Open Job: Bullitt Central

[Colonels_Wear_Blue]

I'm hearing Matt Kuehn has been let go as head football coach at Bullitt Central. Can anyone confirm?

If true, all three Bullitt County high schools will have new football coaches this upcoming season. What's up with that?

[Tigerpride94]

 

[Colonels_Wear_Blue]

Bullitt County doesn't seem like the greatest of places to be a football coach right now.

[theguru]

Does anyone know the rest of the story here?

[BEChargers]

2 minutes ago, Colonels_Wear_Blue said:

Bullitt County doesn't seem like the greatest of places to be a football coach right now.

That might be a matter of perspective.

[theguru]

1 minute ago, BEChargers said:

That might be a matter of perspective.

Please explain. 

[BEChargers]

10 minutes ago, theguru said:

Please explain. 

A lot of excitement at BE right now.  A very high powered offense returning 9 starters from last year.  A new youth football and cheer association for BE communities. 

[Colonels_Wear_Blue]

57 minutes ago, BEChargers said:

That might be a matter of perspective.

Perspective is important, you're right.

But here's a coach in a school system that is definitely a cyclical system, and he's spent 6 years working for the school instead of trying to head north to JCPS where the pay is higher and in the case of multiple high schools, expectations are lower. And he's put out 8-4, 7-5, 7-5, 5-7, 4-6, and 9-4 seasons. His 5A program had 58 players on the roster last year, even after having a crappy 4-6 record in 2020 thanks to a team that was frequently stuck playing backups due to COVID. You can look back at the past 15 years worth of Bullitt Central rosters and see that their rosters have very consistently been between 50 and 60 players every season. Yet the school shows their coach the door telling him it's because of low participation numbers?

From where I sit, I'm seeing that either someone in the school isn't being honest, or the coach isn't being honest. Can't say which it is.

[BEChargers]

I was in no way saying the firing was justified.  I may have used the wrong terminology.  I usually try to allow those with kids in the Bullitt County Ed system to speak to this but I will touch on it a very small bit.  This info was passed on to me by a parent of a Bullitt County student.  In Bullitt County, their high schools have open enrollment.  No matter where you live in the county you (and your parents I would assume) can choose which high school you want to go to.  But you have to choose before the start of your first year.  I was also told that if you did not like the school you picked you could only switch to the high school whose district you live in. 

That being said, football has become a mirror of what is happening with the total schools population.  A LOT of kids seem to be choosing to attend BE instead of their own district high school.  BE has 1550 or so students this year.  Over 500 of them are freshmen.  I think they are expecting over 600 in next years freshmen class.  I find it difficult to believe that the Football coach of BC and his 60 or so kids is being blamed for losing so many students to BE, but I believe that may be one of the issues.  

In the district right now BE has a LOT of momentum.  That seems to be carrying over to the football teams.  I did not mean to imply that I agreed with the termination.  It does seem really odd after the season they just had.  But in the last 3 seasons they are 1-5 against the other two Bullitt schools.  The competition for students between the 3 schools is being talked about a lot given the growth of Bullitt East.  Bullitt Central coach may have gotten caught up in the competition for students. 

[Unrivaled97]

22 minutes ago, Colonels_Wear_Blue said:

Perspective is important, you're right.

But here's a coach in a school system that is definitely a cyclical system, and he's spent 6 years working for the school instead of trying to head north to JCPS where the pay is higher and in the case of multiple high, schools, expectations are lower. And he's put out 8-4, 7-5, 7-5, 5-7, 4-6, and 9-4 seasons. His 5A program had 58 players on the roster last year, even after having a crappy 4-6 record in 2020 thanks to a team that was frequently stuck playing backups due to COVID. You can look back at the past 15 years worth of Bullitt Central rosters and see that their rosters have very consistently been between 50 and 60 players every season. Yet the school shows their coach the door telling him it's because of low participation numbers?

