Not to discredit the program, but Mark Brown was Nelson County football, before him they were about where they are now. Mark was a great coach at Marion before he went to Nelson and if my mind serves me right he was the person that started John Hardin program. However, if beating Bardstown is your State Championship (Walk before Run mentality) then put someone on the schedule that shows your players that you are serious about being a football program. Look at Danville schedule for instance they have better 6A teams on it than are in your District other than John Hardin and Meade you play no one. It is time for a reality check. And by the way all the guys that coached 20 plus years ago are the reason for the great facilities and tradition, but it would be hard to understand if you were never in the fire when head coaches coached 2 or more sports and made less for those 3 than an assistant will come off the golf course for today.

I think some years ago coach's had jobs that were more appropriate for coaches. Meaning they didn't have near the responsibilities in the classroom nor was there such a push (like we have today with NCLB) for results due to state assesment. 15-20 years ago a guy could get by with worksheets and assigning chapters...those days are extinct like the dinos. Now a teacher has a rigorous teaching schedule with extreme pressure to get test scores up. 15-20 years ago coaches didn't have as much pressure to WIN at all costs. Take these two things into account and the fact that many more wives have VERY ambitious careers and that leaves a guy getting home with 2 hours of preparing for classes-2 hours of film, and NO time for the fam.

 

This is not EVERY coach, some have the dream job where they are COACH first and TEACHER second. That leaves more time at school to do film (ex: ISS teachers) and game planning and more time at home to be dad. 15-20 years ago you didn't teach a 40 hour week-plan 10 hours a week-and work on football 25 hours a week. Something has to give somewhere and often times it's a coaches family that suffers until the divorce papers on the table. Not the case with Bart, the man decided to put family first...don't blame the guy. This is not the case with all guys who hang it up, some probably just burn out too quickly or become HC's too soon without really knowing what is involved.

 

As far as Nelson knowing they had their man and opening it up, perhaps they wanted to make it look OFFICIAL. Often times in Nelson Co it is a goat-rope-and pony show. Much like the firing of Bill Mason. I can say with all honesty that Bart came into a bad situation and has done a good job, but by no means was that bad situation a result of Coach Mason's doing. Good luck to the Cards and the new coach.

 

Interesting post with a lot of good points. I am curious as to the bolded point: Whose doing was it that NC fell off to 0-10 in '05? Not calling you out or anything; I'm just curious.

Interesting post with a lot of good points. I am curious as to the bolded point: Whose doing was it that NC fell off to 0-10 in '05? Not calling you out or anything; I'm just curious.

 

Coach Mason and his staff did a very good job. Their players loved them and worked hard every day, the way they would have no matter who the head coach was. The 2004 team beat Manual in the first round of the playoffs then lost to St.X in round two. The 2005 team was hit hard by graduation of 26 seniors and injuries to M. Rogers and J. Keene. One game I went to I counted 22 players on the team. A shortage of players was the reason for the 0-10 season, not the work of the coaches or effort of the players who came out.

Not to discredit the program, but Mark Brown was Nelson County football, before him they were about where they are now. Mark was a great coach at Marion before he went to Nelson and if my mind serves me right he was the person that started John Hardin program. However, if beating Bardstown is your State Championship (Walk before Run mentality) then put someone on the schedule that shows your players that you are serious about being a football program. Look at Danville schedule for instance they have better 6A teams on it than are in your District other than John Hardin and Meade you play no one. It is time for a reality check. And by the way all the guys that coached 20 plus years ago are the reason for the great facilities and tradition, but it would be hard to understand if you were never in the fire when head coaches coached 2 or more sports and made less for those 3 than an assistant will come off the golf course for today.

John Hardin is not in the same class but NC did play them, Bullitt East was in the State finals. As far as Mark Brown goes, it's time to let go!!! In 1996 when (HE) won the state 4A title the current players now were 3-4 years old. Let it go.

Edited January 10, 200917 yr by Firstn10

Interesting post with a lot of good points. I am curious as to the bolded point: Whose doing was it that NC fell off to 0-10 in '05? Not calling you out or anything; I'm just curious.

