Play Maker3

Congrats to Owen County on a fine season. Shelby just had too much talent for the Rebels to overcome.

After watching this game I wouldn't really say that Shelby's talent was that much more superior than Owen's. Both teams had great basketball players that seemed to be equally matched to provide one heck of a ball game. Congrats to both teams and best of luck to OC next year. It should be just as, if not more, exciting than what was witnessed this year.

I have no idea either about the coach. I would never blame a kid for wanting to pursue a scholarship. I just don't think it is fair to say that it is the coach's fault that the kids aren't dedicated, when it is the kids(or usually the parents) that are choosing to do something else.

 

It is awful hard for a 13-17 year old kid to respect his coach when parents and community members are constantly (publicly) questioning his decisions and telling kids that he is wrong. First support.........then success.

I completely agree. First you must have complete support and then true success will follow. However, you must (as a coach) do something to have support. From what I hear and saw in the few games I watched this season the past coach did not do anything to gain the support of others.

How many problems do you think Highlands has with summer baseball? St. X.? Trinity?

 

If I'm not mistaken all three of those schools have produced some pretty good baseball talent. It is a matter of dedication, and obviously the athletes at Owen seem to be dedicated to baseball, not football.

 

You fault the coach for not setting up the workout to accomodate the baseball kids. First, that is a very slippery slope. If we are scheduling practice time around the demands of the kids how long will it be before the inmates are running the asylum?

 

Second, flip it around. How many of the kids sought out alternative times where they could come in and lift/run? I know that many of the very successful programs I mentioned earlier do this. The real answer is that for most, it is just an excuse......the easy way out if you will. And when given an easily accessible easy way out 95% of teenagers will take it........

I'm not making an excuse for the reason Owen Co. football was down this past year. I do not know if the coach saught out alternative times to workout or if the kids made an effort to do the same. I was only making that statement to throw out an idea of why "dedication" to football was/is not there. My only opinion is that you can not blame a kid for not being completely dedicated to football if another sport is his free or partially free ride to college.

His first year on Defense at Corner. Coach Blackburn taught him everything.Whoever gets the Head Coaching job would be wise to hire him back as the Defensive Coordinater.

From what I have been told this defensive coach, Coach Blackburn, was nothing but a cancer within the coaching staff. If this is the case why would anyone want to hire such a guy?

There was a post made about the passing league and Owens best athletes were playing summer baseball. I don't think summer baseball is the schools team, so that statement told me something about the dedication issues.

If any kid excels at baseball and is only average in football you can not blame him for playing summer league baseball. The kid is only trying to better himself at a sport he excels in and giving himself the best oppertunity to receive a scholarship at that sport. And maybe during the summer it was not an issue of dedication on the kids part but rather an issue of the coach not being flexible and setting up a workout time which allows for the maximum number of participants.

Josh Slone had 254 total yards the first game. The next game he touched it 3 times. The two best recievers, Ogden and Howard didn't even play offense this past year. Howard was the fastest kid on the team and was a RB and WR 3 previous years. When an assistant coach has to throw the ball to simulate a kickoff instead of a player kicking it its coaching problems. Owen Co. never had a PAT or FG all year. Don't you think a coach would have maybe practiced kicking once in a while, in stead of a coach throwing the ball for a kickoff? I've talked to at least 4 College Coaches about Owen Co. players playing for them but they couldn't contact them because our Head Coach wouldn't answer an E-Mail or return a phone call to them. How many kids on Owen's team could have a chance to play at the next level if only their coach would cooperate? Howard, Ogden, Slone, Kelly, Stafford and Snyder to name a few. Don't say that their wasn't any talent there. They were not coached very well. My son has 4 Colleges interested in him playing football. When they ask him for his stats or what awards he has recieved, he has to answer :Our coach didn't give out any stats or awards. Good thing for game film.

I agree with you. The talent was there on the field for Owen Co. to be extremely competitve with the schedule they were playing. No way should this team that I saw play have ended up with a 1-10 record.....not with the schedule they had. It's honestly sad that a coach will not help the kids on his team get to the next level if it is indeed true that he will not do something as simple as replying to an email or making a phone call. One thing I am curious about though is the fact that your son has 4 different colleges interested in him as a prospective football play. If this is the case seems to me sometime during the year or years some coach helped develope him into the player that he has become. Am I wrong in making this assumption or was your son just that much better than the rest of the competition that he faced that he did not need any coaching?

Owen Co. Defense had 15-20 picks this year with #1 on their team having 8 INTs himself as a CB. While this stat isn't as impressive as the others with 11 INTs or a team having 20 plus picks it is interesting when you compare it to the season before in which the ENTIRE team had less than 5 INTs the entire year.

Of course he should be.

Well the kid with 8 INTs wasn't even considered to my knowledge. 8 picks as a corner is tough.......alot tougher than at safety where you have room to roam.........it's a shame this kid didn't get recognized

Any one think that a kid the had 8 INTs on the year as a corner should at least be recognized as honorable mention?

Owen by single digets

You're right my bad. My old eyes went one line above on the KHSAA sight and that 90's record was Oldham Counties. So Owen hasn't been very good for along time.

