realfanreturns

I guess that post just caught me by surprise, backing up and talking about the reasons Thacker took the job in Rowan I think that has been addressed. My sources tell me or talk about some things that made that decision a little easier. But I don't beleive we need to go there, but you did open the door. Then you talked about support, another interesting key word. Again from the people that I have talked to that word has some significance but this stuff is 2nd and 3rd hand so I won't mention details that I have not heard myself. But again you need to hope your people at SHS stays away from familiar local or the transition process may be different than some anticipate.

Coach Thacker will be missed.

He chose to go to Rowan for his family and to be near his family.

Link http://www.somerset-kentucky.com/archivesearch/local_story_140202421.html

 

Rowan Co. has made a good hire.

 

The new coach at Somerset, whether a familiar name or someone from outside the 12th region, deserves our total support.

LOL, this is another interesting post. There is a lot of people out there with their ears open, and saying things about this situation, A LOT. Sounds like someone has heard the same thing I have and is trying to mend some bridges. Best thing I can say is a familiar name is fine, but you will be making a mistake if is a local familiar name. Actually LMAO.

I agree with your post. It is very well said.

 

My point of emphasis is that the volunteer coaches have done the vast majority of the coaching and skill development of these talented young players..... Not actual school coaches and that is what this thread was about. The hiring of a new coach and staff.

 

The success is good. It is my opinion the the success has been despite hired staff. It is a thankless job. I know that.

 

Thank goodness for the knowledgable and hard working volunteer coaches that have given the children the opportunity to compete on a statewide basis and improve. They are to be commended. Townsend, Lynch, Gover, Speer these are the guys that have put their time and effort into the development of the kids.

 

I wish for success of the Northern, Meece and Southern programs and Northern andd Southern have turned the corner I think. Pulaski county is a special place.... all three teams should be successful.

 

Somerset will have an interesting transition. They have several kids 6th thru 9th that are special kids athletically and personally. They have good character and tremendous work habits as they come from good families.

 

The Somerset program has an opportunity here and will make the most of it.

I agree with most of what you are saying, but it still appears that you sound like an unhappy parent. From what I am hearing the Meece Middle Coaches have not done that bad. A couple of years ago Coach Meece had a group that went undefeated, Coach Spear has had two successful seasons, I have not heard any complaints about Sowder or Whitaker, and Gover sat on the bench with Sowder. So two of the people you commended was also involved with the MS program. I have also been told they made changes in the schedule to play more quality teams. So really the post does not have alot of merit. And honestley how much can any middle school program do for development, most teams play for two months (Dec - Jan), about 20 games not much time for practice once games start, we have to remember they are still students. So what are we looking for? They really are getting what they need by keeping a ball in there hands, most of there development has to come from them as individual wanting to get better.

Southern has yet to prove that to be completely correct, although they have had some success, they still haven't won at the high school level with those kids. They probably will.

I think the youth coaches 4-8 at Somerset have done a very nice job based on their aau and middle school state tournament success. Yes, they have alot of talent but they have also had a tremendous amount of success. It really remains to be seen what these terriffic young groups of players in the Somerset area will be when it counts. I personally think the people at all 3 Somerset area middle schools are doing a good job. I just wonder if middle school success translates into trips to Rupp Arena. We will all know soon enough.

One other thought, middle school coaches do develope players, but players have to have a passion for the game in order to reach their maximum potential. Some parents have it, while their child might not. All GREAT players have a burning passion to play and they will make it no matter how they are coached at the middle school level. If you spend enough time playing, you can make yourself a player with very little help and if you are good enough, the coach IS going to let you play.

Thank you, it could not have been said better

If you think that the Meece program has developed those boys you are incorrect. The Meece program the last three years has been the keystone cops overall. Great talent put in their lap and with only one exception no instructional coaching to speak of. Teams that really should have lost one or two games losing many more.

 

There is a school of thought that you put your second best coach in the program at the middle school level so that when they get to high school they are fundamentally sound. I subscribe to this.

