Per a Facebook post from EJHS, after 19 years of coaching at East Jessamine, Mike Bowling is retiring. 

Travis Burns would be a homerun hire. 

24 minutes ago, DearToday said:

Travis Burns would be a homerun hire. 

I agree he would be a homerun hire.

Welcome to BGP @ChiefCrazyHorse!

Hopefully the next coach will be able to get the community to buy in more, I don't know of a school around that has been neglected by their community more than they have. East Jess has a lot more athletic talent than their record would indicate these last few years. 

I was always a Mike Bowling fan. Congratulations on retirement! I do think it was time for East Jessamine to start fresh, and I'm interested to see the interest in this positon. 3-28 in the last 3 seasons. It's going to take somebody very willing to build this program. 

18 hours ago, burreaux said:

Hopefully the next coach will be able to get the community to buy in more, I don't know of a school around that has been neglected by their community more than they have. East Jess has a lot more athletic talent than their record would indicate these last few years. 

Any clue why this is the case? I think it’s hard when a team has won 4 games total in 4 years and 2 of those were this year. I just don’t understand how this program is not successful. 

19 minutes ago, Hard Work said:

Any clue why this is the case? I think it’s hard when a team has won 4 games total in 4 years and 2 of those were this year. I just don’t understand how this program is not successful. 

It goes back to when the schools split in the 90's and goes beyond just football. West Jessamine has always been the 'good' school and East was considered second tier. East has had periods of success in some sports but the community never got behind them like they have for West (and even then the support Jessamine County has for HS athletics in general is extremely low compared to other communities).

This could be an attractive job for a coach/teacher because Jessamine is among the leaders in teacher pay for the area. The youth system has improved significantly in the last 10 years and there are talented, athletic kids in their district. 

16 minutes ago, burreaux said:

It goes back to when the schools split in the 90's and goes beyond just football. West Jessamine has always been the 'good' school and East was considered second tier. East has had periods of success in some sports but the community never got behind them like they have for West (and even then the support Jessamine County has for HS athletics in general is extremely low compared to other communities).

This could be an attractive job for a coach/teacher because Jessamine is among the leaders in teacher pay for the area. The youth system has improved significantly in the last 10 years and there are talented, athletic kids in their district. 

Thank you for this background! I remember when East upset a couple of teams in the playoffs back in the day! Wasn’t sure where the program changed! 

3 minutes ago, Hard Work said:

Thank you for this background! I remember when East upset a couple of teams in the playoffs back in the day! Wasn’t sure where the program changed! 

They even won a district title or two within the last 7 years or so, just never really sustained that success.

Another benefit to this job is that they tend to get put in favorable districts. Their numbers should keep them in 5A for a few more cycles and there really aren't too many strong 5A contenders in Central KY. 

7 minutes ago, burreaux said:

They even won a district title or two within the last 7 years or so, just never really sustained that success.

Another benefit to this job is that they tend to get put in favorable districts. Their numbers should keep them in 5A for a few more cycles and there really aren't too many strong 5A contenders in Central KY. 

East Jessamine won their district in both 2016 and 2017, but lost in the second round both times. They've never played in a regional final, but have won first round games eight different times. What's funny is, in football at least, the Jaguars have been better than West Jessamine, which has never won a district title and has a 3-19 all-time playoff reocrd.

Mike Bowlin is an awful good football coach... and an even better man and friend. He has had alot on his plate the last few years. He always put the kids first and never made excuses. 

I am a big fan of Coach Bowlin and if he ever wants to be a Bearcat, we would welcome him with open arms. 

Trenton Fields would be a good hire, has been an Offensive Coordinator at several area schools. He’s worked, and coached in the Jessamine County School system before as well.

9 minutes ago, WOFOJP61 said:

Trenton Fields would be a good hire, has been an Offensive Coordinator at several area schools. He’s worked, and coached in the Jessamine County School system before as well.

is this gonna be one of them years where this name is brought up for every coaching job ? Again? 

1 hour ago, FLYGUY said:

is this gonna be one of them years where this name is brought up for every coaching job ? Again? 

I think that's just the nature of a good coaching search, find the top young assistants and hope one of them is interested and could be persuaded. Travis Burns' name also seems to get mentioned for every job in the area.