Boyle County's program is doing well right now, but I don't think it has any effect on Danville's football program, except for the Will Dunn situation. Boyle County is winning the games against each other right now, but I don't see how that has anything to do with the rest of the struggles Danville is having at this point.

 

Here is why I say that Boyles success has had a negative impact on Danville. First of all, the majority of the growth in Boyle County takes place outside of Danville School districts. This has pulled numbers and middle class kids out of the Danville City schools.

Second, if you lived in Boyle County in the 80's and 90's and wanted your child to play football, you were going to consider paying tuition and going to Danville. Kids in Streamland Lanock, Bluegrass Estates who were athletes often went to Danville from an early age. With the success of Boyle County in both athletics and academics, Danville is no longer getting those kids.

Sometimes cycles in school districts take up to 10 years to play through. When was Boyle's first championship? I think it has had an effect.

Here is why I say that Boyles success has had a negative impact on Danville. First of all, the majority of the growth in Boyle County takes place outside of Danville School districts. This has pulled numbers and middle class kids out of the Danville City schools.

Second, if you lived in Boyle County in the 80's and 90's and wanted your child to play football, you were going to consider paying tuition and going to Danville. Kids in Streamland Lanock, Bluegrass Estates who were athletes often went to Danville from an early age. With the success of Boyle County in both athletics and academics, Danville is no longer getting those kids.

Sometimes cycles in school districts take up to 10 years to play through. When was Boyle's first championship? I think it has had an effect.

 

Who are these players you are speaking of? I've been involved either playing or watching Danville football for 35-40 years, I'm not saying there haven't been any, but very few that paid tuition to come to Danville to play football that had much impact on their past success. I do agree that most of the growth has taken place in the places you spoke of and most of those are in the Danville city limits, I just wished the Danville school district would have expanded when the City of Danville annexed those neighborhoods. I would imagine that a good part of Boyle's football team lives in the City limits of Danville.

I see this situation very differently. From my experiences, Coach Harp is one of the main reasons Danville has continued to be very good in football for an extended period of time. And, they have done so next door to Boyle County's program which has emerged as one of the best in the state. I was the head coach at Paris when our enrollment was declining, following Goins, Reese, and Gruneisen. It is tough for the city schools in this day and time to continue at the same level of success from the past. When I was the Greyhound head coach, I promise you we worked our tails off to get back to the way things had been. We had a couple very good teams, and were doing our best to build a program. But, to say it was tough is an understatement.

 

Let a revolving door happen with the head football position at Danville HS and the program will deteriorate quickly.

 

Danville has stayed at the top or near it, in my opinion, largely as a result of Coach Harp- both because he is a great coach and because he has provided stability. If I were a Danville fan or parent, I would do all I could do to keep Coach Harp happy and keep him coaching our Ads and my son.

 

We open with the Ads in 2010 at Admiral Stadium. There may have been a few bumps in the road here lately, but they are still the Admirals and it will be a very tough opener. They are still well coached, they still know how to win, and they will still have some very good players.

 

PurplePride92 you have been good to me and the Royals. And, most of the time, you make some good points. On this matter, we just disagree.

 

David Buchanan

 

I agree totally:thumb:

Bottom line to me, take Harp away from Danville, they will reach a new low......Just try it I am sure he can find a good job somewhere.

One thing I've noticed lacking at Danville over the last few years is size on the offensive and defensive line. I don't have stats to back this up, but the Ads used to be pretty big on the front lines, but they've been pretty average-sized of late. That might have something to do with a previous posters mention of working hard in the weight room. But it's hard to use your speed if you can't create holes.

 

Don't fall into the trap (which unfortunately many do) that you have to be a big O lineman to open holes for the running back. I'll take an average sized O lineman with some speed and agility over a big, slower lineman every day of the week (and particularly Friday nights). I've been told by many coaches over the years that Highlands O line play is considered to be the "gold standard" of O line play in Ky. Yet with a few exceptions, we rarely have big O lineman (Grubbs was the exception this year). Next biggest was Schlosser at approx 225; then Hahn at (a guess) approximately 215, with Combs and Meyers being less than that.

 

Danville can be very successful with average size linemen. It might take a change in offensive philosophy but it obviously can be done.

Don't fall into the trap (which unfortunately many do) that you have to be a big O lineman to open holes for the running back. I'll take an average sized O lineman with some speed and agility over a big, slower lineman every day of the week (and particularly Friday nights). I've been told by many coaches over the years that Highlands O line play is considered to be the "gold standard" of O line play in Ky. Yet with a few exceptions, we rarely have big O lineman (Grubbs was the exception this year). Next biggest was Schlosser at approx 225; then Hahn at (a guess) approximately 215, with Combs and Meyers being less than that.

