Tough lessons are often the best ones, and that is what I am counting on. 

While Bearcat Football continues to improve, the results have been disappointing. And, as is the case when you are the head coach, the first place to look when the results are not what you want, is in the mirror. My two biggest mistakes going back to April of 2023:

1- I overestimated how much offense we could handle.

2- I underestimated how much structure we needed.

We are restructuring our offense to be simpler and to build off the things we do well and fit our skill set.  We put together program standards for the weightroom, classroom, workouts, practices & pregame. 

I realized in October of this season both mistakes I had made. We didn't wait until 2026 to start to address them. We started taking steps immediately and we are already better for it. Coach Mike Kirschner, formerly of Warren Central HS in Indianapolis, gave me some great feedback on our standards and we think they will really help our guys. 

One of the best things we have done, especially considering the snow that has hit us, SQR before Christmas. Stack Quality Reps. We got over 18,000 reps of basic fundamentals knocked out at the end of 2025. 

Recruit Night went well and we are hoping to get 20 freshmen for 2026. Our freshmen have won the conference the last two seasons.

Recruiting for HS guys has never been tougher. Instead of competing against other 18-19 year olds, HS guys are now competing against guys, 18 - 25. And, most of those older guys have collegiate reps and video. But, we are continuing to fight the good fight. And, we may start going the California JUCO route for guys that really want to play college football but have few other options. 

We are continuing our camps with the 5th & 6th graders. It will take time for the dividends of these efforts to show up on Friday night, but they will come. 

 

The Truck Stick route / Feed The Cats has been really good for us in regards to Strength & Conditioning. Our brand new weightroom is barely a year old. Already, the ability to incorporate more landmine exercises is paying off for us. We can bend better, flip our hips better, and generate more explosiveness & power. 

Player Development(more skill/fundamentals reps) workouts will continue through the end of February. Spring football will begin immediately after basketball season. 

2026, our roster should be around 75 guys again. Our depth, experience & talent level should be improved. If I think too much about the results, it wears on me, bad. But, when I think about our "one day/rep at a time" process and the people I work with (players, staff, Bosses, community) not sure anyone has a better job than the one I have coaching the Bearcats. 

If you want to jump in a time machine, come to Bob Ware Field this fall. Old School environment. We play on Bermuda grass. No track. The bleachers/fans are right on top of the field. Very cool place. If you do show up, holler at me in the pregame. We take the field a little after 6:30 every Friday night for specialties. 

My first time on that field was with my Dad. Boyle at Anderson, 1971. Was a great place 55 years ago and Friday Nights are still very special at Bob Ware Field. 

Anderson County is looking for an assistant football coach:

Landmine exercises have been a revelation for me personally. I recently moved and with the new house, was able to expand my home gym to a space that's roughly 150 square feet, and added a landmine attachment. I wish I had started using one many years ago. There's so much stuff you can do and for a guy in his mid 50's, it's much easier on the joints. It's such a simple and inexpensive piece of equipment that all teams should add to their workout spaces.

10 minutes ago, rjs4470 said:

Landmine exercises have been a revelation for me personally. I recently moved and with the new house, was able to expand my home gym to a space that's roughly 150 square feet, and added a landmine attachment. I wish I had started using one many years ago. There's so much stuff you can do and for a guy in his mid 50's, it's much easier on the joints. It's such a simple and inexpensive piece of equipment that all teams should add to their workout spaces.

When we redid our weightroom, we added a landmine attachment to all ten racks. The middle is open and we have good space to use them. Has been really good for us. Especially for our young guys. Kids just don't bend as well when we get them, initially. They get better. But, the start for most of them has been rough going back the last several years.

We had a good day at Turner yesterday for this camp. Appreciate my bosses and the administrators at Anderson Co. for letting us do this!

 

Edmondson Supply sponsored the t-shirts. 

 

 

 

On 2/7/2026 at 2:05 PM, ChiefSmoke said:

Tough lessons are often the best ones, and that is what I am counting on. 

While Bearcat Football continues to improve, the results have been disappointing. And, as is the case when you are the head coach, the first place to look when the results are not what you want, is in the mirror. My two biggest mistakes going back to April of 2023:

1- I overestimated how much offense we could handle.

2- I underestimated how much structure we needed.

We are restructuring our offense to be simpler and to build off the things we do well and fit our skill set.  We put together program standards for the weightroom, classroom, workouts, practices & pregame. 

