To be quite honest I dont want to put the time in to start a league. It isnt that important to me. I currently coach my stepson and have coached my son in the past to be involved in their lives plain in simple. It isnt to turn Highlands into a state championship contender in hoops. I have more important things to do in my life to be quite honest. I care about the program and I want it to be successfull but I honestly dont have the time or the history with the school to dedicate that kind of time. It doesnt mean that I dont want it to happen or wouldnt donate some of my time to help out. I feel like the work I have done with the group of kids I coached in the past and the work I do now with the current 5th graders at Johnson is enough. We have a great group of kids and they will be successfull as HS athletes. I hope they all continue to play hoops but we do have a couple kids who excel at football and I can see them possibly giving it up. The key is getting as many of these kids better so that if they do choose to play they have the experience.

 

As far as grumbling on message boards, I really dont have anything to hide. Anybody that knows me certainly knows I say what I want when I want. I am not a lurker and I definitely dont hide on here.

 

Would I like to see the Highlands basketball team vie for the 9th Region crown? Yes indeed. Will my life be incomplete if they dont win it? Certianly not.

 

My current HS son is having fun and that is all that matters. Do I like the losses? Heck no, anybody with a competitive bone in their body would be frustrated.

 

The lack of success to be quite honest shouldnt be attributed to a few kids that decided not to play. That is probably not fair. I only pointed out that those kids certainly could have helped us. The lack of dedication to getting better in the offseason is what is hurting the program. They are much more involved in training for football and they dont give hoops enough time. Basketball is a skill sport and you cant simply take athletes and put them on the floor and expect them to win if they lack skill. Happy Friday LN !!

 

Bingo! Why is this different than in the past? I believe Highlands was still pretty strong in football, back in the "golden age" of Highlands basketball.

Maybe there was a point in time in the past where I felt that way but I have learned just from watching my older son mature that there is more to life than HS athletics and winning championships. I want a successfull program like you and all the other Bluebird supporters and will continue to support all the sports programs. Have a nice weekend.

 

Thanks Qryche and Happy Friday to you too.

 

Your comments about not wanting to put the time into to start the league are fair. If improving the baskeball program to the level of being a state championship contender or even a regular 9th region championship contender is not that important to you, then no one can blame you for your decision. I just thought, based on your past posts, that you were pretty unhappy and frustrated with the level of the program and was making the point that those unhappy have to do more than just post what they want when they want on message boards if they really want things to change. Didn't mean it to be offensive and hope you didn't take it that way.

 

I certainly agree with you that your life shouldn't be incomplete if the Birds don't win the 9th region this year. Heck, my older son got as much out of playing football at Highlands as my younger son did, and the older son's teams weren't near as successful.

Bingo! Why is this different than in the past? I believe Highlands was still pretty strong in football, back in the "golden age" of Highlands basketball.

 

Come on MC....they didnt have Spring football, 7 on 7's, early practice periods, etc. The kids today have more structure than in the past. Coach Mueller has his entire year planned out for his team. The only 2 weeks with nothing planned is likely the dead period.

 

I doubt back in the early 80's they had the same offseason dedication or activities to particpate in that made them better. Maybe I am wrong. Maybe some of the old timers on here can shed some light.

Bingo! Why is this different than in the past? I believe Highlands was still pretty strong in football, back in the "golden age" of Highlands basketball.

Do you really believe that the amount of time spent in the off season for football was the same then as it is today?

Other than . . . having Dale tell football players that they won't get much playing time unless they play other sports, I'm not sure exactly what people expect Dale to do to help out the other sports (he already encourages them to play other sports and that's undeniable: ask Flynn and Bioni directly if any one doubts such).

 

Without getting into the WISDOM of such a position, what would be the IMPACT of the AD telling all of his football players that their playing time in football would be less if they didn't also do 1 of the following as part of their offseason training program (OR have an individual meeting with the AD as to why they were not doing so):

 

- play basketball

- play baseball

- run track

 

(leaving off Fall sports because of the obvious direct timing conflict with Football)

 

 

My $.02 is provided below:

 

A - the football program would get marginally weaker due to some smaller participation in off-season weights, spring football and player #s (if HHS is at 100 on a scale of 1 - 100, this might drop them to a 97 or 98)

 

B - the basketball, baseball and track programs would get significantly stronger by increased participation of quality student athletes that want to play but are concerned their football playing time would suffer (NOTE: I think this perception is about 90% a parent perception, 9% student athlete perception and 1% Dale fostering / not actively debunking the perception that is out there)

 

C - the AD would be able to say to anyone who asks, "What else can I do?" when confronted with the accusation that he does not support other programs as much as he does football (NOTE: I think this accusation is inaccurate, uninformed and misguided. That said, I am aware that the accusation is repeatedly made both publicly and privately.)

 

REMEMBER, I am not asking "Should the AD do this?" I am asking "What would happen if the AD did this?" If subsequent posters answer the question I did not ask, don't blame me!!!

Edited January 6, 201214 yr by jpa2825
formatting

Come on MC....they didnt have Spring football, 7 on 7's, early practice periods, etc. The kids today have more structure than in the past. Coach Mueller has his entire year planned out for his team. The only 2 weeks with nothing planned is likely the dead period.

 

I doubt back in the early 80's they had the same offseason dedication or activities to particpate in that made them better. Maybe I am wrong. Maybe some of the old timers on here can shed some light.

 

I pretty much said that in post 222

Do you really believe that the amount of time spent in the off season for football was the same then as it is today?

 

Not even close.

So in defense of "Q", what I get from these posts as a CovCath fan, seems to me to be at least, the heck with all the other sports, lets just keep winning football titles! Just MO!

 

And I totally agree with you "Q" there is more to HS life, than W/L and sports!

