I watched the tremendous Ashland Tomcats vs. Boyd County Lions rivalry die this year. What should the Lions be doing to revive this program? Please be constructive.....

I'm not being rude and am just trying to be constructive to answer your question, from an outside perspective:

 

Every good rivalry has to swing both ways occasionally. So Boyd County has to be competitive. To do that they have to get more players out to play football. A school the size of Boyd County should have 80 players out. I'm not sure what needs to be done to accomplish that, but it needs to happen.

 

Boyd County needs to beef up it's schedule, they play in what is probably, the weakest district in the state. So, to become better they need to play a quality out of district schedule. Playing Ashland is part of this, but to beat Ashland and have a quality rivalry they need to play tougher opponents before they play Ashland to show the team what playing hard for a whole game is like. Boyd County plays Raceland the next two years, that is a start. I don't know who else they are going to play out of district, if they have beefed the schedule up, then they are on their way.

 

They already have a quality head coach, I don't know many of the assistant coaches, but if they do not have good assistant coaches, they need to get some.

 

They need to put more energy in the youth programs, they have been going down for the last several years. Again, I am not being mean, just my observation. Boyd County's JFL used to be pretty strong, but the last several years the numbers have went down, and they are not as competitive as they used to be. The varsity coaching staff needs to get involved in the JFL and boost the number and coach the JFL coaches so they can coach the player in the best way.

 

Likewise, the varsity coaches need to be very involved in the Jr high program, they may be, I am not sure, but if not, they need to get involved and get the Jr high players ready for varsity.

 

I am not aware of their off season routine, but every program needs a good off season program. It should go year around and mix up a lot of stuff. Good weight room training, as many 7 on 7's as possible, a team camp, conditioning, all of this stuff.

 

Winning the district every year should be a priority, very obtainable. Undefeated in the district should be a goal, again very obtainable.

 

Boyd County has an unique opportunity, in that they need to improve, but they are not far away from dominating their district as it is, so they could very easily become a perpetual district champion if they focused on that as a goal. If they do that for a few years, the numbers will increase and the program will flourish.

 

Just my opinion, I was trying to be constructive, not derogatory, I hope I accomplished that. Good luck to Boyd County.

I have to agree with Ram, a strong JFL program and a weight program that starts in the 7th grade. I know the weight room issue can be argued, but if you start with light weight and learn proper technique, you can grow stronger at a later date. Thirdly, I don't know if this applies in Boyd's case but discipline and dedication to the program.

Raceland's current senior class is the first JFL class from second grade through high school (I believe) and you can see what the coaching and experience has brought them. Everyone wants to taught the Ashland and Russell JFL, but they forget what Raceland has been able to accomplish in a short amount of time. It has made a big difference and enabled a 1A school to start competing with the larger schools. Raceland will never have the numbers a bigger school has, but it can change the caliber of players on the field.

Exactly doc, Raceland has close to 200 kids in the JFL, I would say that most of the bigger schools in the area would love to have those numbers. You have to pull them into the program as soon as possible. Get the tradition instilled in them at a young age, make them have a desire to be part of the varsity team early. That is what make a team a program.

One other ingredient in this mixture for success is crucial and it has to be the exact doseage or it can make it poison.....and that is parental involvement. They need to be there to help with the field, feeding the kids, booster club, finances, etc. or the morale can suffer. Coaches can only do so much. The only way to keep all the major ingredients jelled together is the parent base (booster club).

Right again doc. Parental involvement. But, again, it's has to be the right mixture. To much, and it looks like the parents want to run the show. To little, and the coaches have to work themselves to death. You need good, supportive parents who do what needs to be done, but not parents who want to run the show.

 

Good point.

One other ingredient in this mixture for success is crucial and it has to be the exact doseage or it can make it poison.....and that is parental involvement. They need to be there to help with the field, feeding the kids, booster club, finances, etc. or the morale can suffer. Coaches can only do so much. The only way to keep all the major ingredients jelled together is the parent base (booster club).

 

Parental involvement is not always the answer as well. If you look back in history of most JFL's, the better coaches have been non-parents of a player on the team. I would say that is the same case here as well.

I have to agree with Ram, a strong JFL program and a weight program that starts in the 7th grade. I know the weight room issue can be argued, but if you start with light weight and learn proper technique, you can grow stronger at a later date. Thirdly, I don't know if this applies in Boyd's case but discipline and dedication to the program.