 

No problem Jim. I think, like EVERY single COUNTY school, you go through cycles. I think it was an instance that there was way too much youth and not enough senior leadership that year, or the next for that matter. Just my point of view. There was some talent coming up (ie: the Keene kid and his class), but it was going to be a tough row to hoe no matter who was at the helm. NC is not known for a plethera of athletes year in and year out, unlike their counter parts across town. The sad part is the super listened to a few people who felt they were "in the know" and let a good coach go who had won while he was there. I think in his 4 years he was district coach of the year 2 or 3 times...not sure though, and had winning seasons 3 of 4 years. The community has, unrealistic, expectations that those kids just don't have the talent level to meet. When NC won the tittle they really only had to beat Trinity to get there (if I recall correctly), now they have to contend with X-T-and Male in most cases just to get there. Differnt ball of yarn in my opinion. At any rate good luck cards.

I have personally known and worked with every Nelson Co. head coach since 1998.

 

Until someone on here can have the spine and testicular fortitude to correctly diagnose the problem in this program by pointing directly at the parents of the players, and the unbelievably low school morale that is fostered by an administration that refuses to allow sports to carry the banner for the school, then all of this "discussion" is merely pointless and divisive.

 

And since most of the stuff that has gone on behind the scenes that is symptomatic of that would be a rules violation, its not really going to be discussed here.

 

Mark Brown was, and is, a great technical coach who wrangles things his way. He had great players when he was here. Rule 6 was different back them, so for instance, he had Anthony Boggs come to Nelson when his older brother Reggie had been a star at Bardstown. He had Division I lineman like Sean Jantzen and Mike King. His sons, Cody and Ross, were great players. And, perhaps most importantly, he convinced the school to build him a fieldhouse, a stadium, and facilities. It is not coincidental that this was all done while Chuck Smith was around, and that Mark left not too long after the current Super's tenure began. Perhaps Mark's greatest gift was reading the handwriting on the wall.

 

Glenn Spalding was a solid program bridge, and he is a good, Christian man. He, too, put family before politics, and that decision has allowed him to remain a builder of men at the junior high level where he does very well.

 

Bill Mason, people forget, led Nelson teams with little explosive talent into the playoffs the two years before his 0-10 season. It was in '02 or '03 when his team went up to Male and had one of the best defensive schemes drawn up against Michael Bush, nearly pulling that game out. They had to knock off Manual to get there. His defensive lines were consistently outstanding, and he BEAT Mark Brown and John Hardin a couple of times. Bill was thrown under the bus, his firing was one of the worst set-up jobs I've ever seen, and the 0-10 record was a direct reflection of the parental meddling and administrative incompetence that literally caused a severance between him and his team.

 

Bart Bruner is a drill sargeant and an honorable man. He knew in advance what he was getting into. He made great strides with player attitudes. He made great strides in closing the drapes around his players to prevent meddling. Family was what characterized his team, so it is not surprising me to find that he chose Cheryl and his little ones over getting smacked around.

 

The Super is coming up on retirement eligibility. The new school is 2 years away. Jamie Egli has said he will throw the ball more, even though he will essentially have a new QB and question marks about who will pass block for him. I could never seem to convince the parents who were screaming for the "pass" that it wouldn't work as well when teams were scouting you for it and your passing Qb's were mediocre at best.

 

Nelson will be seeing its last years in 6A. After that, they will move down to 4A or something like it, we'll have a new thing to argue about about who gets to go to West Nelson and who gets stuck at the "old school," and maybe at some undetermined point in the future, the locals will be competing with Marion, Larue, Bullitt East, and other surrounding communities.

Coach Mason and his staff did a very good job. Their players loved them and worked hard every day, the way they would have no matter who the head coach was. The 2004 team beat Manual in the first round of the playoffs then lost to St.X in round two. The 2005 team was hit hard by graduation of 26 seniors and injuries to M. Rogers and J. Keene. One game I went to I counted 22 players on the team. A shortage of players was the reason for the 0-10 season, not the work of the coaches or effort of the players who came out.