Without getting into the WISDOM of such a position, what would be the IMPACT of the AD telling all of his football players that their playing time in football would be less if they didn't also do 1 of the following as part of their offseason training program (OR have an individual meeting with the AD as to why they were not doing so):

 

- play basketball

- play baseball

- run track

 

(leaving off Fall sports because of the obvious direct timing conflict with Football)

 

 

My $.02 is provided below:

 

A - the football program would get marginally weaker due to some smaller participation in off-season weights, spring football and player #s (if HHS is at 100 on a scale of 1 - 100, this might drop them to a 97 or 98)

 

B - the basketball, baseball and track programs would get significantly stronger by increased participation of quality student athletes that want to play but are concerned their football playing time would suffer (NOTE: I think this perception is about 90% a parent perception, 9% student athlete perception and 1% Dale fostering / not actively debunking the perception that is out there)

 

C - the AD would be able to say to anyone who asks, "What else can I do?" when confronted with the accusation that he does not support other programs as much as he does football (NOTE: I think this accusation is inaccurate, uninformed and misguided. That said, I am aware that the accusation is repeatedly made both publicly and privately.)

 

REMEMBER, I am not asking "Should the AD do this?" I am asking "What would happen if the AD did this?" If subsequent posters answer the question I did not ask, don't blame me!!!

 

To A: as good a SWAG as anyone's I guess, but still a SWAG nonetheless.

 

To B: depending on what poster you believe in this thread, having more football players on the basketball team might significantly improve the basketball team, or it might not. I think it might, although as Q pointed out, just playing for the team during the season probably wouldn't be enough. They'd also have to dedicate themselves during the summer to spend lots of time in the gym playing hoops.

 

To C: I doubt rather sincerely that Dale cares what people are saying about whether he does enough to support the other sports. As long as Robinson and the other coaches believe Dale is doing all that he reasonably can to encourage football players to play the other sports that they want to and isn't putting pressure on kids to only play football, Dale is good. But yeah, if Dale threatened kids with a lack of football playing time if they didn't play baseball, basketball, track etc., you'd see kids playing the other sports even if they didn't want to play them.

So in defense of "Q", what I get from these posts as a CovCath fan, seems to me to be at least, the heck with all the other sports, lets just keep winning football titles! Just MO!

 

And I totally agree with you "Q" there is more to HS life, than W/L and sports!

 

Don't know where you got the bolded from. I saw nothing indicating anything to that effect. To the contrary I read a lot of posts wondering what can be done to make the other sports better. By I love the spin attempt.

Edited January 6, 201214 yr by leatherneck

Maybe there was a point in time in the past where I felt that way but I have learned just from watching my older son mature that there is more to life than HS athletics and winning championships. I want a successfull program like you and all the other Bluebird supporters and will continue to support all the sports programs. Have a nice weekend.

 

The bolded is spot on and I'm glad you now feel that way. Life's short and kids should play the sports they want to play in high school. Nothing wrong with playing 1 if you want to play 1 and nothing wrong with playing 3 if you want to play 3. Perhaps ironically, I see more posts indicating that kids "should" play more than 1 sport even if they don't want to.

 

By the way, as big of a Dale defender as I am, I'd be the first parent in his office if one of my sons had wanted to play another sport and he was discouraging it. Don't have to worry about that though, as he strongly encouraged both of my sons to participate in track and basically talked them into doing so. Likewise, I'd be the first parent in his office if he threatened my kid's football playing time if they didn't play a sport they didn't want to play. My rule is: coaches need to not put pressure on kids to not play sports or to play sports. Let the kids make those decisions.

Edited January 6, 201214 yr by leatherneck

For real?? So are we saying that there is no way a basket ball program can survive with out the football kids? How does NCC do it every year? are we saying that the kids on the basket ball team right now are just not any good? I don't understand what we are saying here. Q i am taking your advice you gave Henry and staying in the Football thread. Just like I was told today sometimes you just have a run of kids that are great kids just not that great at the sport they play. Look at Cov cath and the run they have had in football. Group of good kids while Brossart was there they just weren't great football players.

Have we thought about that ??

The reality is that the past 10 years of Highlands Football success is unmatched in any other decade. While Highlands has always been at or near the top in Football, they have never experienced a period of dominance like they have recently. Their basketball teams were good year in year out, but never were considered dominant other than a year here and there.

 

As their success in football has increased, more and more players want to be a part of that. Losing 2 or 3 players a year from the basketball team to focus only on Football, and you have your answer. Even if those players aren't the best bball players on the team. Take any of the other schools in NKY, and subtract 2 or 3 players a year from their program and I believe you would see similar results. While Highlands has defied the numbers with their succes in Football, the school size and their demographic have not been able to over come losing those 2 or 3 players a year.

 

A big part of Highlands Success in football is because of the sacrifice their players make to the program. It just so happens that one of those sacrifices is also a top level basketball program.

 

As a complete outsider; and one who has only looked at page 5 of this thread, this seems to be a cogent summary.

I like to equate regional championships in basketball with State titles in football. Can you imagine the outcry from Ft. Thomas if the football program was performing at the level of the bball program. No state titles in a decade? It would be crazy. Unfortunately bball is a red headed step child in Ft. Thomas...

I like to equate regional championships in basketball with State titles in football. Can you imagine the outcry from Ft. Thomas if the football program was performing at the level of the bball program. No state titles in a decade? It would be crazy. Unfortunately bball is a red headed step child in Ft. Thomas...

 

And is that the football programs fault? I kinda of agree with alphabet soup. Kinda. I think in a couple years, we will see a basketball program at the top of the region. Along with the baseball program. Then it will be whether those programs can sustain the success. IMO they will!

 

Oh, uh TOG, really no clue there my friend!