Is Highlands' Coach Sphire in a do or die situation?

[TylerDurden]

Going through the threads from the Highlands/CovCath rivalry it reads to me like there are a lot of Highlands folks who are unhappy with the coaching and culture of the Highlands football team. At least a lot of the Highands folks on here seem to feel that way, anyway. Comments about player attitudes and behavior, a mess of personal fouls on Friday including one that was apparently called on Sphire himself, player discipline on the field.

I've always heard it takes a new coach 3 years to get his system in place. This is year 3 for Bob Sphire at Highlands. Is his system in place?

Obviously the natives are restless after losing to Cov. But is this year do or die for Sphire with the Bluebirds? What is the bare minimum for Highlands fans to feel like he's done "enough" to make them happy come the end of this season? Is his seat hot right now? With a former player as his AD, can his seat really even get all that hot?

[FrankNicodemus]

I think Bob has put himself in a very difficult situation.  He came to Fort Thomas for probably one last gig AND unfortunately for selfish reasons he also got into a scenario that he would be able to groom his son as the recipient of the program that he has/will revitalize.  The problem with this issue in my opinion is he put his son in the very difficult position as his right hand man of being the Offensive Coordinator.  Which in Fort Thomas put him front and center to be in the cross hairs of the FTM frustrations if a game plan fails.  Way to green to get the OC job.  Bob should have allowed Hayden some breathing room and learn from someone else as the OC first before getting the Big OC job.  Bob has now created this mess, luckily it's early in the season but there is a lot of damage control needed to be done.

Salvageable?  Absolutely....

But I will say this in regards to Hayden, if you can't stand the heat then what are you doing in the kitchen??? 

#GOBIRDS, thru thick or thin!

 

[theguru]

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[TheDeuce]

This year? No, I do not believe Sphire is in trouble this season. 

[Tigerpride94]

I think it depends on how Highlands does in the playoffs. Early exit and the pitch forks will be out. Deep run and he will most likely be back.

[1959]

I’ll bite.
 

I think with everything that lead to the hiring of Bob, expectations following the hire, monetary investments by the school, and the creation of a cash cow football only booster program, it’s not unfair to expect results by year 3. And at Highlands that means winning  state championships. 
 

I don’t know how long you can kick the can down the road if they don’t win it this year. Weinrich had folks unpacking their pitchforks by year 4 and managed to squeeze out another couple of seasons before it got down right ugly. I wonder if some of those same folks who were instrumental in his ousting still feel the same way about what Highlands Football means, and the expectations that come with that. I’d be very curious to see what they think, or if they have now ingratiated themselves with the current regime to the point that they can no longer be objective. 
 

I like both Bob and Hayden, and many of the other assistants.  They work their tails off and have implemented some very positive elements that were previously lacking.  I, like many others, have had this season pegged as THE ONE for a number of years. I still feel that way and truly hope they accomplish their ultimate goal. But if they don’t, something may need to change. 
 

Go Birds!

[TheConch]

Bert, o Bert, where are thou?

[theguru]

5 minutes ago, TheConch said:

Bert, o Bert, where are thou?

I tried to tell them...

[TheConch]

3 minutes ago, theguru said:

I tried to tell them...

Give him a few years, win lose or draw, they’ll run him out of Moeller. 

[theguru]

3 minutes ago, TheConch said:

Give him a few years, win lose or draw, they’ll run him out of Moeller. 

I think ever since Gerry Faust left to go to Notre Dame that has been an extremely difficult job for all the coaches that have followed. 

[TylerDurden]

2 hours ago, 1959 said:

I’ll bite.
 

I think with everything that lead to the hiring of Bob, expectations following the hire, monetary investments by the school, and the creation of a cash cow football only booster program, it’s not unfair to expect results by year 3. And at Highlands that means winning  state championships. 
 

I don’t know how long you can kick the can down the road if they don’t win it this year. Weinrich had folks unpacking their pitchforks by year 4 and managed to squeeze out another couple of seasons before it got down right ugly. I wonder if some of those same folks who were instrumental in his ousting still feel the same way about what Highlands Football means, and the expectations that come with that. I’d be very curious to see what they think, or if they have now ingratiated themselves with the current regime to the point that they can no longer be objective. 
 

I like both Bob and Hayden, and many of the other assistants.  They work their tails off and have implemented some very positive elements that were previously lacking.  I, like many others, have had this season pegged as THE ONE for a number of years. I still feel that way and truly hope they accomplish their ultimate goal. But if they don’t, something may need to change. 
 

Go Birds!

FWIW I'm not looking to lure anyone in to "bite" and say anything perceived in-house as airing laundry. I just read through a whole bunch of pages of a thread about the game, and then decided to follow that up reading the update thread and then the JV thread, and my takeaway was that, damn, those Birds fans are unnnnnnhappy.

Allow me to supply a few quotes.

"...I wasn't impressed with the way they were coached..."

"Why do we fix the things that aren't broken and don't fix things that are broken?"

"Seriously, Highlands has two plays in their play book."

"Poor coaching by the Birds in all aspects of the game."

"...You forgot poorly coached. Selfish football team."

"Highlands is getting what the administration has tolerated. The taunting and stupid penalties tonight are unacceptable. A perfect example of what's resulted in 6 or 7 years of substandard football."

