How the mighty have fallen.

[gchs_uk9]

On 4/26/2021 at 6:44 PM, R1 sports fan said:

PT has really been hurt by the creation of McCracken County, before McCracken existed, if you were really good in the Paducah area, you went to PT without question. 

I think this is partly true, but Lone Oak was really good for about a decade before the merger. Heath had a lot of good teams over the years, especially at the small school level. Reidland was the only one who was never very good. So not every player was moving in to Tilghman.

[R1 sports fan]

27 minutes ago, gchs_uk9 said:

I think this is partly true, but Lone Oak was really good for about a decade before the merger. Heath had a lot of good teams over the years, especially at the small school level. Reidland was the only one who was never very good. So not every player was moving in to Tilghman.

Your right in the 2000's, but historically, maybe one of the county schools was good, and at some points in time, they all were down. When Tilghman was really rolling, they were the only team in the county that was any good. 

[CoachHB]

1 hour ago, zoneblitz24 said:

The creation of South Warren has been the death of Warren Central plain and simple.

Just my opinion from far away but 2 Huge things started the Losing to snowball at WC

#1 The Admin firing a really good , young coach that truly wanted to be there , thus bringing in a couple "big name" guys.  That same young coach is having success at his new school and should have been given a chance. 

#2 Refusing to ever PUNT  & onside kicking every time has created a totally up hill battle for those kids every game ! How many games of this current streak of futility has this caused?? My educated guess is 2 to 3 games each year.  I saw them on film a couple times and could not believe how they hurt themselves from these decisions. 

[theguru]

Since Boone came up to start this thread here is what Coach Warner from Boone County posted yesterday on Facebook:

Welcome to REBEL COUNTY Sharod Williams Freshman 6'4 315 lbs! Thank you to our players and administration for helping to get this guy to join our program! Sharod has an extremely bright future like many of our young men!

 

[zoneblitz24]

1 hour ago, CoachHB said:

Just my opinion from far away but 2 Huge things started the Losing to snowball at WC

#1 The Admin firing a really good , young coach that truly wanted to be there , thus bringing in a couple "big name" guys.  That same young coach is having success at his new school and should have been given a chance. 

#2 Refusing to ever PUNT  & onside kicking every time has created a totally up hill battle for those kids every game ! How many games of this current streak of futility has this caused?? My educated guess is 2 to 3 games each year.  I saw them on film a couple times and could not believe how they hurt themselves from these decisions. 

You are correct Warren Central has not helped themselves out with some of the decisions being made recently as far as coaches but the creation of South Warren was when the talent decline began.  Yes they have been successful in basketball but they also have had several transfers join the basketball team in recent years.  They may have a 4A enrollment but half of that high school does not speak English and are from other countries so the actual number of kids who even know what American football is compared to other 4A school is much smaller.  

[DragonFire]

4 hours ago, Tkinslow said:

The crazy part about it is it’s just hurt WC in football they have still been really good in basketball now I know a basketball team doesn’t have nearly as many people as football but it’s still a 4A school so there’s still a lot of students at the school. They might have lost enough athletes to SW to not be able to compete for championships but you still wouldn’t think they would be that bad.

Warren Central used to be pretty good in baseball as well. They won region the final year before South opened. They’re currently winless this year and have been run ruled in every single game. The impact on basically every sport was pronounced. Basketball is a different animal because of where they were, the ability to compete with less, and the fact that South has not gained any footing at all in basketball. 

[DragonFire]

1 hour ago, zoneblitz24 said:

You are correct Warren Central has not helped themselves out with some of the decisions being made recently as far as coaches but the creation of South Warren was when the talent decline began.  Yes they have been successful in basketball but they also have had several transfers join the basketball team in recent years.  They may have a 4A enrollment but half of that high school does not speak English and are from other countries so the actual number of kids who even know what American football is compared to other 4A school is much smaller.  

This is the correct answer. It’s beating a dead horse, but it’s HOW they created South Warren. There was no need for the county to take anything from Central when South was created, but that didn’t fit the goal. The area they moved over was very academically strong. That crippled Central from their public standardized test standpoint, which helps steer students away, and it split Rockfield, their best feeder elementary, which helps bleed kids too (Jimmy and Joe are buddies and Jimmy’s parents send him to South because that’s where Joe is going). All of that removed Central’s ability to make mistakes. So, when they made mistakes, like firing successive head coaches after a single year, their program could not absorb that hit. All so Warren County could have their flagship school that was good at pretty much everything. And the saddest part? It worked. South is successful at everything - except boys basketball. 
 

To put it more concisely, Warren County and changing demographics are responsible for the vast majority of the losing. Warren Central and some very, very poorly decisions mid decade get to own the fact it’s even worse than it had to be. 

