Last night, the Birds were up 41-0 at half. After half, the Birds played sophomores and freshmen the entire second half. S. Oldham kept their starters in almost the entire game (maybe the back ups came in with approx 3-4 minutes left). I'm not being critical of that, as I know its just a coaching philosophy decision, but I'm interested in finding out what most people think: when you are losing big in what will be your last game of the season do you: a) keep your starters in because its their last game of their high school career; or b) put next year's players in to start their development and continue to improve the program and to give the coaches a great opportunity to assess the abilities and talents of next year's players. Frankly, while I can "accept" either answer, if I was the coach, I'd probably lean towards a), I think, maybe, sort of. What do folks think?

I would keep the starters in until the last few minutes of the game. These kids are the ones who have worked hard for the last three years and deserve to play the majority of the game.

 

 

 

 

Last night, the Birds were up 41-0 at half. After half, the Birds played sophomores and freshmen the entire second half. S. Oldham kept their starters in almost the entire game (maybe the back ups came in with approx 3-4 minutes left). I'm not being critical of that, as I know its just a coaching philosophy decision, but I'm interested in finding out what most people think: when you are losing big in what will be your last game of the season do you: a) keep your starters in because its their last game of their high school career; or b) put next year's players in to start their development and continue to improve the program and to give the coaches a great opportunity to assess the abilities and talents of next year's players. Frankly, while I can "accept" either answer, if I was the coach, I'd probably lean towards a), I think, maybe, sort of. What do folks think?

Keep starters in and pray for a miracle comeback...keep onside kicking, throwing deep, etc.. ya never know, you could pull it back to a competitive situation. But once the hand-writing is on the wall...I would personally pull players and meet them out on the field, hug 'em, thank 'em, and then season the reserves.

We will sub as soon as the lead is secure. Several times this year the J.V. has went in early in the 3rd quarter and the Freshman will be in in the 4th.

Keep starters in and pray for a miracle comeback...keep onside kicking, throwing deep, etc.. ya never know, you could pull it back to a competitive situation. But once the hand-writing is on the wall...I would personally pull players and meet them out on the field, hug 'em, thank 'em, and then season the reserves.

:thumb: :thumb: :thumb:

Mayfield had the same situation last night as the Cards were up 49-0 at half and played the freshman and JV unit last night while their opponents played their starters the entire way. Luckily the running clock was in order for the second half.

Mercers starters have played in the 4th quarter only twice this year. I personally worry about this fact when they inevitably face teams with equal talent in the next few weeks...

Mayfield had the same situation last night as the Cards were up 49-0 at half and played the freshman and JV unit last night while their opponents played their starters the entire way. Luckily the running clock was in order for the second half.

 

The only problem I had with Ballard playing their starters the whole game was when the running back from Ballard would showboat and talk trash after a good run. For the record he didn't have any good runs against our 1st team.

I wasn't at the game so I have no idea how many S. Oldham starters are seniors. I say if you are down big in the last game of the year and there is no hope to win, then put all your seniors in the second half and leave them in, if they are starters then so be it, but I say let ALL of the seniors play it out.

Keep the starters in so they can finish. Maybe put subs in with 3 min left.

For me it would be hard as a coach to pull out the starters when we are losing badly, and especially if it were in a do or die situations as the playoffs are. I believe I would allow them to play unless for some reason those players objected. Like some have said, most of these seniors have worked there tails off 3 years to have this, so it would be hard to explain to them that you are giving up on them in the end to get a jump start on next season and putting in people who have a whole other season ahead of them. Im just glad Im a fan and not a Coach so I dont have to make such decisions.

These seniors have really worked hard for our program and deserved to play most of the second half (after playing a great 1st quarter but a bad 2nd quarter). They are responsible for back to back 6 win seasons. While that does not seem great to some programs considering South Oldham had not had back to back winning records in almost 10 years I say that is something to be proud of. They helped bring back the excitement of Friday night in Crestwood.

I wasn't at the game so I have no idea how many S. Oldham starters are seniors. I say if you are down big in the last game of the year and there is no hope to win, then put all your seniors in the second half and leave them in, if they are starters then so be it, but I say let ALL of the seniors play it out.

The seniors that will not get to play at the next level should get to play out the rest of the game as reward for all those years of work, sweat and standing on the sidelines. It's over for them:cry:

Put in the seniors who have worked hard for four years but got no playing time, this would only be a small consolation to never being able to put on their respected teams jersey and take the field ever again.:cry:

Let all the seniors play, starters or not. Some of them will never get the chance to step foot on the field as a player again.