What does Atherton need to do to improve in 2007? What do they need to keep doing to be successful? Remember, please be constructive.

I know that Coach Brown is having a good turnout in the weight room this off season. He is working hard to get more kids out next season. He is also trying to change the attitude around the school. Plus their schedule is a little better (no Central or Bullit East).

Numbers...I had two sons who went there. One was 6'2" 195. "Football, no way Dad". Really nice school.

The administration needs to decide IF THEY WANT a football team or not. If the football program doed not generate revenue, then what do you do with it?

 

There are a lot of people in the halls who will not play football because they hear about the futility and see the humiliation the players face the Mondays after games and the Fridays before games. The teachers ask if the players "Believe" they can win, the students come out to watch and see how bad they will lose. The Athletic Director needs to do whatever is possible to see the football team succeed, not try to undermine what the coach is trying to build. If the AD and the Administration put forth half the effort that the coach and team have been, then there WILL be some more success.

 

I was there in 2000 and part of 2001, I could not have tolerated what Coach Satori had to endure week to week to TRY and field a competitive team. The coach should be able to put the team together and expect the Principal and AD to do whatever possible to make it happen. They will have an easier go of it next season but not a lot better than previous years.

I would think that after 20 years of decline there are some major obstacles that have to be overcome. These include:

1. Establishing a coach who is willing to stick it out and grind out the tough times. Look at what Nichols has done at Manual. Early on, Manual was a doormat with some exceptions when they had senior dominated classes that would compete every now and then. But over time, he was able to get kids in there began to believe in helping him establish a foundation for success. I think Atherton needs a coach who is willing to to stick it out and stick around for a good long haul to help re-establish a foundation for success for the future. The mark of a good coach is when he can handle the disappointing seasons in preparing for success at a later date.

 

2. Atherton has not been known to be a football school for quite some time and so many of the athletes are going elsewhere, especially Seneca (Since they seem to compete for a lot of the athletes in a similar area. Atherton is known for other sports such as Cross Country, Soccer, etc. I can remember at times when they were pretty good at Basketball.

 

3. A coach needs to sell his program to current student-athletes. I think if he is honest enough to say "Look, Im not going to lie, we are going to struggle early on but you can be a part of something special in helping initiate a great turn around of this program. All we have to do is win a few games here and there and get some upsets now and then and we are on our way." Its a tough sell but one that I think can be done with the right person. From a teenager's perspective, sure no one likes to go 0-10 or 1-9 all the time but the sell has to be more than wins and losses. There has to be some sort of pitch that can get the kids out there to work hard for something more than a winning record. Something along the lines of "Look, I dont know what our record will be but lets look at other things like getting in shape, being a part of something and working towards being competitive. If we dont win, fine...but lets at least work at being competitive first then we can alter our goals each year. If we can first compete then we have something we can measure our success with. Eventually, games that we lose by 3 or 7 points can easily be seen as little victories for preparation of next year.

 

All in all, I think it is just going to take a coach who is committed to being around for a good amount of time. I dont think anyone can deny a coach committed to a lengthy tenure is a great step towards eventual success.

Maybe Atherton should consider dropping football.

Maybe Atherton should consider dropping football.

 

Why do you say this? Don't just respond and not give a reason why.

What offense and defense does the coach run? How long has he been there?

Why do you say this? Don't just respond and not give a reason why.

Why should they field a football team? No one comes to the games. They barely have enough players to field a team. Why not skip football and get on with some of the sports they seem to be able to compete in. Maybe the state would allow Atherton students that want to play football to do so at another JCPS. This is done in other states. Makes sense to me.

What offense and defense does the coach run? How long has he been there?

 

From what I saw, they play a 3-5-3 defense and I think they had to with the limited number of D-Linemen they had.

 

Offensively, they ran a shotgun Spread offense, using 3 to 4 receivers. Last season, their QB was pretty good in that he had decent speed and a fairly good arm. The O-Line wasnt very good, RB was often hesistant (but that could be due to the O-line) and they had one pretty good receiver. They struggled often in the Red Zone and most points came on big plays.

 

Defensively, they lacked fundamentals. Often times their D-Line didnt know where the ball was, LBs were fairly quick but didnt tackle well and secondary was pretty low and had many troubles covering WRs.

There were some who believed that the current Principal was going drop the football program but ended up keeping it. Now, a coach can take that job and commit to staying for the long haul but it is going to take and actual effort by everyone involved to rebuild that program. An experienced coach has many more options than to go to a school like Atherton so they will have to attract a young inexperienced Head Coach. I believe whole heartedly that if the Principal was committed to making things happen they could get it done. A great place to start would be finding a football minded AD who will support a young, inspired coach implementing an entirely new system and building a winning attitude. Other than that, it is a coaches graveyard.

A slim (if any) budget to operate is hard to ask of any program, let alone football.

Why should they field a football team? No one comes to the games. They barely have enough players to field a team. Why not skip football and get on with some of the sports they seem to be able to compete in. Maybe the state would allow Atherton students that want to play football to do so at another JCPS. This is done in other states. Makes sense to me.

 

That is the attitude "just quit if you have not been very successful". That is the wrong idea. Instead get behind the guys who are coaching.

I think it is wrong to assume that a school has to have a football team. If a school has no interest in swimming, a jazz band or the chess club they just don't have one. I would allow the kids that are truly interested in football to play for Male or Manual etc. It has been successful in other states.

I have to agree with LSU on this one. Atherton has NO football tradition at all. They have NEVER been to the playoffs and I don't know if they have ever even had a winning record. To rub salt in the wound, next year they will be in one of the few districts with more then 4 teams so they (unlike many other teams) are still not assured of making the playoffs.

 

If the interest is not there within the school to field a football team, why field one? Unfortunately I doubt that Jefferson County Public Schools would allow them to drop the program (Male tried to play only JV for a year in the late 70's but weren't allowed to, Shawnee looked into dropping football but weren't allowed to several years ago). With open enrollment in JCPS if someone wants to play football there are options for them.

It was rumored that the principal that began in 2001 was going to cut football at Atherton. The Board may have vetoed that but undoubtably a contributing factor was Satori's fundraising. Satori had just finished his first season and had a huge winter fundraising effort aided by some key Alumni from the successful Atherton teams from the late 60's and early 70's (an 8-1-1 season and 9-1 season in that time). That winter Satori completely re-did the weightroom with a $30,000 renovation that also included some improvements in the lockerroom (huge greaseboards, projector, carpet and paint, air conditioning).

Satori also used some of the $ to upgrade equipment, buying new helmets, new practice field equipment like a trap chute, running back blaster sled, and assorted dummies. He also contacted the coach at Georgetown College and got lots of extra equipment like shoulderpads, and cleats from Georgetown/Bengals.

I think after such a successful fundraising effort that first offseason he couldn't convince the administration to give him more $ for anything he was just expected to raise it.

A few years later after all of his Bike helmets were rejected he wasn't given any $ to buy enough helmets to outfit his small roster and had to buy about 10 helmets himself from his own $ to get everyone suited up.

 

I wouldn't wish this job on anyone and until the adminstration at that school changes don't expect any improvement regardless of the coach.