NamecipS

Not this time. It was friendly fire.

Ok, I knew it would get mixed up. My comment was strictly looking at the last two years. They weren’t going to win many more games than they did. What bothers people and again I’m speculating, but the team and more importantly the coaching staff got away from some of the things that made Highlands football great. Most people will look at that think being great means wins and that’s just not the case. But what do I know. As I’ve been reminded several times in the last hour or so, I didn’t play football in high school.

Somehow I knew this would end up a topic. NO ONE, Dale, Bob Beatty, Chuck Smith or any other great coach you want to mention was going to win a title at Highlands the last two years. Some things that I see that changed after Dale left are lack of self sacrifice and discipline by some players and the team didn’t appear to be as prepared and focused as they used to be.

I can't really speak for Sweep or JOAt or any of the other old schoolers chiming in here, but my interpretation is they're more concerned with how the culture has changed than they are with the wins/losses.

2014 = 13-2 State Champ 2015 = 8-6 Final 4 2016 = 3-8 2017 = 6-6 I'm not saying there haven't been some questionable coaching decisions that may or may not have cost them a win or two here and there. Looks like 16/17 were the noted dip years. I don't care who coached in 2016, they weren't winning anything that year. 2017 they should have won a couple more games, but they weren't winning the title this year either.

The new coach has a State Title and semifinal in the last 5 years. If you want to put it all on the coach, then you need to start talking about ALL the 6A coaches in NKY and what about the other 5A NKY coaches?

It's actually becoming comical now. Highlands football has been successful for over 100 years. They're 2nd in the nation in wins. They have 23 state titles, most of which came when playing up a class. People are acting like these last two years is going to be the new norm for Highlands. The same people who said there was going to be a dip in success/talent(whatever you want to call it) are the same people telling you that the talent is returning to normal levels. If you believed them when they said there would be a dip, why don't you believe them now when they tell you Highlands should be back to being Highlands in the upcoming seasons.

Is Grant Cty going to play in the district in this new alignment? If they do, could Highlands possibly be shut out in the NKY 5A District and be forced to play in 4A? CovCath, Cooper, Conner, Boone and Grant Cty in a district, would they really put 6th team in the district?

Poppycock! 3rd or 4th in that district, please. Maybe once in a while when Cooper and Conner get those 1 in 10 year classes.

He was right, BGP is more interesting when there is a juicy Highlands thread in the football forum.

Not that it matters, but what would the 4A district look like if Highlands were told they had to play in 4A? 5A if they were allowed to play up?

I could swear there was someone who said that Cooper would be 6A level enrollment by the time the next reclassification took place. I’m going to guess they didn’t make it.

Wow, it wasn’t that long ago that Highlands won a 5A title and I think they had won 4 in a row. Pretty sure it’s less than 10 years. Maybe 2010? There are many schools in 5A that would be lucky to get a sniff of the finals once in 20 years. Highlands has played up whenever possible for as long as I can remember. They’ve had a couple rough years by Highlands standards. But why should they change direction now when everyone around the program seems to think talent depth is returning. The talent depth has been part of the problem the last couple of years. There are questions about the coaching philosophy and culture changes that have gone on too. But that is supposedly about to change as well. But taking a look at just the last couple of years, I can see how an outsider would think it’s time for a change.

So much for focusing on Lickert. Butt hurt people on both sides of the fence. Will Steve "steal" any coaches from his alma mater? What does NCC having coming back next year? Enough to compete for a title?

Will Highlands still be in 5A? I thought there was some talk a year or two ago that they might actually fall in to 4A this cycle.