CoachJ

Thanks, Pikevillefan. Was tough not to vote for Coach Mac for overall COY, but what Smith (and Wolfe) did with their team's defenses all year holding opponents to less than a score a game was impossible to vote against.

No problem. Fortunately between the many All_State lists (another one came out today) the most deserving kids eventually get recognized.

Yes, "self-grading" is us watching each play of our own players from the previous Friday's game. Takes a lot of our Saturdays...Saturday night and Sunday more for watching the next team we are to play. I certainly don't think all coaches do things the way our staff does. But even if they don't, I'd still wager that they don't spend much time 'just watching' both teams they get scout film on. Especially on week 14 when there's no chance whatsoever you'd play any other team but the one you play next. As to my ballot, sure. I go strictly by what it asks (vote for the best you've SEEN -- I always wait til after I watch the state finals so that's why there are quite a few not from my area). To another's point, I can totally see how most coaches ONLY have guys from their area--it's not 'regional bias,' it's doing what is asked on the sheet from Jason F.). OFFENSE WR - Connor Carrico, Trinity WR - Ethan Britt, Male OL - Heistand, Trinity OL - Isaiah Arnold, Male OL - Cole Bentley, Belfry OL - Landon Young, Lafayette OL - Logan Coleman, Pikeville QB - Walker Wood, Lafayette RB - Devin Gentry, Male RB - Daric Pugh, Pikeville RB - Mason Alstatt, Lafayette K - Tyler Pack, Johnson Central DEFENSE DL - Jacob Wilde, South Warren DL - Conner Foos, Trinity DL - Cole Bentley, Belfry DL - Tony Smyzer, Male LB - Devante Colton, South Warren LB - Jake New, Pulaski Co. LB - Zach Hall, Male LB - Damon Lowe, Trinity DB - Demetrius Holt, Male DB - Rodjae Burns, Trinity DB - Bryan Cummings, South Warren P - DeSales punter (but I honestly never saw a better, more consistent punter all year than our kid -- Jake Ramsey) Top coach in your class (please do not vote for yourself) - Chris Wolfe, Male Top coach in entire state (please do not vote for yourself) - Brandon Smith, South Warren Your name and school - Mike Jackson, Ballard

When we watch film of the team we're going to play, 100% of the time and effort (many hours of our weekend which also must include grading our own players' most recent game) goes into watching the team we're going to play. 0% goes into watching the team they are playing. There are only 48 hours to get all our self-grading and scouting report on next opponent done...why would I spend time trying to see who is good on some team we'll never see? And why would he have seen 'more than one' film on SK? Only film relevant to him was their game against Lafayette since he already knew that's who he'd be playing.

Jason's right...no list is perfect. And it's a LOT of work to compile so kudos to him for what he does. The instructions say for us to "vote for the best player you've seen at each position" but very few actually do that from coaches I've talked to. Many send out emails to the coaches' list serve promoting those we feel deserve it most, but there are so many of them it would take a lot of time and effort to compare all the kids listed. There's definite 'vote-trading' that goes on between coaches who are long-time friends (and why not, since it's set up the way it is). There's also 'bloc-voting' that some parts of the state engage in--encouraging many (all?) members of their area association to vote for a particular list made up of kids from their geographical area. Again, I'm not saying this is wrong and it's perfectly understandable given the parameters of the team. Personally, I'd like to see a MERGER of the C-J All-State (easily the most historically significant), the AP (the least accurate in my opinion due to so few voters throughout the state), and the BGP (to me the most accurate b/c it gathers passionate HS football people from around the state who weigh stats, importance to team, and other objective/non-objective factors). Not sure how it would be done logistically, but I'd love to see a group of distinguished former HS coaches get together every December (at State Finals?) to watch film of nominees and give their input.

