7 minutes ago, Lions Paw said:

Congratulations to Coach Bathiany and to the Lex Cath players. Looks like a Lex Cath win and a Highlands lose on this one to me.

How is Highlands losing on this one?

11 minutes ago, theguru said:

How is Highlands losing on this one?

I see this as a BIG win for Highlands! You just got potentially a successor back in the Bluegrass now getting Head Coach experience. When I say successor I dont mean tomorrow but maybe 6-10 years from now.

7 minutes ago, FrankNicodemus said:

I see this as a BIG win for Highlands! You just got potentially a successor back in the Bluegrass now getting Head Coach experience. When I say successor I dont mean tomorrow but maybe 6-10 years from now.

I agree on possibilities in the future and Highlands has an excellent coach in Coach Sphire. 

1 hour ago, FrankNicodemus said:

I see this as a BIG win for Highlands! You just got potentially a successor back in the Bluegrass now getting Head Coach experience. When I say successor I dont mean tomorrow but maybe 6-10 years from now.

What makes you think 6-10 years? 

39 minutes ago, Kenny Powers said:

What makes you think 6-10 years? 

Sphires what 64? Just a good guess, if he succeeds. Probably guessing high....

5 minutes ago, FrankNicodemus said:

Sphires what 64? Just a good guess, if he succeeds. Probably guessing high....

And Sphires' son is coaching at Highlands also, right?

2 hours ago, theguru said:

How is Highlands losing on this one?

Highlands had the chance to bring Bert in last year during their search for a coach. They stumbled and couldn't get it done.

6 minutes ago, Lions Paw said:

Highlands had the chance to bring Bert in last year during their search for a coach. They stumbled and couldn't get it done.

At least the Birds stumbled into Bob Sphire. ?‍♀️

22 minutes ago, Voice of Reason said:

And Sphires' son is coaching at Highlands also, right?

Yes

9 minutes ago, Lions Paw said:

Highlands had the chance to bring Bert in last year during their search for a coach. They stumbled and couldn't get it done.

I wish Bert well and hopefully he will succeed. 

At the end of the day I think and hope that all programs involved Lex Cath and Highlands will be extremely happy after 5 years looking back.

 

On 1/14/2022 at 12:54 PM, The Oracle said:

No. 1 was Eddie James and No. 2 was Bob Sphire. Not sure where everything fell into place after that. Lickert maybe? Barth?

Bob Sphire was indeed the #1 call. That is a fact. But Highlands was nowhere near what it would take to bring him to Ft Thomas from Southern Ga and discussions quickly stalled. After the James debacle and then an Intense Month of Negotiations with Chris Wolfe(Also a fact) Highlands was able to come very close to what Bob Sphire initially needed to come. Thanks Chris Wolfe! Once they got to that number, it was a no brainer for Sphire to come back to his home State to Coach. Days went by and at one point everyone thought Highlands was going to name Bert Bathiany as the next Head Coach, but administrators worked their Butts off to get Sphire to Ft Thomas instead. Bathiany had no Head Coaching Experience and that held water with the prior Principle Matt Bertasso who was making the Hire and is now in Southern Ga working. There was a lot of other Steamy stuff that went on during the Negotiations with Wolfe. Meaning other Applicants calling Bertasso and basically begging him for the Job. Depends who you ask but Highlands go their man. He doesn't make promises and holds each kid accountable. No more playing Kids just because of their Seniority in the program. He is going to play the better player. Period.

On 1/15/2022 at 2:57 PM, FrankNicodemus said:

Sphires what 64? Just a good guess, if he succeeds. Probably guessing high....

Maybe 64. But if you ask him, he will tell you he feels like he's 34 now that he's at Highlands. The man is a machine. No one questions Nick Saban's age. I think he's close to 70.

On 1/15/2022 at 12:33 PM, theguru said:

How is Highlands losing on this one?

Yeah quite confusing.

I guess I’ll take the bait. What makes Bathiany a home run hire for LexCath? I would assume he would need an experienced staff with him because college football, even small college football is much different than HS football. 
 

Good luck to the Knights. 

I am one of the ones that mentioned "homerun hire". I say that for several reasons 1. He is young and energetic. He will bring "the juice" to the program. 2. He is a defensive guy who coached DC in the college level. 3. He was a strength and conditioning guy at other programs and will instill the weight training program to another level. 4. Have you seen Lex Catholic defense lately in the past few years? They have been close to being awful. Sure they can score in bunches, but they stop can't seem to stop anyone from scoring either. 5A. Compare him the the previous coach, I would say 100% better and 5B. Honest question, who was out there that applied is worthy of hiring?