having a lot basketball-wise those days, teach them the entire passing game the first two days, then do a tournament on the third. Then, they're back to basketball the rest of the month. (Would've done that this year, but didn't hear of the policy until late April.)

 

Is Pikeville known for their basketball prowess?

Not yet. But I understand and appreciate their wanting to do what it takes to get to that point. Bart Williams puts in time in his off-season like a FOOTBALL coach does; I appreciate that too.

 

I have a STRONG interest in our basketball (and baseball, and track, etc.) team being the best in the state as I've got kids I care about on those teams and THEY want to win state in those sports too.

 

Bart is GREAT in working WITH us in the football program to allow football/basketball kids to at least do a minimum amount of lifting during basketball season (something he said actually played a big part in our bball team win its district last year, and something that did NOT happen where I was before -- and, I'd bet doesn't happen in MOST places). I, in turn, encourage our two-sport kids to continue doing work toward their other sports during football season (e.g., shooting drills, dribbling, batting, etc.).

 

I hope we can have a "culture" at Pikeville like they had at Highlands a few years back -- state champs or finalists in baseball, basketball, and football. That only happens at a place where the best athletes (like Derek Smith, Lorenzen, etc.) are ENCOURAGED and not PENALIZED by playing multiple sports. So far, the baseball, basketball, and track coaches at Pikeville have been GREAT to work WITH in developing schedules to allow for kids to be able to play several sports without feeling "pressured" too much by any one sport. ** I'll take kids feeling good about playing multiple sports over success at 7on7 tournaments anyday! **

Actually, Pikeville beat Western Hills in our second game.

 

 

 

Our kids performed well considering. 3 of our 4 top receivers, all but one of our linebackers, and all but one of our DBs were on Mission Trips and/or family vacations so we played with a mix of varsity and JV kids. Plus, we had 9 kids total who had to play offense and defense. 3 of the kids we rotated at 2 linebacker spots are actually Defensive Linemen...I was VERY proud of them for choosing to take a Saturday and do something they knew would be tough just to allow us to have enough players.

 

We knew we'd have a tough time competing with teams there who pass for a living and had big numbers (especially Dunbar and Greenville, who both looked VERY sharp in executing their offense). But we went to it so our new QB could get experience working through reads against defenses. So PHS fans shouldn't worry about our "record" there. Also, a new rule at our school forbade us from doing any 7-on-7 work with our basketball/football kids through the month of June (due to allowing them to "focus completely" on summer basketball), so we hoped this would be the ONE time this summer we could work on our passing game with all the VARSITY kids we had coming back (the mission trips and vacations sort of killed that one though:cry:)

 

I think if they'd let us run fullback-Trap, we'd have had a BIG DAY!

 

The teams that beat us (Dunbar and Greenville, SC -- both made it into the Championship pool) both had 7 totally different kids for offense and defense and on offense did a good job finding our young kids and taking advantage of it. (Greenville went hurry-up no-huddle to wear us out -- smart move on their part.)

 

Good learning experience for our kids -- got to see how important it is to have "all your bullets" when you go to a gun-fight and to realize why we -- even at a Single-A school -- need to get as many athletes out for football possible. "Iron Man football" sounds great and tough and all that, but the reality of it today is at ANY level, if you're playing with the same kids on offense and defense and the opponent can platoon somewhat (like NewCath can, for instance), you're at a HUGE disadvantage.

 

The one varsity receiver we had there -- Daniel Harmon -- had a big day despite the other teams knowing he was our "go-to-guy" and drawing double-coverage. He's a real play-maker and only going to be a Sophomore. We had Chaz Jackson -- a returning CB -- playing Safety to get experience at a different position and he played well despite it being new to him. Mayo had a good day and a bad day -- expected for a "new" qb. As the day went on, he improved a lot on decision-making.

Its good to know we learned some stuff I knew that we would have a tough time but its all about gettin better.

Actually, Pikeville beat Western Hills in our second game.

My fault on that one CoachJ. :thumb: :thumb: I was under the impression that W. Hills had won that game.