There is exactly one main reason the Wing-T has stood the test of time in high school football (and is still a winning offense in states like Florida & Georgia w/ great athletes & spread offenses all around): ...its adaptability to whatever athletes you get from one year to the next. Without completely overhauling your offense, it allows you to be an option team, run-first team, or passing team if talent dictates it. Best of all, if a class or two of less-talent comes through, you can base what you do on misdirection or option--allowing you to have success without having to win every one-on-one battle up front. Above all, I like that every D-Coordinator I've worked with always cusses it when they have to prepare.

To your GREAT point, I believe a good football program should be about developing the WHOLE athlete. So it must be COMPREHENSIVE, well-planned, and supervised by the entire staff...this allows the position coaches to evaluate their position players all year seeing improvement and being able to rate all the guys at their position. Emphasizing they are evaluated all year long makes the players at each position more accountable and keeps them from crying that you "play your favorites" when one kid gets more chances in the first few weeks of practice to earn playing time than the one who maybe wasn't as 'present' during the off-season. The following is from the off-season handbook we developed with the help of a lot of people a lot smarter than me (if anyone would want the full overview including strength, core, agility/quickness, plyometrics, linear speed, and flexibility training you can DM me and I'll send it to you). * COMBAT/COMPETITION-training. I honestly don't care what it is between wrestling (we call it 'rasslin' since there are fewer rules), judo, or boxing (as the allowed us to do in Pikeville), but I think there needs to be an element of man-to-man, hand-to-hand combat sometime during the winter when going outside to do football-specific drills are less-likely. You will learn more about the "fight-strength" in your athletes you could ever get from just crunching lift-max numbers. Think of that player you've coached who was "Tarzan" in the weight room, but played like Jane between the lines because the strength they developed never carried over. An important element to this that has carry-over to the practice field is to REQUIRE that they fight as hard as possible to beat their teammate/opponent (just as we want them to do in pre-season practice when trying to beat out a teammate for a starting spot) but that at the end, no matter how heated it got during the 'fight,' they must fight within the rules and at the end show respect to the other. Just as during the season they must first view their teammates as competition for playing time but then see them as TEAMMATES once the depth chart has been developed. This 'fighting phase' is from January through the middle of February. As the basketball season draws to an end and we start to gain more access to the gym, this moves to more competitions involving agility and more 'group vs. group' than the earlier individual contests -- this is when we start emphasizing that the "individual fight" they developed to win battles on the mat is only important as it relates to helping their TEAM/GROUP win the overall war.

Funny. Reminds me of when I'd go out in the state and everybody assumed I played for "Corbin County."

Not sure what this means. "Grab starters?" "Between 4 and 8?" Whatever it means, the fact remains that there's a greater chance to get kids (whether they be transfers or incoming freshmen) into a school that's UNDER-capacity than one OVER-capacity. Remember, it's not the school's decision; it is the Board's decision who gets in to your school and who doesn't. If your Principal is saying they don't have room for more students, the Board isn't going to send one your way just because he runs a great 40-yard-dash.

The difference is Ballard is over-capacity (nearly 2,000 students) while Waggener isn't.

