45 minutes ago, TheDeuce said:

Eddie James was afraid of the Highlands job.

I’m not sure this is a 100% fair statement. 1st anyone wanting to be the Head Coach at Highlands should have a healthy amount of respect for what a job like that job entails. 
but 2nd some good old common sense may have prevailed.  Not completely unlike the situation Lane Kiffin may be deciding on at this moment.  

At Franklin Coach James is not only secure but winning and making State Finals runs consistently. You have to figure at some point will break through, and when that happens if he can sustain that he may end up with the Stadium named after him.  Meanwhile at Highlands it seems the fans are already tiring of Coach Sphire and let’s be honest, if a Championship is not won at Highlands in a 5 years span that Head Coach may soon have his walking papers. 
Simply at one place you are winning, doing things that haven’t been done before, and relatively secure.  At the other place if you aren’t meeting or exceeding what’s been done before you’ll soon be out the door. 

So was he afraid of the Highlands job or confident in himself enough to not have to take a job at a perennial championship type place and believe he can build the school he’s at into a champion? 

6 hours ago, LoneRanger said:

I’m not sure this is a 100% fair statement. 1st anyone wanting to be the Head Coach at Highlands should have a healthy amount of respect for what a job like that job entails. 
but 2nd some good old common sense may have prevailed.  Not completely unlike the situation Lane Kiffin may be deciding on at this moment.  

At Franklin Coach James is not only secure but winning and making State Finals runs consistently. You have to figure at some point will break through, and when that happens if he can sustain that he may end up with the Stadium named after him.  Meanwhile at Highlands it seems the fans are already tiring of Coach Sphire and let’s be honest, if a Championship is not won at Highlands in a 5 years span that Head Coach may soon have his walking papers. 
Simply at one place you are winning, doing things that haven’t been done before, and relatively secure.  At the other place if you aren’t meeting or exceeding what’s been done before you’ll soon be out the door. 

So was he afraid of the Highlands job or confident in himself enough to not have to take a job at a perennial championship type place and believe he can build the school he’s at into a champion? 

Sort of…..do I desire to be a builder or a remodeler.

I think James looked at the situation, met the kids, met the administration, and community football fans and realized it wasn't a good fit. I believe he returned to FC, they sweetened the situations for him and his wife, he looked at what he had in place and had coming, and decided to stay. Probably the smartest career move for him and his family.

I truly believe James soured on the position when he realized or was told there were no jobs for his assistant coaches.

13 minutes ago, Jack of all Trades said:

I truly believe James soured on the position when he realized or was told there were no jobs for his assistant coaches.

There were rumors about this, and about a board member flatly denying some other simple request that soured him.

14 minutes ago, Jack of all Trades said:

I truly believe James soured on the position when he realized or was told there were no jobs for his assistant coaches.

This would be a game changer in lots of situations. 

50 minutes ago, Pi said:

There were rumors about this, and about a board member flatly denying some other simple request that soured him.

100% it happened.

It's been a handful of years so my memory is a little foggy, but I believe the scenario was that the Highlands promised Eddie James in-school jobs within the district for himself, his wife, and two (or it might have been 3) assistant coaches. Then after Coach James was announced as the new hire, Highlands came back and said they only had in-district jobs available for Coach James and his wife.

2 hours ago, Pi said:

There were rumors about this, and about a board member flatly denying some other simple request that soured him.

I know one viable interviewee soured when he was told his children would absolutely have to pay tuition if he lived anywhere but Ft. Thomas.

Geez. There are teachers who live out of district but also have their kids in that (whatever school it is) school system. I was under the assumption it was a no tuition situation. As far as Coach James potentially not taking the job based on the fact his assistants couldn’t come with him, that’s true loyalty. As the saying goes “Bros before…”.  I’ll ask this question, how many assistants were retained from the previous coaching staff when Sphire was hired? 

2 hours ago, Oldercoach said:

I know one viable interviewee soured when he was told his children would absolutely have to pay tuition if he lived anywhere but Ft. Thomas.

Just as it should be.

Devils advocate here. Would the Birds get more “viable” coaches interviewing if the out of district tuition wasn’t a factor? I see both sides of the story, but myself I’d leave my children in their school district they are currently in. Obviously I don’t know any where close the full story.

14 hours ago, 9068 said:

Just as it should be.

Wow!  Wasn’t aware there were many/any schools that didn’t see the overriding benefit of their teachers having their kids in the system.  

On 11/27/2025 at 12:13 AM, Colonels_Wear_Blue said:

Jay Volker is an Elder guy. I have a decent handful of contacts in Cincinnati coaching circles and several have told me that Volker has been consistent during the last two off-seasons with asking around concerning what jobs are likely to come open across the river in Cincinnati. General consensus is that he wants the job at Elder once Doug Ramsey retires. Ramsey is in his late 50s, so after 29 seasons at Elder he could potentially be looking at retiring any time, and at the same time he could also be hoping for another decade with the Panthers. But from what I've been hearing Volker is trying to weigh whether or not his college coaching career plus a short but highly successful head coaching career at Beechwood is enough to get him the job at Elder (whenever that comes available), or if he needs to build his resume further with an Ohio job before he would be a viable candidate at Elder.

Personally I really like Volker at Beechwood. I think he's obviously doing a great job, and I support any coach who improves the status of football programs in Kentucky and especially in northern Kentucky. That said, I kinda feel like we may see him make the move back to his homeland in Cincinnati sooner rather than later, but that's just conjecture at this point.

He is in a good spot right now. There is not a lot of job opening in Cincinnati right now that would be a step up from Beechwood. 

On 11/26/2025 at 7:59 AM, Jack of all Trades said:

More the way he treated the approach to the job the last go round.  IMO Bob Sphire is not going anywhere.

I'm not so sure that he may not decide to leave on his own.  He came into the job thinking that his OC would end up being his natural successor, but I don't think there is any way that would ever happen. So maybe he looks for a new gig, where he may be able to pass that torch.    

1 hour ago, En Fuego Hombre said:

I'm not so sure that he may not decide to leave on his own.  He came into the job thinking that his OC would end up being his natural successor, but I don't think there is any way that would ever happen. So maybe he looks for a new gig, where he may be able to pass that torch.    

Does Campbell Co call?