From where I sit, I'm seeing that either someone in the school isn't being honest, or the coach isn't being honest. Can't say which it is.

A couple of things to possibly consider, not that I necessarily know anything...

1)  The roster shows 58, but is that what they actually ended the season with?

2)  How many of those non-seniors this year (about 35-40 I believe) will actually be coming back next year and how many have said they won't be playing?

3)  Sometimes it's not necessarily how many kids aren't participating, but which ones in particular.  Let's say multiple kids in the middle school ranks, and pretty good football players at that, decide they will be attending a different school in the county instead of Bullitt Central because of the trajectory of the two programs.  That could play a factor.....possibly if it were true.

[gridiron guy]

20 minutes ago, Colonels_Wear_Blue said:

Perspective is important, you're right.

But here's a coach in a school system that is definitely a cyclical system, and he's spent 6 years working for the school instead of trying to head north to JCPS where the pay is higher and in the case of multiple high, schools, expectations are lower. And he's put out 8-4, 7-5, 7-5, 5-7, 4-6, and 9-4 seasons. His 5A program had 58 players on the roster last year, even after having a crappy 4-6 record in 2020 thanks to a team that was frequently stuck playing backups due to COVID. You can look back at the past 15 years worth of Bullitt Central rosters and see that their rosters have very consistently been between 50 and 60 players every season. Yet the school shows their coach the door telling him it's because of low participation numbers?

From where I sit, I'm seeing that either someone in the school isn't being honest, or the coach isn't being honest. Can't say which it is.

I agree doesn't really seem to add up. Doesn't seem that low numbers would get a coached fired who just want a district championship and went to Regional Final.

[Tigerpride94]

 

[Colonels_Wear_Blue]

11 minutes ago, Tigerpride94 said:

 

"We've had conversations prior of low numbers..." This makes it sound like there was some prior heartburn between the Principal/AD and Coach Kuehn about numbers...prior to the firing. Just "reading through the tea leaves," I'm guessing the Principal/AD felt like there was no reason their roster wasn't making it above 60 players, and Keuhn had been pointing back at program history and saying, "Our school consistently only draws 55 to 60 kids for football."

The million dollar question there is whether or not there was something that could be done differently to increase interest in participation among the BC community. Sounds like the school's answer to that was "yes" and Keuhn's was "no." Enough butting heads eventually meant parting ways, which is definitely a shame.

Also, lol, I couldn't help but laugh a little at "We're one of only six 5A schools in the state to win a playoff game in the last six years." I'm sure that was an unintentional mistake, but when there are 16 games played in the first round of the tournament each year, you know what that means...

[gchs_uk9]

1 hour ago, Colonels_Wear_Blue said:

Also, lol, I couldn't help but laugh a little at "We're one of only six 5A schools in the state to win a playoff game in the last six years." I'm sure that was an unintentional mistake, but when there are 16 games played in the first round of the tournament each year, you know what that means...

Did he mean Bullitt Central is one of only six 5A teams to win a playoff game IN EACH of the last six years? Because that’s actually a pretty good achievement, especially at a school not known for football. 

[Unrivaled97]

56 minutes ago, gchs_uk9 said:

Did he mean Bullitt Central is one of only six 5A teams to win a playoff game IN EACH of the last six years? Because that’s actually a pretty good achievement, especially at a school not known for football. 

That is what he meant.  It is tough to win at Bullitt Central.  I know; I coached there for a few years back when the weight room was literally a barn at the back of the end zone.  It was NOT fun calling defenses against kids like JaJuan Spillman and Andre Woodson when you start 4 freshmen on defense.  I think overall Coach Kuehn did a nice job at BC with what he had.  I think the problem is that the program wasn't growing (not many really are these days it seems though) and everything was trending towards lower numbers in the years coming up.  Coach Kuehn being 9 games over .500 in 6 years is an accomplishment, but again, I don't think things were trending that way for the upcoming years.  Like someone said, a program like BC is cyclical and I've been part of it in a valley and it's brutal.