Weston is a fine man and I wish him the best. I am not for sure what Holy Cross has in mind for their head football coach. I would just not conclude that Holy Cross is going down hill as a school. Ray Reidinger (sp?) was doing some great things as a football coach. I do not know of all of the details of the "recruiting" violations that led to his exit, though at a gut level I thought Holy Cross was used somewhat a "scapegoat" by the KHSAA.

 

I agree with you 100%...Ray was doing a good job. But - the rules are the rules, and he was caught breaking them, unfortunately. (even if the rules violated seemed a bit of a ticky-tack foul) But I don't think anyone on this thread has indicated that they thought HC was going downhill as a school...a few posters have indicated that they thought HC football has been in decline, although I disagree with that... Of course, we'll see what direction the team makes under the new coach. Changing coaches entails a bit of a risk, even when dumping a mediocre coach...

As an alumnus of Bishop David I remember those great BD teams. Ones with dominating defenses . Has HC thought about long time BD assistant Danny Leasor. He is still coaching . He has 40 plus years experience at several high schools. His PRP teams were very successful. I understand he retired , then came out of retirement to revive the football team at Bullitt Central . Has anyone contacted him about returning to the highway? By the way ,I thought coach Weston did a fine job , and it is a shame the way he was treated.

It it's a won/loss situation, then I would be very concerned about the future of HC football. Weston is one heck of a coach, and I don't think anybody else would have done any better with the players he's had the past few years.

 

With a winning percentage of .672(!) (41-20), how much improvement in that category does a reasonable person think they can achieve? For the record:

 

2004 11-2 lost in the playoffs to Danville in the 3rd round by 5

2005 9-3 lost in the second round to Danville, 32-31

2006 7-4 lost in round 1 to Bethlehem by 8

2007 7-6 lost in round 3 to eventual state champ Beechwood

2008 7-5 Lost in round 2 to Mayfield

 

I saw most of these teams; I thought he got a lot out of what he had, particularly the last three years.

 

41-20 overall record

Five seasons; five winning records.

Five playoff trips.

Twice making it to the third round in five years

 

Cougar, you mentioned making it past round 2 "every now and then"...looks like Weston did that, too...

 

Now, HC did lose to DeSales three of the five years, including 3 of the past 4. Is that what this is all about? Have we degenerated to the Alabama-Auburn silliness where a coach can win the national title and be canned for failure to beat the other team??? How sad if this is true.

 

Advancement in the playoffs involves an awful lot of things going right. The injury situation, who you draw (the matchups), weather, how much talent is actually on your roster, and just plain good/bad luck all play a part. Holy Cross' playoff record over the past five years isn't bad at all at 6-5.

 

The fact that DeSales (or any other team) is catching up with them is irrelevant. The Colts' improvement is a testament to Coach Mark Sanders' hard work, and in no way a reflection on Coach Weston and his staff.

 

Cougar, if this is truly all a win/loss issue, Holy Cross is making a huge mistake.

 

(BTW...some of us are old enough to know that you mean "Bishop David" and "Angela Merici" when you say "BD/AM", but probably a lot of people don't... )

 

I totally agree with what you said.:thumb::thumb:

In the late 1990's, Holy Cross was a whipping boy. When Ray Reidinger arrived, he turned it into a program, and a powerful one at that. Holy Cross teams under him had extremely powerful lineman and intimidating linebackers. Coach Reidinger's departure was very political (maybe some North Bullitt posters could chime in on this one), and Coach Weston took the reins in somehwat of a bubbling cauldron. Having been to several HC games over the years and sat in the booth, I can tell you that there has been grumbling for several years about changes to the program that certain factions did not like, the typical types of things that prevent a program from reaching peak efficiency. There is no question that beginning in 2005, Holy Cross teams did not have quite the talent or execution that the previous 3-4 years teams had achieved, and the two 2006 losses to Bethlehem (including the first round playoff exit) did not sit well with the faithful AT ALL. I think Coach Weston can coach and is a fine man, but I liken this to the firing of Mike Shanahan - it was just time for him to depart.

Good luck to all the HC faithful...but potential coaches are likely going to think very carefully after seeing what happened to Ray and Dave... I think they're going to question whether this is a good atmosphere to coach in or not.

 

With Ray, at least the school could point to the KHSAA violations, no matter how small, as reason. This time... :idunno: