Coach Jackson Looking To Move Out of Pikeville?

[Farva]

I need to go on record and refute my earlier comment about the 4 to 5 hour practices. This statement came from a conversation I had with a fellow Pikeville fan, and has since been proven completely false. Also, the statement involving the line change appears to be inevitable also has no factual evidence behind it, just hearsay.

[newarkcatholicfan]

Sometimes parents need to shut up and watch the game while leaving the coach and tean to function as one.

[CoachB]

Amen!!!!!

Sometimes parents need to shut up and watch the game while leaving the coach and tean to function as one.

[newarkcatholicfan]

Once in a while I blind my way into a good one.

[Tall Trees]

Jay Cobb has done a great job everywhere he has been and is a good hire at Henderson.

 

It is my understanding that Coach Jackson applied for and was offered the Franklin Co. job and wanted to bring a couple of people and Franklin Co. said no and went another way. So this was not the first job Coach J went after.

[MTNSportsGuy]

Sometimes parents need to shut up and watch the game while leaving the coach and tean to function as one.

AMEN!!!

[TRUE REDHOUND]

Not only is Henderson where his wife is from it is also where Coach Jackson got his first coaching job

[TRUE REDHOUND]

Coach Jackson also sat all of his players down and told them his reason for applying for the job and asked if there was hard feelings if he were to not get it. Told them he still loves them and the pikeville program. I believe it was a promise he had made to his wife that if the job ever came open he would apply for it. He went about things the right way, the classy way.

[Booge]

It is my understanding that Coach Jackson applied for and was offered the Franklin Co. job and wanted to bring a couple of people and Franklin Co. said no and went another way. So this was not the first job Coach J went after.

 

How is that your understanding? :confused: Posting false info will get you in hot water!

[MTNSportsGuy]

Coach Jackson also sat all of his players down and told them his reason for applying for the job and asked if there was hard feelings if he were to not get it. Told them he still loves them and the pikeville program. I believe it was a promise he had made to his wife that if the job ever came open he would apply for it. He went about things the right way, the classy way.

Coach J is a classy guy!!!:thumb:

[Tall Trees]

How is that your understanding? :confused: Posting false info will get you in hot water!

OK remove the words it is my understanding and then run with that.

[Booge]

OK remove the words it is my understanding and then run with that.

 

I'm going to run with it's unsubstantiated rumor/false info.

[CoachJ]

It is my understanding that Coach Jackson applied for and was offered the Franklin Co. job and wanted to bring a couple of people and Franklin Co. said no and went another way. So this was not the first job Coach J went after.

 

Okay...I've stayed out of this thread as long as I can. I responded to a few people privately to correct some things that were posted erroneously, but THIS and a few other statements here -- not to mention possibly even the genesis of the thread itself -- are bordering on what appears to be a MALICIOUS intent to stir discontent within my team. That is where I have to draw the line. Please bear with all this; there's a LOT to respond to...

 

TallTrees: I believe to post something that is completely inaccurate -- whether done purposely or not -- and think that putting "it is my understanding" in front of it IS the equivalent of posting something false and is just a way to use SEMANTICS to cover ones tracks. I do not know if you are a fellow-coach, but if you are, I would say doing such is ETHICALLY wrong as well.

 

If I were to tell your wife "it is my understanding that your husband is cheating on you," do you think that would be okay?

 

Now, some facts related to this thread from the horse's mouth:

 

1. I have applied for exactly ONE job since coming to Pikeville. It is the same job I informed my assistant head coach I would be applying for if it ever came open -- the HENDERSON COUNTY job. It is where my wife's family is from and where my first coaching/teaching job was. When I asked her to move to a place giving me more football responsibility at Oldham County and then again to a place where I could coach my nephews and with a more realistic shot at a state championship five hours away from her family at Pikeville -- I promised her if HCHS ever came open, that since I've asked her TWICE to pick up and move for me professionally AND because it is THE public 6A school with the most potential to compete with X, T, and Male every year, I would apply for it if I thought I could be a viable candidate. With a 67% winning percentage and wins against many of the state's strongest 3A (CovCath and LexCath) and 4A (Manual, Ballard, North Hardin, Meade Co.) schools despite huge numbers disadvantages while in 4A at a school that had won only 47% of its games the 10 years prior to my tenure, I knew I would be able to compete for the job (sorry to "toot" a little there...but a post in this thread disputed my success in 4A against top competition). Thus, for professional AND family reasons, I was compelled to try for the job despite the unfortunate timing so close to the season (which, by the way, was NOT something within my control).

 

2. I have never even sent an INQUIRY, let alone a resume, into Newport, Franklin Co., or ANY OTHER high school about a head coaching position since accepting the position at Pikeville. Since then also, I have never even discussed the POSSIBILITY of going to ANY school other than Henderson to ANYONE. So, for someone to have posted that I had interest of ANY kind in Franklin Co. or Newport, they've had to completely fabricate it themselves or heard it second-hand from someone that fabricated it.

 

I challenge ANYONE to provide proof (emails, phone logs, letters, etc.) of any inquiry made by me.

