The whole vibe is different at Highlands. There is a confidence and excitement that hasn’t really been there in a while. When the kids believe you can do so much more. 

1 hour ago, El Diablo said:

The whole vibe is different at Highlands. There is a confidence and excitement that hasn’t really been there in a while. When the kids believe you can do so much more. 

Well isn’t this what people of the community that know what Highlands football is all about have been saying for last few years.  Complacency can kill a program and it almost did.  There is and has been talent to be better than .500 each and every year.  Realists know you cannot win state titles each and every year, but if kids give effort and have faith in what they are being taught more good than bad happens.  You are seeing the groundwork being laid for that now.  
Unfortunately I was unable to attend last night, but heard that there was a middle school pep rally before game.  Coach Sphire walked over of his own free will and talked to the kids for just 5 minutes and had them all fired up.  Sound familiar?  This is stuff that Dale Mueller did to get buy in from the kids at an early age.

I am not predicting an undefeated season or a state title for that matter, but this program is now headed back in the right direction which is really what the community wants and wanted for last few years.

21 minutes ago, Jack of all Trades said:

Well isn’t this what people of the community that know what Highlands football is all about have been saying for last few years.  Complacency can kill a program and it almost did.  There is and has been talent to be better than .500 each and every year.  Realists know you cannot win state titles each and every year, but if kids give effort and have faith in what they are being taught more good than bad happens.  You are seeing the groundwork being laid for that now.  
Unfortunately I was unable to attend last night, but heard that there was a middle school pep rally before game.  Coach Sphire walked over of his own free will and talked to the kids for just 5 minutes and had them all fired up.  Sound familiar?  This is stuff that Dale Mueller did to get buy in from the kids at an early age.

I am not predicting an undefeated season or a state title for that matter, but this program is now headed back in the right direction which is really what the community wants and wanted for last few years.

You are so spot on. Highlands is for sure on the right path. Like you said, you can’t win every game every year. But the positive atmosphere is there and that’s a start.  Let’s hope for a “email” free weekend!

Is #29 a starter?  He caught a tough pass and took it to the house. He's got some wheels, that's for sure.

10 minutes ago, 1963 BIRDS said:

Is #29 a starter?  He caught a tough pass and took it to the house. He's got some wheels, that's for sure.

#29 is Davis Hinegardner.  He is going to be special!  Soph who will have an emerging role for sure.

Good game by the Birds. Great things are happening and it’s very apparent that EVERYONE has bought in. You need look no further than this past Wednesday night watching both The Sphire’s standing right behind the two 3rd/4th grade teams playing their first game of the season with the HHS head man and the HHS OC right there to cheer both teams on and offer encouragement. Actually standing on the field scouting for the future and it was very appreciated by this parent. This never happened under the last regime. Never even saw them at games.

IMO, the difference being, having a positive Coach at the helm, positive assistant coaches,  positive people working hard behind the scenes. Positive coaches get respect from players, that isn't demanded, a winning team starts to emerge. A Team works harder for a Head Coach that believes in them. Getting kids to trust you and believe in you is quite a talent in todays world. KUDOS to Coach Sphire.

13 hours ago, El Diablo said:

The whole vibe is different at Highlands. There is a confidence and excitement that hasn’t really been there in a while. When the kids believe you can do so much more. 

 

11 hours ago, Jack of all Trades said:

 if kids give effort and have faith in what they are being taught more good than bad happens.  

Completely agree when the kids buy in and believe it makes a world of difference. With that said, I would say part of the reason kids may not have bought in and believed in the previous staff is because of the parents and fans. How can you expect kids to buy in to a coach if parents and people all around the program is saying how bad a coach is and that the coach should be gone. So if the kids didn’t believe in the last staff I think many people probably should look in the mirror and blame themselves for that, as how people around the program were acting also were to blame in the lack in believing. 
 

With the new coach all those same people who were complaining before, were nothing but positive with the new coach. So that also makes it easier to buy in. I don’t think fans of a program understand how much harder they make it for players of a team to buy in and believe, if their parents and people in the community are saying how wrong the coaches are. That could tear a team down just as much as anything else. So it a good thing that the fans and community are supporting the new coach, because that definitely also helps create the buy in. 

35 minutes ago, futurecoach said:

 

Completely agree when the kids buy in and believe it makes a world of difference. With that said, I would say part of the reason kids may not have bought in and believed in the previous staff is because of the parents and fans. How can you expect kids to buy in to a coach if parents and people all around the program is saying how bad a coach is and that the coach should be gone. So if the kids didn’t believe in the last staff I think many people probably should look in the mirror and blame themselves for that, as how people around the program were acting also were to blame in the lack in believing. 
 

With the new coach all those same people who were complaining before, were nothing but positive with the new coach. So that also makes it easier to buy in. I don’t think fans of a program understand how much harder they make it for players of a team to buy in and believe, if their parents and people in the community are saying how wrong the coaches are. That could tear a team down just as much as anything else. So it a good thing that the fans and community are supporting the new coach, because that definitely also helps create the buy in. 

I believe there is some truth to what you are saying… that fans/parents can influence the beliefs/attitudes of players. However, in the case of HHS, and honestly any program, the players are not stupid. They know who is who and what is what and who should be doing what on the field amongst their peers. They understand that even if a coach, or multiple coaches,  are really good people and want the best for them that they are not being set up to win games. This is why you saw so many incredibly talented players leave the HHS program. And why, fortunately, you see players and families doing everything they can to get back to the program. 

