Just now, BlueKernels said:

It still is for CCH, players and staff. They still prepare like crazy for every game against the birds, regardless of record or previous outcomes. 

Kind of what I thought as well.

23 minutes ago, RunForest said:

Not quite sure where your heading with this "rant"...makes no sense to me. 

Makes sense.

1 hour ago, RunForest said:

Not quite sure where your heading with this "rant"...makes no sense to me. 

Agreed. 

13 hours ago, RunForest said:

Not quite sure where your heading with this "rant"...makes no sense to me. 

Yeah, I'm kind of lost too.

Good morning,

Been a rough weekend to say the least starting with Birds, then my Wildcats and then to put the cherry on top the Bengals.

I will say Friday's game didn't turn out the way I hoped for.  I realize like I stated it was going to take a mistake free game from the Birds to make a Win happen and that obviously wasn't the case.

Totally agree with the posters that the Bottom experiment didn't work for Friday, hopefully it will pay dividends next year, who knows.

Here are my 5 things to work on in the offseason:

1. HIRE a Def Cordinator!  No disrespect to Coach Sphire but I would like to see him ONLY have the HC job so he can not let anything run amuck in all aspects of the game b/c he is having to devote his attention as the DC.

2. Find 20 pounds of mass on every kid in the program.  Don't get fat get bulky!

3. Figure out your identity at QB sooner than later.  Is Bottom our 2 yr starter?  Is Benke? Going to rehash Noon again?  Do all 3?  I really don't know the right answer, but do it and build confidence in your decision.

4. Don't dwell on what happened this season, keep your heads up.  I feel sorry for the Senior class that they had to be part of this "guinea pig" season.  Which that is what it was, it was lets throw a whole bunch of stuff on the wall and see what sticks.  Injuries were abundant, QB situation was a revolving door, and the black cloud of eligibility to a RB all year when that was a huge weakness in our game.

5. Have a work ethic like no other!  Hayden just tweeted this morning that 25-30 kids showed up to Voluntary workouts this morning at 6:15am.  I know its the first day and a lot of 15-18 yr old kids will have that desire on the first day.....let's make sure you have those #s in a month, and then 2 months, etc, etc throughout this offseason.

Lastly, @Rocket Man just wanted to make a comment about your reply (on the Predictions/Update thread) to when I stated I wouldn't be here if I didn't think they could.  Which I meant as if I didn't think Birds had a chance I would have left.  For the record, I was in the stands cheering on my Birds until the clock hit 0:00 in the 4th qtr.  My loyalty is STRONG and for someone to come at me like that made me very confused on that comment....maybe you misread.  I didn't post at all during the game b/c my hands were freezing, didn't post right after the game b/c I have a family with a lot of kids that I spent time with over this weekend.  Therefore, this is my first time able to sit down and express my thoughts on the game.

As always, GO BIRDS!!!!

11 minutes ago, FrankNicodemus said:

Good morning,

Been a rough weekend to say the least starting with Birds, then my Wildcats and then to put the cherry on top the Bengals.

I will say Friday's game didn't turn out the way I hoped for.  I realize like I stated it was going to take a mistake free game from the Birds to make a Win happen and that obviously wasn't the case.

Totally agree with the posters that the Bottom experiment didn't work for Friday, hopefully it will pay dividends next year, who knows.

Here are my 5 things to work on in the offseason:

1. HIRE a Def Cordinator!  No disrespect to Coach Sphire but I would like to see him ONLY have the HC job so he can not let anything run amuck in all aspects of the game b/c he is having to devote his attention as the DC.

2. Find 20 pounds of mass on every kid in the program.  Don't get fat get bulky!

3. Figure out your identity at QB sooner than later.  Is Bottom our 2 yr starter?  Is Benke? Going to rehash Noon again?  Do all 3?  I really don't know the right answer, but do it and build confidence in your decision.

4. Don't dwell on what happened this season, keep your heads up.  I feel sorry for the Senior class that they had to be part of this "guinea pig" season.  Which that is what it was, it was lets throw a whole bunch of stuff on the wall and see what sticks.  Injuries were abundant, QB situation was a revolving door, and the black cloud of eligibility to a RB all year when that was a huge weakness in our game.

5. Have a work ethic like no other!  Hayden just tweeted this morning that 25-30 kids showed up to Voluntary workouts this morning at 6:15am.  I know its the first day and a lot of 15-18 yr old kids will have that desire on the first day.....let's make sure you have those #s in a month, and then 2 months, etc, etc throughout this offseason.

Lastly, @Rocket Man just wanted to make a comment about your reply (on the Predictions/Update thread) to when I stated I wouldn't be here if I didn't think they could.  Which I meant as if I didn't think Birds had a chance I would have left.  For the record, I was in the stands cheering on my Birds until the clock hit 0:00 in the 4th qtr.  My loyalty is STRONG and for someone to come at me like that made me very confused on that comment....maybe you misread.  I didn't post at all during the game b/c my hands were freezing, didn't post right after the game b/c I have a family with a lot of kids that I spent time with over this weekend.  Therefore, this is my first time able to sit down and express my thoughts on the game.

As always, GO BIRDS!!!!

Really good post. I especially agree with posts 2-3. Getting physically stronger and bigger is absolute must for the program and finding a QB and going all in on 1 QB is essential; I think it is fair to say that if it is going to be Bottom, he has got to have an awesome spring. Does he play baseball? 

Another point that I would add to your very strong list is to hire, or assign a current staff member, the position of Special Teams Coordinator. Good Golly, Ms. Molly, special teams were awful this year. 

Finally, I am interested to see what changes in staff Coach Sphire makes. Who will be added and who will be gone will be interesting to me. Really hoping it is not more dads... 