 

 

Our kids performed well considering. 3 of our 4 top receivers, all but one of our linebackers, and all but one of our DBs were on Mission Trips and/or family vacations so we played with a mix of varsity and JV kids. Plus, we had 9 kids total who had to play offense and defense. 3 of the kids we rotated at 2 linebacker spots are actually Defensive Linemen...I was VERY proud of them for choosing to take a Saturday and do something they knew would be tough just to allow us to have enough players.

 

We knew we'd have a tough time competing with teams there who pass for a living and had big numbers (especially Dunbar and Greenville, who both looked VERY sharp in executing their offense). But we went to it so our new QB could get experience working through reads against defenses. So PHS fans shouldn't worry about our "record" there. Also, a new rule at our school forbade us from doing any 7-on-7 work with our basketball/football kids through the month of June (due to allowing them to "focus completely" on summer basketball), so we hoped this would be the ONE time this summer we could work on our passing game with all the VARSITY kids we had coming back (the mission trips and vacations sort of killed that one though:cry:)

 

I think if they'd let us run fullback-Trap, we'd have had a BIG DAY!

 

The teams that beat us (Dunbar and Greenville, SC -- both made it into the Championship pool) both had 7 totally different kids for offense and defense and on offense did a good job finding our young kids and taking advantage of it. (Greenville went hurry-up no-huddle to wear us out -- smart move on their part.)

 

Good learning experience for our kids -- got to see how important it is to have "all your bullets" when you go to a gun-fight and to realize why we -- even at a Single-A school -- need to get as many athletes out for football possible. "Iron Man football" sounds great and tough and all that, but the reality of it today is at ANY level, if you're playing with the same kids on offense and defense and the opponent can platoon somewhat (like NewCath can, for instance), you're at a HUGE disadvantage.

 

The one varsity receiver we had there -- Daniel Harmon -- had a big day despite the other teams knowing he was our "go-to-guy" and drawing double-coverage. He's a real play-maker and only going to be a Sophomore. We had Chaz Jackson -- a returning CB -- playing Safety to get experience at a different position and he played well despite it being new to him. Mayo had a good day and a bad day -- expected for a "new" qb. As the day went on, he improved a lot on decision-making.

I am sure Dunbar would have liked to run Fullback Trap, also.

I am sure Dunbar would have liked to run Fullback Trap, also.

 

I think QB Draw would be fairly effective too...maybe we can go in together and join forces on getting these included for next year!

I think QB Draw would be fairly effective too...maybe we can go in together and join forces on getting these included for next year!

I am with ya, brother. :thumb:

How about the end around draw?

How about the end around draw?

That would work too. :D

Sorry if I painted a totally-negative picture of what our summer's been like here working with basketball program. Allow me to explain some...

 

 

Didn't really have a choice. Though I didn't fight it too hard based on a couple of my basic principles...

* 7-on-7s are useful, but not critical, to success in a season (unless you play a team like Male every game, that plays "pass-league defense" -- 5-under, 2-deep).

 

* There was NOT a restriction on WEIGHTLIFTING and TRAINING toward football. To me, keeping up GENERAL strength, agility, and toughness training in June is more important than the FOOTBALL-SPECIFIC stuff you can do (though it definitely can help some -- mainly qb reads, receiver route-running details, and db/lb pass defense). Sometimes in the past, the more I've done 7on7s, the less time we could spend in the weightroom and on the running track.

 

This also allowed me to have the time to take linemen to a line-camp for the first time...that may help us this season more than any 7on7 tournament.

 

* two-sport kids shouldn't be "run-ragged" in June. I've done this in the past...I got the June bball schedule, scheduled our passing practices and games in time-blocks where they didn't play and strongly urged them to pull "double-duty" and make it to every passing opportunity...while at the same time, the basketball coach had a policy that basically said if you didn't do EVERYTHING they did in the summer, forget about making the team.

Doing that killed them physically and otherwise. I don't want to do that again to kids.