 

3. "JILTED" FANS. Though I know there are always 'fans' that harbor ill-will toward their local coach regardless of the job they do on the field (or how they're supporting their players OFF the field, in the classroom, helping them get recruited, helping them beyond high school, etc.), EVERY SINGLE PIKEVILLE PERSON -- from the Principal to the Booster President to MANY of the parents of my current and former players -- expressed DIRECTLY to me through this VERY difficult situation in a VERY CLASSY way, "Coach, we'd hate to see you go, but we completely understand your having to do this for family reasons." If there are hard-feelings about this by FANS, that is UNDERSTANDABLE -- any place that LOVES its football SHOULD think it is the ONLY job any coach could ever be happy in! I completely understand anyone being upset with me honoring this commitment I made to my wife 13 years ago; I would be GLAD to meet face-to-face to discuss in a CIVIL manner every single thing that happened since the day Duffer Duffy announced his resignation at Henderson through the Wednesday I found out the job was given to Coach Cobb. I have two sessions of weight workouts open to accomodate our kids at the high school all weekdays but Wednesday from 10am - 12noon and 5:30pm - 7:30pm. All that care about PIKEVILLE football are welcomed to come see me any day this week.

 

4. MY MAIN CONCERN -- OUR PLAYERS. If there are hard-feelings toward me by my PLAYERS (who -- as has been stated ACCURATELY in this thread previously -- WERE told of my intentions and actions by ME face-to-face, EVERY step of the way from the minute I asked Henderson to consider me as a candidate through this coming Monday when I will meet with ALL of them to tell them I'm not getting the position). THAT meeting will be a private team "family" meeting where any administrator, coach, player, or parent may attend -- I want the main "stakeholders" in this program to feel 100% free to discuss any and ALL concerns they might have in an environment they feel most comfortable. I will be glad to meet with "fans" outside this team family on either individual basis or gladly even as a group if there is a demand for that.

 

5. "4-5 HOUR PRACTICES AND PLAYER DEFECTIONS" I appreciate Farva clarifying that the "4-5 hour practices" comment was actually an exaggeration by another fan. While in my first year, we had some practices extend beyond the exact time I'd stated they would end (2hours/15minutes is our scheduled practice time), we've had ZERO practices extend beyond 2 hours and 30 minutes (and any that long were VERY infrequent).

Our Mondays are long because we spend many hours in film sessions that day to review the good and bad of the previous game and go over scouting reports for the next game making those days long ones from end-of-school until time-to-go-home, but the ON-THE-FIELD "practice" usually is less than ONE HOUR on those days. AND, I had the players and coaches evaluate how we ran the program last year; the MAIN action-item for this season is to make Mondays better for our players. There will still be correction, scouting report and practice, but we'll creatively find ways they can do some at home and hopefully we can do part of it around a "team feeding."

As to player defections...I will admit (gladly) that the intensity in the off-season (and thus the STRENGTH) have increased possibly exponentially since I took over here (I believe that was actually something they were LOOKING for in the new hire). That kind of change in mentality will ALWAYS result in some players that were able to be on the team without much commitment choosing to opt out. But nothing in the off-season is "mandatory" for team membership; they can play if they don't work in the off-season...it's just tough for them to have the respect of their teammates that DID work hard so they often opt out.

For anyone interested, research the won-loss records of Coach Chuck Smith's EARLY years at Boyle Co. when he brought in a new level of off-season intensity -- and ask HIM about how the returning players took to it his first two years.

Weight-room-wise, the team we had here in '05 was the most physically weak of any I've ever coached (luckily they were TOUGH kids, a couple were blessed with good speed, they were well-schooled in most fundamentals by the previous staff, and they had a 'winning mentality'). I am proud to say that due to the new "rigor" in the off-season (and a lot of self-sacrifice not just by me but also by our strength coordinator, Michael Copley) the team coming up is FINALLY up to par strength-wise with ANY of the teams I coached in 3A and 4A (and those teams matched up with the BEST in 4A strength-wise).

 

Pikeville is a GREAT place to coach football. It PAINED me internally to speak face-to-face with the Principal and Assistant Principal here (we are between AD's) and tell them about my obligation to my family this close to the season (nobody EVER envisions a head football job coming open at this time of year). Double or triple that emotion when considering how it felt to have to tell my TEAM what I felt compelled to do.

 

To have this situation now splayed all over the internet with pure conjecture about mine and my family's inner-most feelings and conversations -- and then to have FALSEHOODS (malicious or not) intermingled within it bothers me. But that's part of the territory when you get into coaching -- especially in the "age of the internet."

 

However, it now appears to be venturing into territory that could hurt the morale of my VERY hard-working and LOYAL players. Considering that the SOURCE of this thread is NOT a "Pikeville fan" (AND that all the "Pikeville fans" that have posted on here have taken a VERY "high road" in response to what seems to be people attempting to disparage them/us) is not surprising.

 

Conversely, the UNDERSTANDING and "family-before-football" attitude (something I absolutely emphasize for our PLAYERS to have and have been understanding of with THEM when it's happened in the past two years) of 100% of the PIKEVILLE administration, parents, fans, and players that spoke directly to me or my wife about this situation has been the ONLY thing that has kept this whole thing from being a divisive situation for our team and for me internally as well.

 

To any of you that DID post in this thread with the intent to do harm to the morale of the Pikeville players, parents, and program in general, you've picked a tough row to hoe! The tradition laid here by people a LOT bigger than the current head coach is much too strong to have lies, rumor, and innuendo tear it down.

[theguru]

This is the proper ending point.