beverlybubba

Mason's at the Georgetown College camp this weekend sans Smith, Moore and Menke. Playing pretty well though.

Mason County: OL Alex Newton (Georgetown) RB Troy Chenault DB/WR Xavia Shurn Corey Rogers (UT Martin) from George Rogers Clark

Indications are Mason is losing starters Smith (transferring), Menke, and Moore plus at least one other varsity player. Bracken has done what Mason has failed to do - develop talent and keep up morale. If Bracken keeps that up, they'll do fine. Hopefully, Akin can turn things around for Mason. But, it looks like tough year for Mason.

My daughter played for Walker at Mason County. I agree with you 110%, especially about the role model part.

Very.

It only gets worse from there.

I'm no Nicholas County fan, but for the sake of their girls and their school, I hope they found/find someone else.

LOL... But, you're probably correct.

I heard the Walker girl who had coached freshman at Mason County a couple of years ago got the job. Is this correct?

If she can keep hitting threes like that, she'll be in high demand by colleges. A good outside shot is critical in college for a girl her size.

Mason County has some pretty good athletes in football and basketball. Strictly speaking in terms of athleticism, Gilbert is the best of them all, better than Harris, Pawsatt, Setty, etc. His only drawback is size. If he had Harris' size, you'd have college recruiters in football and basketball beating the doors down.

I haven't seen Jason in about 3 weeks. The girls on the team that I've talked with don't know who the assistants will be. Open gym starts next week, maybe we'll here something then.

I have some other theories and thoughts but I'm not about to say them on a public forum. But, we'll see how it works out. I hope it works out well for the sake of the girls playing there right now. Otherwise, by the time it gets straightened out it will be too late for them.

I don't know. Just a thought. In some places, government employees have to live in the jurisdiction in which they work. If you work for the state of Kentucky or Ohio, you have to live within the state. Some cities and counties have the same requirement.

Haha. I know him only as "Rabbit". No I didn't grow up in Mason County but I've lived there and the surrounding area for 21 years. Yes, Brian would be an excellent coach. My daughter's played in the Mason County programs since third grade but Brian was never involved in any of her leagues or teams. He was probably too busy with his son. Last I checked Brian lived in Ohio. I used to live in the street next to his. I wonder if that mattered.

As I said before, basketball knowledge is easy to come by. Former Tennessee coach, Bruce Pearl, never played but made a pretty good coach. He'd still be at Tennessee if not fior NCAA violations, and some other indiscretions. Best coach I ever had was student teacher in the 8th grade who had never coached before. He went on to coach junior college 7 years, winning his conference every year. Seriously, I'm sure plenty of the applicants, maybe all, had the prerequisite knowledge. It's the instilling confidence, building team spirit, and getting them to play at 100% 100% of the time that makes the difference. Sounds like Appleman, et al see this in Akin.

Not sure who Brian Littleton is. Jason doesn't work in the school system and has work obligations outside the system. Did Jason apply? I assume Akin will teach and be there during school hours which Littleton and Butler wouldn't be. I think that makes a difference. If I was a principal or superentindent, I would want all my head coaches to be full-time employees of the school system. I'm not going say she's not the most qualified. That's yet to be proven. Pat Summit was originally hired as the assistant women's basketball coach at Tennessee. The woman originally hired as head coach left before they started playing or practicing (maybe). I seriously doubt that whomever that woman was, who was considered more qualified, would have come close to performing as well as Summit.

I'm thinking Akin had more time to devote to basketball than some of the others. My daughter played JV and freshman this past season. She said they all had a good first impression but want to see how it goes when practices start. I think player development can play a huge role. I don't feel Mason County has done a good job of that on the girl's side. Too much bad mouthing and not enough encouragement.

Not that I'd be calling for a firing, but you can tell a lot by a couple games especially since there's been plenty of practice time before then. Knowing the game is not that big of a deal. Everyone in the state of Kentucky knows more about basketball than I do. Just ask them. How a coach relates to and motivates the players makes the biggest difference. If a coach can't keep a team's morale high, motivate the players and instill enthusiasm, it won't matter much how well they know the game. When you read about great coaches, do they talk about the coaches technical knowledge? No, they talk about their ability to motivate and inspire their players.

No. Coaches and players get judged on just a couple of games all the time. Sometimes less. My son got scholarship offers from schools that never saw him play, but just a 5 minute highlight video and/or a 4 hour camp.

I'd like to see her coach a couple of games first.

Apparently she coached one year at Harrison and produced a much better season than expected.

It is Piper Akin from Harrison. 17-14 overall this past season.

That's the rumor I heard. I didn't want to put it out last night. The girls are supposed to find out at 10:00 this morning.

I guess we're just a bunch of nobodies then. Huh? Is any choice going to be popular with everyone? Tell me something I don't know.