"I don't have an issue with kids being emotional but the taunting isn't the Highlands that I remember..."

"I'm going with the poor or lack of offensive play calling for Highlands."

"They are much improved from the previous coaches' days but the cockiness and arrogance that was on display last night was cringe worthy."

"Year 3 of Sphire and company and the discipline issue has not been addressed, seemingly being encouraged to be undisciplined."

"Extremely disappointed. The lack of discipline is frustrating. You are HHS, be better than that."

"I will be interested to see how certain people spin this to be 'someone else's fault' rather than looking in the mirror."

"The personal fouls....how many years is this gonna be a thing?!? If the coaches accept it, the kids will do it."

"...the jawing, pointing, and self love has to stop. It's embarrassing."

"...[Hayden Sphire] has LOTS to learn before that [Hayden's hiring as HHS HFC] can even be considered. Both on and off the field...."

"Having watched many football games over the years, especially these two teams, I don't recall ever seeing Highlands being so undisciplined."

 

So yeah, I'm just asking some honest questions based on everything that I read.

[FLYGUY]

Bob, is a good coach, but never seen him as great, at Catholic he was usually the more talented team, than the ones he needed to beat. He did do a good job of assembling that talent. But that era in lexington with the means he had it was so easy.... Not sure Highlands has the potential to assemble that kind of talent, any time soon. 

[TheConch]

4 minutes ago, TylerDurden said:

FWIW I'm not looking to lure anyone in to "bite" and say anything perceived in-house as airing laundry. I just read through a whole bunch of pages of a thread about the game, and then decided to follow that up reading the update thread and then the JV thread, and my takeaway was that, damn, those Birds fans are unnnnnnhappy.

Allow me to supply a few quotes.

"...I wasn't impressed with the way they were coached..."

"Why do we fix the things that aren't broken and don't fix things that are broken?"

"Seriously, Highlands has two plays in their play book."

"Poor coaching by the Birds in all aspects of the game."

"...You forgot poorly coached. Selfish football team."

"Highlands is getting what the administration has tolerated. The taunting and stupid penalties tonight are unacceptable. A perfect example of what's resulted in 6 or 7 years of substandard football."

"I don't have an issue with kids being emotional but the taunting isn't the Highlands that I remember..."

"I'm going with the poor or lack of offensive play calling for Highlands."

"They are much improved from the previous coaches' days but the cockiness and arrogance that was on display last night was cringe worthy."

"Year 3 of Sphire and company and the discipline issue has not been addressed, seemingly being encouraged to be undisciplined."

"Extremely disappointed. The lack of discipline is frustrating. You are HHS, be better than that."

"I will be interested to see how certain people spin this to be 'someone else's fault' rather than looking in the mirror."

"The personal fouls....how many years is this gonna be a thing?!? If the coaches accept it, the kids will do it."

"...the jawing, pointing, and self love has to stop. It's embarrassing."

"...[Hayden Sphire] has LOTS to learn before that [Hayden's hiring as HHS HFC] can even be considered. Both on and off the field...."

"Having watched many football games over the years, especially these two teams, I don't recall ever seeing Highlands being so undisciplined."

 

So yeah, I'm just asking some honest questions based on everything that I read.

Okay, Seeing these comments all in one spot makes me really believe Sphire better win, and win fast. 
 

Woah. 

[throwback32]

3 hours ago, TylerDurden said:

FWIW I'm not looking to lure anyone in to "bite" and say anything perceived in-house as airing laundry. I just read through a whole bunch of pages of a thread about the game, and then decided to follow that up reading the update thread and then the JV thread, and my takeaway was that, damn, those Birds fans are unnnnnnhappy.

Allow me to supply a few quotes.

"...I wasn't impressed with the way they were coached..."

"Why do we fix the things that aren't broken and don't fix things that are broken?"

"Seriously, Highlands has two plays in their play book."

"Poor coaching by the Birds in all aspects of the game."

"...You forgot poorly coached. Selfish football team."

"Highlands is getting what the administration has tolerated. The taunting and stupid penalties tonight are unacceptable. A perfect example of what's resulted in 6 or 7 years of substandard football."

"I don't have an issue with kids being emotional but the taunting isn't the Highlands that I remember..."

"I'm going with the poor or lack of offensive play calling for Highlands."

"They are much improved from the previous coaches' days but the cockiness and arrogance that was on display last night was cringe worthy."

"Year 3 of Sphire and company and the discipline issue has not been addressed, seemingly being encouraged to be undisciplined."

"Extremely disappointed. The lack of discipline is frustrating. You are HHS, be better than that."

"I will be interested to see how certain people spin this to be 'someone else's fault' rather than looking in the mirror."

"The personal fouls....how many years is this gonna be a thing?!? If the coaches accept it, the kids will do it."

"...the jawing, pointing, and self love has to stop. It's embarrassing."

"...[Hayden Sphire] has LOTS to learn before that [Hayden's hiring as HHS HFC] can even be considered. Both on and off the field...."

"Having watched many football games over the years, especially these two teams, I don't recall ever seeing Highlands being so undisciplined."

 

So yeah, I'm just asking some honest questions based on everything that I read.

Geesh…more research here than on my grad school thesis…. Kudos

[theguru]

1 minute ago, throwback32 said:

Geesh…more research here than on my grad school thesis…. Kudos

What grade did you receive?