19 minutes ago, Kenny Powers said:

I believe there is some truth to what you are saying… that fans/parents can influence the beliefs/attitudes of players. However, in the case of HHS, and honestly any program, the players are not stupid. They know who is who and what is what and who should be doing what on the field amongst their peers. They understand that even if a coach, or multiple coaches,  are really good people and want the best for them that they are not being set up to win games. This is why you saw so many incredibly talented players leave the HHS program. And why, fortunately, you see players and families doing everything they can to get back to the program. 

At the of the day and this goes for any big passionate fan base. I don’t think many fans realize, especially at the high school level. How their constant complaining and putting down of coaches. Truly does have an effect on kids and their willingness to completely buy in, when say a parent or others in community are saying their coach is bad or does things wrong. So why would a player want to stay or go to Highlands with the community saying those negative things about the staff.  Which of course then carries over to the field, because if a player isn’t fully bought in, it makes it impossible for the player to truly even do what they are being asked at the level of effort needed. So I just find it interesting hearing people talk about the buy in now, when the lack of buy in before was partly because of the complaining of those same people. A lot of the same people praising things now, we’re part of the problem before even if they may not realize it. 

50 minutes ago, futurecoach said:

 

Completely agree when the kids buy in and believe it makes a world of difference. With that said, I would say part of the reason kids may not have bought in and believed in the previous staff is because of the parents and fans. How can you expect kids to buy in to a coach if parents and people all around the program is saying how bad a coach is and that the coach should be gone. So if the kids didn’t believe in the last staff I think many people probably should look in the mirror and blame themselves for that, as how people around the program were acting also were to blame in the lack in believing. 
 

With the new coach all those same people who were complaining before, were nothing but positive with the new coach. So that also makes it easier to buy in. I don’t think fans of a program understand how much harder they make it for players of a team to buy in and believe, if their parents and people in the community are saying how wrong the coaches are. That could tear a team down just as much as anything else. So it a good thing that the fans and community are supporting the new coach, because that definitely also helps create the buy in. 

Lol, don’t spin this on the fans and alumni  and furthermore tell this to the 1989 State Champion team who lead the Birds onto the field last night.

Tom Duffy was not liked by many in Ft Thomas but he was hired to win Championships and didn’t care who liked him or got in his way of winning  including his style of his coaching etc etc. 

He had a roster of 28 or so kids that would run through a wall for him and didn’t care about the outside distractions.  He controlled those kids and ALL successful coaches do as well but weak leaders historically  blame others. 
 

For me that is on the leadership, it’s easy to blame others and not be accountable as the Head Coach. 

Besides Highlands moved on. If you want to know how fans feel about your theory go to the Newport thread, that might support your blame game…

 

1 minute ago, Sweeperboy said:

Lol, don’t spin this on the fans and alumni  and furthermore tell this to the 1989 State Champion team who lead the Birds onto the field last night.

Tom Duffy was not liked by many in Ft Thomas but he was hired to win Championships and didn’t care who liked him or got in his way of winning  including his style of his coaching etc etc. 

He had a roster of 28 or so kids that would run through a wall for him and didn’t care about the outside distractions.  He controlled those kids and ALL successful coaches do as well but weak leaders historically  blame others. 
 

For me that is on the leadership, it’s easy to blame others and not be accountable as the Head Coach. 

Besides Highlands moved on. If you want to know how fans feel about your theory go to the Newport thread, that might support your blame game…

 

It’s also easy for the same people like you here not to realize you were possibly part of problem. Also how things were in 1989 compared to today with all the social media, sites like this kids can read all the complaining, etc is a lot different. So keep on thinking that your complaining by you  many of the bluebird faithful didn’t also have a negative effect with the ability of kids to buy in. When all the kids were hearing was how bad or wrong their coaches were. 

4 minutes ago, futurecoach said:

It’s also easy for the same people like you here not to realize you were possibly part of problem. Also how things were in 1989 compared to today with all the social media, sites like this kids can read all the complaining, etc is a lot different. So keep on thinking that your complaining by you  many of the bluebird faithful didn’t also have a negative effect with the ability of kids to buy in. When all the kids were hearing was how bad or wrong their coaches were. 

Nothing there there. Please move on.

 

14 minutes ago, futurecoach said:

It’s also easy for the same people like you here not to realize you were possibly part of problem. Also how things were in 1989 compared to today with all the social media, sites like this kids can read all the complaining, etc is a lot different. So keep on thinking that your complaining by you  many of the bluebird faithful didn’t also have a negative effect with the ability of kids to buy in. When all the kids were hearing was how bad or wrong their coaches were. 

It is tough to follow a legend.

But to your point, the Internet definitely changes things, the world moves much faster now. 

Just now, Sweeperboy said:

Nothing there there. Please move on.

 

There is something very much there. It doesn’t take away anything from the team and success this year. It’s great seeing the community excited again, you all have a great and very passionate fan base. I was simply pointing out the comments on the team buying in, and how having buy in is very important. Which like or not you and the Highlands faithful would have made it very hard for players to have bought in to the previous staff the last few years, and how you all probably didn’t even realize you were part of the problem. Which your response to this proves that. That is all.