[DragonFire]

3 hours ago, CoachHB said:

Just my opinion from far away but 2 Huge things started the Losing to snowball at WC

#1 The Admin firing a really good , young coach that truly wanted to be there , thus bringing in a couple "big name" guys.  That same young coach is having success at his new school and should have been given a chance. 

#2 Refusing to ever PUNT  & onside kicking every time has created a totally up hill battle for those kids every game ! How many games of this current streak of futility has this caused?? My educated guess is 2 to 3 games each year.  I saw them on film a couple times and could not believe how they hurt themselves from these decisions. 

Firing Stephens was the final nail. But Feggins shouldn’t have been fired before that. There’s a debate among some whether Feggins should have even been hired but he dang well shouldn’t have been fired after a 6-5 year. Horrendous decisions by parties who failed to grasp the depth of the challenge facing them. There are aspects of that challenge that some at Central are only now finally understanding. 
 

As for Fowler’s unorthodox approach on the onside kicks and all that - one, he was only there two years so that didn’t cost them anything before that. Two, he really only committed to that fully the first year. The second year he did less of that. Still present, but less. I wouldn’t have done it and I don’t think it was the right move, but it can be argued they weren’t going to stop those teams defensively anyway. I can fully guarantee you it didn’t cost them 2-3 a year. Did it cost them 1-2 total? It might have. 

[Brown]

5 hours ago, zoneblitz24 said:

The creation of South Warren has been the death of Warren Central plain and simple.

I was told this a few years before SW started.  I'm sure the SW shift didn't help either.  And this guy was a purple and had an athlete in a sport there (went to WKU if I remember right).  He basically said boundary shifts enabled BG to get a piece of WC's good athletes.  Both of those schools have always been solid - but since that time BG has continued to go up and WC adrift.

[Lions Paw]

3 hours ago, theguru said:

Since Boone came up to start this thread here is what Coach Warner from Boone County posted yesterday on Facebook:

Welcome to REBEL COUNTY Sharod Williams Freshman 6'4 315 lbs! Thank you to our players and administration for helping to get this guy to join our program! Sharod has an extremely bright future like many of our young men!

 

WOW! 6'4" 315 lb young men don't walk the halls of high schools very often. Good luck to the Rebels.

[theguru]

1 hour ago, Lions Paw said:

WOW! 6'4" 315 lb young men don't walk the halls of high schools very often. Good luck to the Rebels.

Yeah, especially in the 9th grade. 

[DragonFire]

2 hours ago, Brown said:

I was told this a few years before SW started.  I'm sure the SW shift didn't help either.  And this guy was a purple and had an athlete in a sport there (went to WKU if I remember right).  He basically said boundary shifts enabled BG to get a piece of WC's good athletes.  Both of those schools have always been solid - but since that time BG has continued to go up and WC adrift.

Bowling Green's district lines have been static since the 1960s.  They absorbed some of old Warren County High back then, but ever since, Bowling Green's boundaries have not changed.  That doesn't mean Central athletes don't find their way to Bowling Green - or other schools (and yes, occasionally vice versa), but those happen via family decisions rather than district lines.  I have no idea what timeframe he would have been talking about, but Central experienced a couple of down years at the tail end of Bill Cox's tenure (2007 & 2008), regained ground in 2009 (which included a win over BG), and then went to three straight region finals, losing to Anthony Hickey/Christian County in 2010 and then to Bowling Green in 2011 & 2012 (losing four times total in those two years, all to BG).  That was post South, and it was after that the decline began, as the feeder system got eaten alive at that point. 

[NLTanker1]

20 hours ago, theguru said:

Since Boone came up to start this thread here is what Coach Warner from Boone County posted yesterday on Facebook:

Welcome to REBEL COUNTY Sharod Williams Freshman 6'4 315 lbs! Thank you to our players and administration for helping to get this guy to join our program! Sharod has an extremely bright future like many of our young men!

 

That kid will be a monster by the time he graduates. Good Lawd

[TheDeuce]

On 4/28/2021 at 7:26 PM, NLTanker1 said:

Call me crazy, but I think St. X. They haven't won a title since 09. Before that was 04. So in the last two decades the "Perennial Power" hasn't shown much. They still beat up a little on lesser opponents, but they are a program with 12 state titles. Maybe it's the 2 coaching changes that have caused inconsistencies.

However, I think they're one that could swing the pendulum back in their favor sooner rather than later.

 

X's "lack of success" says more about Trinity than it does X. 

[Brown]

Thanks @DragonFire - It's been a while.  I remember the 90's WC teams, very stout.  At 1 point it was WC, BG and Owensboro in the same district if I remember right - brutal.