Raceland's current senior class is the first JFL class from second grade through high school (I believe) and you can see what the coaching and experience has brought them. Everyone wants to taught the Ashland and Russell JFL, but they forget what Raceland has been able to accomplish in a short amount of time. It has made a big difference and enabled a 1A school to start competing with the larger schools. Raceland will never have the numbers a bigger school has, but it can change the caliber of players on the field.

 

There have been a lot of good JFL's in Eastern Ky is the past years, but some have definetly faltered. Lawrence Counties JFL used to be as strong as any but is faltering slightly due to Soccer and other things for young men to do. Boyd and Ashland's Leagues have faltered in the past few years by quite a bit and Russell and Raceland have continued to be strong each year. JFL's are only as good as their Leaders.

 

If I remember correctly too, Lawrence County played Racelands Senior Class pretty tight in JFL, but Boyd's JFL in that class was as good as anyones at that time.

I'm not being rude and am just trying to be constructive to answer your question, from an outside perspective:

 

Every good rivalry has to swing both ways occasionally. So Boyd County has to be competitive. To do that they have to get more players out to play football. A school the size of Boyd County should have 80 players out. I'm not sure what needs to be done to accomplish that, but it needs to happen.

 

Boyd County needs to beef up it's schedule, they play in what is probably, the weakest district in the state. So, to become better they need to play a quality out of district schedule. Playing Ashland is part of this, but to beat Ashland and have a quality rivalry they need to play tougher opponents before they play Ashland to show the team what playing hard for a whole game is like. Boyd County plays Raceland the next two years, that is a start. I don't know who else they are going to play out of district, if they have beefed the schedule up, then they are on their way.

 

They already have a quality head coach, I don't know many of the assistant coaches, but if they do not have good assistant coaches, they need to get some.

 

They need to put more energy in the youth programs, they have been going down for the last several years. Again, I am not being mean, just my observation. Boyd County's JFL used to be pretty strong, but the last several years the numbers have went down, and they are not as competitive as they used to be. The varsity coaching staff needs to get involved in the JFL and boost the number and coach the JFL coaches so they can coach the player in the best way.

 

Likewise, the varsity coaches need to be very involved in the Jr high program, they may be, I am not sure, but if not, they need to get involved and get the Jr high players ready for varsity.

 

I am not aware of their off season routine, but every program needs a good off season program. It should go year around and mix up a lot of stuff. Good weight room training, as many 7 on 7's as possible, a team camp, conditioning, all of this stuff.

 

Winning the district every year should be a priority, very obtainable. Undefeated in the district should be a goal, again very obtainable.

 

Boyd County has an unique opportunity, in that they need to improve, but they are not far away from dominating their district as it is, so they could very easily become a perpetual district champion if they focused on that as a goal. If they do that for a few years, the numbers will increase and the program will flourish.

 

Just my opinion, I was trying to be constructive, not derogatory, I hope I accomplished that. Good luck to Boyd County.

 

 

They could be having the same problem as Lawrence Co and some other area teams, great men coaching the game, but how much of that is Quality Coaching. Nothing personal here, but there are a lot of great men in this world, but not all can Coach or recruit kids to get out there and bust their butt night after night. Dont personally know any of the Head Coaches here, just assuming this could be a problem. Also could be a circumstance of being a great Head Coach, but not being able to put the right guys around you too.

I watched the tremendous Ashland Tomcats vs. Boyd County Lions rivalry die this year. What should the Lions be doing to revive this program? Please be constructive.....

 

Taters, you seem to have been to most of the games and obviously a strong fan of Boyd, what do you feel is their weakness in the system?

Parental involvement is not always the answer as well. If you look back in history of most JFL's, the better coaches have been non-parents of a player on the team. I would say that is the same case here as well.

 

I didn't mean parents had to be coaches, just help where and when needed.

That is the point of this thread. I just cannot put my finger on it. I would like nothing more than to see several great teams come out of theis area. I, too, do not understand why BC only pulls such a small group of kids. There is something missing. BC has the size (population) to be great. I see Raceland, a much smaller school, that is a true, tough , football power. Then, there is Ashland with all the tradition. BC has not been able to find it's football strength since the mid 80's. I encourage all suggestions. Truely, I am at a loss.