Those numbers aren't great but right now I think they would take 5-6, 6-5, 5-6, 5-5 over four years than 1-9.

I believe you can not fire a coach and a win-loss basis alone after the first year. However, if the program is getting worse, kids are quitting, and several other factors are in play then there is more at hand than a win loss situation. Why did the kids quit? Was it because they couldn't handle losing or was it because the head coach didn't respect his players and truely care for them? Why wasn't the community behind him? Did he do things that caused several in the town to become angry with him other than the fact he wasn't winning (such as was he not a man of his word)? Did he not run the program right such as doing other things than watching film with his players? These are just a few questions that could be asked in whether or not he should stay around.

Did he brings these assistants in?

 

Kids watching film is overrated. They don't know what too look for. If the coach puts together a soli scouting report they get more from that instead of watching film.

 

I am not saying some of this stuff is posted is not true. But there is 2 sides to every story. Owen County situation hasn't been great since the 70's. So there has been proally 10 coaches between that time that sould take resonsibility. Not just the current one. Attitudes need to change, with the players, coaches, and fans to be a success. I wish Coach Hockensmith the best. I also wis all the players involved the best as well.

You are right. PLAYERS watching film is overrated but a HEAD COACH watching film and going over it WITH HIS PLAYERS is NOT OVERRATED.

Lets face it Owen County football has been down for a while. So lets not act like Coach Hockensmith has brought the program down. Maybe this guy wants to do things different. So I say lets wait a nother year or 2 before we start blaming him for Owens struggling program.

Why shouldn't Owen blame him for the struggles that occurred this year? If what I am reading on these posts are correct, a head coach that doesn't get along with his assistants, a head coach that the players don't respect, a head coach that doesn't watch film with his players to make them better, a guy that doesn't require the kids to be in the weight room............those sound like great contributing factors for a program that was already "struggling" to go down the drain even faster, as it appears they did this year.

Coach Blackburn coached the defense. He did an awesome job. Even though he would get chewed out in front of the players.

He would get chewed out on the sidelines? Sounds like he was a cancer to me or was he one of those "coaches" that knew more than the head coach and therefore the head guy didn't like him?

I was told that the head coach never went over game film with the players. If the assistant coaches didn't do it, then it wouldn't have gotten done. Anytime that they were watching film, he was always doing something else. What could be more important during practice time, when your preparing for the next game, than to help your players by watching film? Is any of this true? If so, then the new AD better be looking to start interviewing ASAP.

Wait a minute.........so the head coach didn't watch film with his team? What in the world else could he have been doing while his assistants were watching film? What would have been more important than watching film and practice (I am concidering film as practice time)? Wow if this is true, I agree, the AD and administration should see this as a mojor red flag.

The head coach was 99.9% of the problem. He had no respect for his players or his assistants. Most of the kids and all of his assistants knew a lot more about football than he did, when they would try to talk to him or discuss things , he didn't want to listen. He had the talent but didn't utilize it. He never had the best 11 players on the field.

If this statement is indeed true.........that the head coach did not have the best 11 players on the field, that he did not respect the players or his assistants, and didn't listen to them (especially if they knew more than he did), then it sounds like to me the head coach is at fault for Owen Co.'s less than impressive season.

Does anyone know where this guy came from? Where did he play high school ball at (if he did play college ball)? Where did he play college ball at (if he did play college ball)? What gives the impression that his assistants had more football knowledge than him?

North Oldham will provide a tough game but Henry pulls it out and moves on to the next round.

Good luck Trimble! Hope you pull this one out but it will be a tough contest for you!

Lincoln moves on. Go Patriots!

Green Co. moves on!

From the games I watched this season it wasn't the athletes that were the problems. Owen seemed to have the athletes. The problem seemed to be play calling. Anytime you get down inside the 10 or 5 yard line you have to score. The games I saw, Owen had several oppertunities to score and didn't due to poor play calling and turnovers. Then it seemed as if they just went 3 and out everytime except those few successful drives. As a result their defense was on the field the majority of the time and seemed to get tired. Can't really comment on what the true issue at hand in Owen Co. is but if the head guy was in charge of the offense then he could be to blame for some of the losses. If he was in charge of the defense then kudos to him for having to have his players on the field the majority of the game.

I haven't heard much about Coach U but after an 0-10 season I bet Owen is wishing they could turn back time.

I don't know if they wish they could turn back time but I am sure that many don't want they guy they have now. After watching a few of their games it was clear to me that many in the stands were not happy with the man in charge. The attitude towards the head coach was nothing but negative and when I asked several Owen Co. people why they said that the program was not being run correctly. Many that I asked said that it wasnt an issue of wins and losses but an issue of how he treated not only the kids but the people within the coaching staff, school system, and community. I don't know really how much truth there is too this. I don't have any kids out there playing and the only reason I watched the games I saw was because love football, but if the head coach is treating people like dirt as the people I spoke to have indicated then something needs to change.

Same thing that happened in the last one.

So Owen got the ball and went 3 and out almost every time on offense and their defense didn't tackle? I see that Owen at least put some points on the board. Was is early or did this happen against DeSales freshmen team?

What in the world happen in this one?