 

That begs another couple questions:

 

Why did numbers fall off to 22 that year?

 

What kind of numbers were coming out for FB before '05?

 

In conversations I've had with NC administration folks, the fact that Bruner was able to shore up numbers and instill discipline was why they were so sad to see him step down. The obvious implication is that before Bruner numbers were low (which can be quantified) and discipline was sorely lacking (a little harder to nail down than numbers).

I believe the numbers in 05 were better than 22 (best I can remember when they almost beat our butt in the season finale at North). There was a good sophomore class (20+ and many started on Fridays for 3 seasons), 15 or so 11th and a small senior class (8). The kids that played and were committed played hard.

 

Mason is CU alum and I do speak with him from time to time. There were some factors that led to 2 small classes(11-12) that year and he thought the numbers would go up...once drug tests were nothing new. As far a discipline goes, there were some mouthy kids back when they could play (96-98)...but nothing on the field.

 

Bruner did a great job of getting kids out and I believe had some advantages that Brown, Spalding, Mason did not...but if we look at records, was not average.

 

Enough about the old. What will the new head man have to work with. Lets hear some names of top players and possibly the offense he run.

Reputation cannot be built on what you are going to do. Once again good Luck!!!!!

Enough about the old. What will the new head man have to work with. Lets hear some names of top players and possibly the offense he run.

 

Leading rusher Quentin Brooks returns, as does Alex Downs, who can break off big runs. Daniel Mudd played well in relief of Keene at QB last season, so they have that going for them. As Hearsay noted, the O-line will be a question.

 

On D, key returnees include Randall Curtsinger, Derek Brunhammer, Derek Cocanougher.

 

The Cardinals have 18 starters returning.

Leading rusher Quentin Brooks returns, as does Alex Downs, who can break off big runs. Daniel Mudd played well in relief of Keene at QB last season, so they have that going for them. As Hearsay noted, the O-line will be a question.

 

On D, key returnees include Randall Curtsinger, Derek Brunhammer, Derek Cocanougher.

 

The Cardinals have 18 starters returning.

 

Quinten Brooks(Jr) and Alex Downs(Sr) will be the primary backs used. Andy Clowser(Sr) and Blake Martin(Jr) will get carries also. Daniel Mudd(Jr) did relieve Keene at QB last season but Tyler Marteniz(Sr) will be considered as well as playing some D-back. He was the back up and was the passing QB in passing situations, his Sophomore year.

 

The Defense has alot of returning players. On the line will be Randal Curtsinger(Sr), Cody Gant(Jr), and possibly Derek Cocanougher(Sr), Cocanougher left the team before the end of the season last year. Others that will see the field in ther rotation are Cody Livers(Sr), Jacob Snellen(JR) and Mathew Hillard(Jr), all of whom saw playing time last year.

 

At linebacker there is Cas Stanely(Sr), Daniel Osborne(Sr), Ryan Wimpsett(Jr), Demarcus Collins(Sr), and Jon Harrison(Jr). All are returning starters and saw significant playing time.

 

The secondary will include Chase Simpson(Sr), Derek Brunhammer(Sr), Josh Pride(Sr), and Tyler Marteniz(Sr). All of which are returning starters.

 

The O-line in my opinion will not be an issue. Yes, there were 4 seniors lost to graduation, but there are many other big guys that got in the rotation.

Dominic Green 6'4 300 lbs (Sr), Trey Franklin 6'3 285 lb.(Sr), Mikey Young 6'1 290 lb (Sr), Brent Brussell 6'1 270 lb (Jr), Ryan Downs 6'0 240 lb (Jr) will all get most of the rotational time. All of these players have the experience to be very good at the varsity level. All in all I think this team has more talent then the previous 5 seasons.

Coach Egli was at Scott County a couple of years ago as the Defensive Coordinator. He is a great guy and will do a great job.

 

Congrats Coach Egli