24 minutes ago, Kenny Powers said:

Really good post. I especially agree with posts 2-3. Getting physically stronger and bigger is absolute must for the program and finding a QB and going all in on 1 QB is essential; I think it is fair to say that if it is going to be Bottom, he has got to have an awesome spring. Does he play baseball? 

Another point that I would add to your very strong list is to hire, or assign a current staff member, the position of Special Teams Coordinator. Good Golly, Ms. Molly, special teams were awful this year. 

Finally, I am interested to see what changes in staff Coach Sphire makes. Who will be added and who will be gone will be interesting to me. Really hoping it is not more dads... 

I know somewhere they could find a potential special teams coach, all it takes is a meeting or phone call to gauge interest and see if the schedule could work.

11 minutes ago, Jack of all Trades said:

I know somewhere they could find a potential special teams coach, all it takes is a meeting or phone call to gauge interest and see if the schedule could work.

Well, then I would encourage that person to apply for the open positions posted on the schools's website for football and email the AD/Coach Sphire and tell them they applied. Has this person you know reached out to the coach/AD and expressed interest? If not, sitting back and just waiting for the AD/Coach to call you is kind of ridiculous. 

On 11/6/2021 at 2:49 PM, 9068 said:

Maybe some better athletes no longer choose football? 

Yeah and Two Juniors from the State Basketball team from last year have decided not to play and focus more on Football than the other Sport. I firmly believe the football program will also lose some kids namely Baseball players next year as well. I hope not but in order for the Football program to get better, Baseball kids will have to make some Summer and Fall sacrifices that I'm not so sure they're willing to give up.

14 minutes ago, BirdDaddy said:

Yeah and Two Juniors from the State Basketball team from last year have decided not to play and focus more on Football than the other Sport. I firmly believe the football program will also lose some kids namely Baseball players next year as well. I hope not but in order for the Football program to get better, Baseball kids will have to make some Summer and Fall sacrifices that I'm not so sure they're willing to give up.

I agree; I especially could see some would be seniors choosing not to play football for baseball. 

39 minutes ago, BirdDaddy said:

Yeah and Two Juniors from the State Basketball team from last year have decided not to play and focus more on Football than the other Sport. I firmly believe the football program will also lose some kids namely Baseball players next year as well. I hope not but in order for the Football program to get better, Baseball kids will have to make some Summer and Fall sacrifices that I'm not so sure they're willing to give up.

 

24 minutes ago, Kenny Powers said:

I agree; I especially could see some would be seniors choosing not to play football for baseball. 

If I'm the football staff, I'm doing everything I can to work with kids to allow them to play multiple sports. If you turn it into a situation of kids choosing one or the other, kids are going to lean toward the what have you done for me lately approach. They will likely choose the program with more recent success. Baseball and basketball have had success recently. 

4 minutes ago, ChickenWyngz said:

 

If I'm the football staff, I'm doing everything I can to work with kids to allow them to play multiple sports. If you turn it into a situation of kids choosing one or the other, kids are going to lean toward the what have you done for me lately approach. They will likely choose the program with more recent success. Baseball and basketball have had success recently. 

Please don't get me wrong! I don't like the trend of single sports athletes and I really hope HHS has as many multi-sport athletes as possible, I just think there are a few that will choose to specialize. 

3 minutes ago, Kenny Powers said:

Please don't get me wrong! I don't like the trend of single sports athletes and I really hope HHS has as many multi-sport athletes as possible, I just think there are a few that will choose to specialize. 

I get you and actually agree with this entirely. 

The single sport trend is alarming and honestly is a big factor in overuse injuries, but there will be kids who choose one way or the other because it is the perception of what they should do. Heck, kids still will even if coaches encourage them to play other sports. 

The KHSAA could go a long way in helping this by going back to its hard dates. No baseball coach can work a baseball kid in that sport until Feb. 15th, etc. Until then coaches will feel the need to keep up with their opponents who also have the opportunity to workout. 

1 hour ago, FrankNicodemus said:

1. HIRE a Def Cordinator!  No disrespect to Coach Sphire but I would like to see him ONLY have the HC job so he can not let anything run amuck in all aspects of the game b/c he is having to devote his attention as the DC.

How normal is it for a HS program to have a head coach who isn't a coordinator? I think BW did that for a season or two but as best as I can remember that's the first I've known of a head coach to do that, at least around NKY.

I know Coach Sphire's son is young and I only watched Highlands in the two games against CCH, but I felt like their offensive plan was very ho-hum in both games. He also apparently had a heck of a tough time settling on a QB, which I realize was also an issue for CCH this year. But in the case of Highlands, when you're struggling to identify key players on offense when "the talent is there" to quote every HHS poster on BGP, and you're also failing to win 2 out of 3 regular season games and then exiting the playoffs in the first round, that would make me take some pause to question whether or not Sphire's son has the current qualifications needed to hold his job. If Highlands offense has a repeat year like this next year and I'm a Highlands fan, I've got a football sized nepotism knot in my stomach about having hired the Coaches Sphire.

The two opted out of basketball we’re good role players that could not develop in basketball as the time needed to work.  Both are exceptional football players and should be common names for the.success of the program.  I agree with others you have an occasional athlete that is a freak and can play them all. Others realize that doing them fine but the end result it hurts them in one or the other. 
 

I have been in the camp you have 4 years enjoy it all.  It all depends on the child and love for the sport.  Coaches have different personalities and it has been shared by many which is fun and which is a hard pass.  My only other thought is QB position has to be a born leader and if you are going to rise in that competition, you better live it.  You have QB that plays multi sports.  It makes a difference.  The offense hurt the defense all year. Sure they were young and the skill set is there.  I challenge that group.

 

Defense was short handed big time in the playoffs.  Effort was still there.  Continue to work hard.