...let's face it, while we as football coaches WANT our kids there in June, the basketball coaches pretty much REQUIRE it. If we REQUIRE it too, the ones hurt the most are the KIDS -- and can actually turn them against you as a coach.

 

Getting out of school as early as we did in May allowed us to get 3 days with them before basketball stuff started, so we got to put in a lot there with our varsity kids (though I didn't get any of our baseball kids as they were in teh middle of tournament play and that work didn't help us much this past Saturday, as the work was done over a month ago).

 

 

Actually, our basketball coach, Bart Williams, was VERY willing to work with me and we figured out a June schedule to allow 2-sport kids to do some football stuff without killing them. The "policy" didn't come from him.

 

The basic premise for this policy isn't an altogether bad one (remember, no restriction on them "training" for football), and is actually DUE to football being strong at Pikeville. It is that since we usually play deep into November, the football kids that also play basketball miss about a month-and-a-half of basketball practice. Giving them June is to basically make up for what they'll miss later.

 

I'm hoping that in the future, there will be a Thursday, Friday, Saturday in early June (after baseball is done) where we can get ALL our kids without having a lot basketball-wise those days, teach them the entire passing game the first two days, then do a tournament on the third. Then, they're back to basketball the rest of the month. (Would've done that this year, but didn't hear of the policy until late April.)

 

 

Not yet. But I understand and appreciate their wanting to do what it takes to get to that point. Bart Williams puts in time in his off-season like a FOOTBALL coach does; I appreciate that too.

 

I have a STRONG interest in our basketball (and baseball, and track, etc.) team being the best in the state as I've got kids I care about on those teams and THEY want to win state in those sports too.

 

Bart is GREAT in working WITH us in the football program to allow football/basketball kids to at least do a minimum amount of lifting during basketball season (something he said actually played a big part in our bball team win its district last year, and something that did NOT happen where I was before -- and, I'd bet doesn't happen in MOST places). I, in turn, encourage our two-sport kids to continue doing work toward their other sports during football season (e.g., shooting drills, dribbling, batting, etc.).

 

I hope we can have a "culture" at Pikeville like they had at Highlands a few years back -- state champs or finalists in baseball, basketball, and football. That only happens at a place where the best athletes (like Derek Smith, Lorenzen, etc.) are ENCOURAGED and not PENALIZED by playing multiple sports. So far, the baseball, basketball, and track coaches at Pikeville have been GREAT to work WITH in developing schedules to allow for kids to be able to play several sports without feeling "pressured" too much by any one sport. ** I'll take kids feeling good about playing multiple sports over success at 7on7 tournaments anyday! **

 

Great post Coach. I know first hand that when coaches dont work together it is harmful to both programs. At my high school it actually killed the football program.

Great post Coach. I know first hand that when coaches dont work together it is harmful to both programs. At my high school it actually killed the football program.

 

Yes...but you've got a GREAT example at your "new school" (assuming you call Mason Co. that) of how it SHOULD work...when Coach Buchanan and Coach Wells (now a Pikevillian, by the way) worked together, shared kids, allowed them to lift year-round, worked around bball camps and such in the summer: bball team won state and football made semi-finals in 3A.

 

I know Coach Buchanan speaks very highly of Coach Wells and their relationship as coaches in trying to help EACH OTHERS program while helping their own.

Yes...but you've got a GREAT example at your "new school" (assuming you call Mason Co. that) of how it SHOULD work...when Coach Buchanan and Coach Wells (now a Pikevillian, by the way) worked together, shared kids, allowed them to lift year-round, worked around bball camps and such in the summer: bball team won state and football made semi-finals in 3A.

 

I know Coach Buchanan speaks very highly of Coach Wells and their relationship as coaches in trying to help EACH OTHERS program while helping their own.

 

 

Yes sir you are correct. The coaches at Mason work VERY well together at every level.

We need to let kids enjoy thier summer a little more. B-ball runs them to death. I agree with Coach J that passing leagues are not that important. I wish they would make the dead period a month long.