 

I have seen it work wonders over at southern middle the last two years as far as teaching their boys how to play.

 

You are on the outside looking in.:thumb:

I had to call someone at this late hour to check on this to make sure I was posting accurate information. So as far as program development Somerset hands down has done more with the Somerset Future Program then either one of the other local middle school. And I am not sure which year you are referring two but last year Meece played a very rough schedule and all there teams had winning records, including the 8th grade which was not expected to do as well. It sounds more like you have issues with the coaching staff. It is easy for us to sit back and have all the answers. The fact of the matter is from watching the programs progress, from the 9th down to the 5th grade no team in the area has put more effort into developing kids than Somerset. In fact most of those kids are known by name at the KBA. You may be the one on the outside, with an axe to grind against the coaches.

You are gonna be disappointed. :sssh:

I wont be disappointed, but the Somerset program will be, as they will be the ones hurt by what many do not think would be a good decision. But maybe the people making the decisions think it is worth the risk. If that is indeed what they choose to do.

Wow...just wow.

 

Some of your points are spot but the rest...well... not so much. I would love to elaborate on my OPINIONS of the situation but need to stay nuetral. Been around this game a little while and SOME people have seen this train wreck coming a long time.

 

While I wish Coach Thacker the absolute best, and there is good yet drastically underdeveloped talent in the school system it will take a magician to finish above .500 next year.

I really don't think that you actually made a point with this post. No one expects Somerset to be very good next year, they will be really young only returning 2 seniors, one of which did not see much varsity actions. But as far as developing young talent in the area the Somerset/Meece programs appear to be ahead of the other two.

I can't say right now. My source about the interviews is a sure thing but they wouldn't tell me who until after the interviews and although I have a good idea, I'm not for sure so I'm not going to take a chance on it being wrong.

From what I am hearing the Somerset fans are hoping they are interviewing coaches that are not recycled goods from the area.

Coach Jones as in McCreary Central?

 

McCreary Central will be dominant next season. They lose their scrappyness, but gain athletic size and ability. Watts will tear it up and Roark won't be far behind. Look for players like John Chitwood, a post player, to really start doing some damage and he has developed an automatic outside shot. This team could be much better than last seasons. Let's just hope the can get it done.

Yes.

We've heard that before....I would not be making any reservations quite yet as alot can happen in 6 years. Some of those kids your counting on may be back in the schools they were in 6 years ago.

Amen, I was going to respond the that post myself. That is the kind of post that creates unrealistic visions. There appears to be a lot of rumbling around the Somerset Program right now, and it is nice to be neutral. That young talent you speak of has lost two very important pieces of the puzzle already. One going with his Dad to Rowan. Ask the folks at Wayne County how he looked a couple of weeks ago when he played with them in Danville. And the other is over at Northern Middle. Now I am not sure how deep that talent runs there, but from what I hear the coaches son may have been the best on that 6th grade bunch last year. And the kid going to Nortern I hear will play freshman PC for them next year. From what I hear depending on how this shakes out they could lose the young PG that they have been grooming. And whos to say it will stop there. Now all of a sudden the sweet 16 does not look so realistic. Rumors has it that the loss of Thaker has come with mixed emotions and may not have been the move Somerset Fans really wanted.

You need to get your facts straight. Payne is an assistant for Tennessee Tech not ETSU. Their record was horrible this year and the whole coaching staff at Tennessee Tech is losing their jobs. Steve Payne would not be a good hire. Just because you coach college basketball does not mean you would be a good high school coach.

I don't beleive I said anything about how good a fit or how good he would be. But I do beleive that being from outside that area with no ties to the community would make him a better fit then anyone locally. Sorry I put the wrong Tennessee school.

Steve Payne ia a Russell Co. native. Played there and at Union. Has been college asst.for the past few years at Georgetown College and ETSU. Steve is the son of Bob Payne who was the last coach of Liberty High School,Casey County during their best years in the 70's, then at Russell Co.