I realized in October of this season both mistakes I had made. We didn't wait until 2026 to start to address them. We started taking steps immediately and we are already better for it. Coach Mike Kirschner, formerly of Warren Central HS in Indianapolis, gave me some great feedback on our standards and we think they will really help our guys. 

One of the best things we have done, especially considering the snow that has hit us, SQR before Christmas. Stack Quality Reps. We got over 18,000 reps of basic fundamentals knocked out at the end of 2025. 

Recruit Night went well and we are hoping to get 20 freshmen for 2026. Our freshmen have won the conference the last two seasons.

Recruiting for HS guys has never been tougher. Instead of competing against other 18-19 year olds, HS guys are now competing against guys, 18 - 25. And, most of those older guys have collegiate reps and video. But, we are continuing to fight the good fight. And, we may start going the California JUCO route for guys that really want to play college football but have few other options. 

We are continuing our camps with the 5th & 6th graders. It will take time for the dividends of these efforts to show up on Friday night, but they will come. 

 

The Truck Stick route / Feed The Cats has been really good for us in regards to Strength & Conditioning. Our brand new weightroom is barely a year old. Already, the ability to incorporate more landmine exercises is paying off for us. We can bend better, flip our hips better, and generate more explosiveness & power. 

Player Development(more skill/fundamentals reps) workouts will continue through the end of February. Spring football will begin immediately after basketball season. 

2026, our roster should be around 75 guys again. Our depth, experience & talent level should be improved. If I think too much about the results, it wears on me, bad. But, when I think about our "one day/rep at a time" process and the people I work with (players, staff, Bosses, community) not sure anyone has a better job than the one I have coaching the Bearcats. 

If you want to jump in a time machine, come to Bob Ware Field this fall. Old School environment. We play on Bermuda grass. No track. The bleachers/fans are right on top of the field. Very cool place. If you do show up, holler at me in the pregame. We take the field a little after 6:30 every Friday night for specialties. 

My first time on that field was with my Dad. Boyle at Anderson, 1971. Was a great place 55 years ago and Friday Nights are still very special at Bob Ware Field. 

Did a playoff game there many moons ago.....Corbin vs Anderson County.

We had our last player development workout today. Weather was perfect. And, our kids got to meet legendary Boyle County Football Coach, Ed Rall. Was glad he could share some words with our team as well. Some days, being an old football coach is pretty a good deal. Today was certainly one of them. 

Last Player Development Workout was this past Wednesday.

We have had a strong offseason in the weightroom & skill development the best we can, navigating the weather.

Spring football will have warm weather, compliments of Lady Bearcats Basketball. Good luck to them in the 8th Region Semifinals on Friday Night!

 

We started spring practice Monday. Has been a good week. 

Tomorrow's schedule is a little different. 

8 pm catered team meal.

8:20-9:30 Position Meetings & Videos

10 - 11:55 Practice #1

12:05 - 1 AM Practice #2 - Scrimmage

Knocks out two practices. Gets the guys together for an extended period of time. Also gives us more meeting time to teach/coach. Any time we share a meal together it is a good thing. And, it is different!

Spring game will be Thursday, 3/19 after school.

 

 

We have had two coaches, also former Bearcats, running offseason workouts for our incoming MS guys. They use the HS weightroom (barely a year old since it was redone). We have a big open space in the middle for agilities and movement. 

I can't say enough about how this community and former players/alumni have jumped in to help us get back on the right track. Yes, the mountain is big. But, the day to day here is super and the people make it that way.

For whatever reason, this place(admin & community) has an exceptional understanding of delayed gratification and the grind/commitment required to build a program the right way. Very thankful to be a Bearcat. ?

 

@Polar Bearcat

 

 

Thanks for sharing.  This was a great read and very detailed information.  

Last night, our guys had a blast and got better. It took alot of cooperation and support to pull it off...our families, staff & community made it happen. We had a great meal, valuable meeting time for position groups, both sides of the ball, and took some time to review our program standards (read initial post).

Our execution in our drill work was the best it has been in March, as compared to previous springs. 

We ended with a short scrimmage and our North Carolina Drill. Execution is improving. The physicality was significantly better. 

Our spring game is Thursday, 3/19. Should get rolling around 3:30. The BGPreps crowd is always wanted and welcome.