 

Danville can be very successful with average size linemen. It might take a change in offensive philosophy but it obviously can be done.

 

:thumb:

 

I'll take footwork, speed, and teamwork on an o-line ahead of above average size any day of the week!

Don't fall into the trap (which unfortunately many do) that you have to be a big O lineman to open holes for the running back. I'll take an average sized O lineman with some speed and agility over a big, slower lineman every day of the week (and particularly Friday nights). I've been told by many coaches over the years that Highlands O line play is considered to be the "gold standard" of O line play in Ky. Yet with a few exceptions, we rarely have big O lineman (Grubbs was the exception this year). Next biggest was Schlosser at approx 225; then Hahn at (a guess) approximately 215, with Combs and Meyers being less than that.

 

Danville can be very successful with average size linemen. It might take a change in offensive philosophy but it obviously can be done.

 

:thumb:

 

I'll take footwork, speed, and teamwork on an o-line ahead of above average size any day of the week!

 

I agree with both of you that you don't necessarily have to be big. And Highlands is a perfect example of technique winning out. But it is eye-catching to see the difference in the Danville line today compared to 10 years ago.

I agree totally:thumb:

 

Blackshirts-

 

I know we are not suppose to try to figure out each other's true identity, but if you agree totally with me, that eliminates Larry French, John Buchanan, or an assistant football coach at Mason County HS. :lol:

Who are these players you are speaking of? I've been involved either playing or watching Danville football for 35-40 years, I'm not saying there haven't been any, but very few that paid tuition to come to Danville to play football that had much impact on their past success. I do agree that most of the growth has taken place in the places you spoke of and most of those are in the Danville city limits, I just wished the Danville school district would have expanded when the City of Danville annexed those neighborhoods. I would imagine that a good part of Boyle's football team lives in the City limits of Danville.

 

Up until 5-7 years ago I beleive there was a reciprocal agreement between Danville and Boyle, so I don't think that kids had to pay tuition if they were in the Boyle district yet started at Danville schools. Danville had to change this a while back because they started losing too many kids to Boyle County.

 

As for certain players I know of a few that would fall in this category, and a few more that were outside of Boyle County that came to Danville.

Were they difference makers, that is debatable.

Blackshirts-

 

I know we are not suppose to try to figure out each other's true identity, but if you agree totally with me, that eliminates Larry French, John Buchanan, or an assistant football coach at Mason County HS. :lol:

 

 

I have to say I enjoyed all the points you made on what you wrote.:thumb::thumb:

I do agree that most of the growth has taken place in the places you spoke of and most of those are in the Danville city limits, I just wished the Danville school district would have expanded when the City of Danville annexed those neighborhoods. I would imagine that a good part of Boyle's football team lives in the City limits of Danville.

 

 

Here is what will eventually lead to the death of alot of the City Independent schools across the state. The City can and will expand via annex but the school district will not follow and cant. The schools boundaries are set and will not be allowed by the state to expand. It is one of the driving forces that has hurt other programs like Mayfield where I have had a front row seat watching this policy slowly erode away the district as most of the new growth continues outside the and when the city does annex the school distict has to remain locked. Harp is a great coach but the challenge to keep the Ads program elite will only continue to become a tougher challenge in the future no matter who is the coach. One thing that I have always admired about Harp is his ability to adapt in the past to the talent he has had to work with. He prefers to run but a few years ago he had a great qb and the Ads adapted and threw.

Blackshirts-

 

I know we are not suppose to try to figure out each other's true identity, but if you agree totally with me, that eliminates Larry French, John Buchanan, or an assistant football coach at Mason County HS. :lol:

 

And your wife, some Mason County fans, a whole bunch of refs, etc., etc. The list is long.

Here is what will eventually lead to the death of alot of the City Independent schools across the state. The City can and will expand via annex but the school district will not follow and cant. The schools boundaries are set and will not be allowed by the state to expand. It is one of the driving forces that has hurt other programs like Mayfield where I have had a front row seat watching this policy slowly erode away the district as most of the new growth continues outside the and when the city does annex the school distict has to remain locked. Harp is a great coach but the challenge to keep the Ads program elite will only continue to become a tougher challenge in the future no matter who is the coach. One thing that I have always admired about Harp is his ability to adapt in the past to the talent he has had to work with. He prefers to run but a few years ago he had a great qb and the Ads adapted and threw.

 

It would not suprise me to see a merger between the two schools in the next 10 years.

And your wife, some Mason County fans, a whole bunch of refs, etc., etc. The list is long.

 

Thats funny:lol:

And your wife, some Mason County fans, a whole bunch of refs, etc., etc. The list is long.

 

Ok..... the list may be a little longer than I originally lead you to believe. :sssh:

 

Regardless, we almost all agree that the Ads are very fortunate to have Coach Harp leading them.