Just a rumor, thats all.

Steve Payne is interested, and three others who are coaching or have coached in the region before.

If the three others are the same names that I have heard, Somerset fans need to hope Payne and Jackson are still out there and interested. As I said earlier someone local is not what that program needs. I am sure no one beleived me earlier when I said some of the young talent may be leaving, well the one to Northern Middle happened. And there seems to be a pretty big rumor surrounding another young athlete rumored to go to Wayne, it appears now that Coach Jones or Shultz may get a gift.

There are starting to be some rumors that they may be looking at someone local. And it is not Coach Kinney. I think that anyone local could be a mistake. They come with to many ties.

You know I have heard a couple of those rumors myself, but they seem very hard to beleive. Not many big name coaches in the 12th Region. Which one would be looking to move and for what reason?

I have heard that Coach Thacker is taking the coaching job at Rowan Co. It is unfortunate that he is leaving, but I wish him the best of luck. It should be interesting to see who puts in for the Somerset job. There is a lot of young talent at Somerset!

It will be very interesting what happens in Somerset. I have heard some rumors that some of the young talent may not stick around. I do not know any of those kids or families personally but rumors have one at Wayne County and one at Northern Middle.

I could see them winning the 12th again. After all their only competition will be Danville, Burgin and Monticello. Those 3 teams were really bad this season and could have been beaten by a lot of JV teams. However, I don't see any way that Somerset is any threat to do anything in Richmond.

Anything can happen once the 16 teams hit Richmond, they may get a good draw, and who knows who will upset who. I think you will see a different kind of Jumper Team in 2009. They may not be a real threat in 2009 due to there youth and lack of varsity experience, but you know they do get older.

How many do they have back who actually had varsity minutes? I think it's usually a bad idea to keep 10 seniors.

Lets not worry about the 10 seniors at this point, the past is the past, remember we are talking about 2009. Actually it is mute point to talk about the amount of significant varsity minutes that any of the underclassman had in 2008. It is my understanding that their JV and Freshman team was pretty competitive with other 12th Region opponents. They will be ready.

Somerset graduated 10 seniors from this year's team. They'll be lucky to keep their streak of All A 12th Region Titles going and even if they do they won't be a factor in Richmond.

I think you might underestimate the impact that the streak will have on next years team. No team wants to be the one that ends the streak. I think those young jumpers will be plenty strong enough to make it back to Richmond, and once you get there who, knows.

Great Job South, the guys in stripes had nothing to do with this game. Down the stretch the Cards played tough defense and 31 took over. Corbin took some bad shots when they were up by 8 and 6 in the last four minutes. They played like they were down.

Good point Jumper Mom, I don't like mentioning people name, but you are correct in you assessment. And yes John Cole could of helped, but you know you have to make the best out of what you have, and the Jumpers did that. Or fans need to be proud of them and there Coach. Look at some of the team they had to play this year. They did not duck anyone along the ride.

Slink and Coach Kinney both make good points. I to beleive that the jumpers were a point guard away from being a different team. Their point actually played out of position all year, he is a much better 2 or 3. And you are right Somerset will be a little down next year, but things look pretty good around the horizon. But just how good they be will depend on a few varibles.

I am picking LC, that senior point guard knows how to get the job done. They have good leadership. No disrespect to West, i think it will be a good game. I just believe LC is the stronger team.

First of all Congratulations to all the teams that played tonight, two pretty good games. Both teams who won exposed the weaknesses of their opponents. Both Somerset and PC faught hard just could not get over the hump at curcial points in the game.

Thats a good question FBF15, I beleive Warrior 69 is being sarcastic...picking at those arm chair coaches that always have all the answers. Us real fans understand Thack not coming back would be a big mistake for the Jumpers.

LC is definitly the team to beat, the favored and rightfully so. As I said on the other thread, there is a lot of parity this year in the 12 Region. They can't overlook PC, Coach Flynn will have them ready to play. Real Fans south of the county line definitly respect the pats.