Ballard is a great head football coaching job. Kids leave academically ready for college, your teaching schedule (though a full-load) is primarily kids who are respectful and well-behaved, and there's a good number of athletes who live in the resides area. In addition the AD allows you to run your program the way you think you should (a HUGE plus) and while we all wish we had a turf field and indoor practice bubble, the facilities are adequate. However, to say we could "get who we wanted" is not the case. Because we are over-capacity as a school, if a student outside our network wanted to come to Ballard they had to submit a form to the BOARD stating there was a legitimate (non-athletic, non-academic) reason it was better for them to be at Ballard than their home school/network. And the decision about who gets in is made at the BOARD level -- the school gets virtually no say like they did in days gone by. Even if they DID get in, they'd have to figure out how to get to school (and home as well as there's not usually an 'activity bus'). We had a kid who was arguably the best athlete in the 9th grade in Jefferson County told us he'd applied and got in, but 1st day of school said he would not be coming due to transportation issues. Similar situation happened with DeMichael Jackson--now starting RB at SEMO--back in '09. In basketball it's not as big an issue because you might need to get 2-3 'out-of-network' kids per class...but football requires greater numbers so you need more like 10-12 of those kids per year. Being in district with Trinity isn't a huge negative -- got to play them eventually and I think you'll only be able to compete with them if you play them at all levels over several years so your kids and coaches learn their way of doing things. What's TOUGH is having to be cross-district from St. X, Manual, Male, PRP, and Butler. That means your first round is going to be tough--even if you win the district, the 2nd round and 3rd rounds will be against two top-3 6A teams in back-to-back weeks. Not impossible, but you'd better have linemen STACKED in all 3 of your top classes to survive (getting skilled players hasn't been an issue; getting the QUANTITY of linemen needed has). All that being said, the potential is there--we've beaten Male, got within a point of X, and a lost to Trinity by 7 when they both had really good teams. But to go from being competitive to beating the top 3, one must be willing to 'beat the bushes' and convince kids (i.e., make 13-year-olds and their daddies 'feel the love,' something admittedly I wasn't want to do) and their parents to apply, hope they get in (not automatic like in the early 2000's when Principals got a say), then figure out a way to convince them to transport their kid daily (some parents refuse to let their 14-year-old son ride public transportation--something I totally understand). Further, I would hope it's also a good job because the seeds are planted with kids who understand about working a full off-season on agility/speed/quickness/toughness, the importance of film watching, and numbers in each class above 25. Mainly it's that there are TREMENDOUS kids to work with--not to mention a great PARENT organization that has been nothing but supportive of me the whole time I've been here.

Yeah, but their COACH doesn't graduate. My guess is they'll be right in the mix.

Okay...I couldn't resist! (this one bugs me too) However, I've had other coaches who do this kind of thing say they do it when they know a DC puts his strength to the FIELD even when you put your offensive strength to the BOUNDARY...so you therefore have a numbers advantage even though you only have 18yds of space to work with. Given this scenario, I can see doing it IF you have a superior run game vs. their run-D AND you're running off-tackle as opposed to running wide. If I DO run though, it's going to be some kind of misdirection like an inside reverse (a base play for us) that always has the potential to be a big play. Even with those scenarios at play, I'm almost always going to have a pass play (or a SLOW SCREEN if I'm worried about a pick) I trust to get 7 on 3rd more than a straightforward or even misdirection run play.

Good idea on this thread. ...but I'm not touching it with a 10-foot pole! (especially one where I might have to second-guess guys better than me like Beatty/Coverdale!) But I will say this...:popcorn:

Great job Panthers...congrats to Coaches Mac, Salyers, Huff and SNAB! Looking forward to watching you bring back ANOTHER one back to the original "title-town."

Good point. Backs up why it would be MUCH better for Kentucky to do what they do in some states and have Semis at neutral sites. My preference would be at stadiums of FCS or NAIA/D2 schools both east and west... * EKU or MOREHEAD for Eastern Regions * MURRAY or LINDSEY-WILSON for Western Regions have games Friday for classes whose state championships would be on the following Friday and Saturday for those.

Would be all for this in Kentucky. I like all teams getting 10 games, but I'm against anyone having 15 games. I'm against starting games in mid August. I'm against 4th place teams vs. 1st place first round blowouts.

Sorry about that. Is it essentially the same program now as it was back then?

I never had a doubt Malik would be special on the gridiron. Great athleticism but also great character kid. Played for us on the freshman team before transferring--was SO glad to hear he went back to football this year...especially knowing the great coaching he'd be getting. Hope he sticks with football as I see a kid with great potential at the next level.

One must understand the lay of the land in Jefferson County to get why Manual has such great potential. 1) Jeff. Co. is the most talent-rich area of the state. 2) Only 4 JCPS schools have the opportunity to accept students from any part of the county and provide them bus transportation: Male, Manual, Butler, and Central. Of those, Male and Butler are "traditional" meaning they are supposed to only take kids who went to one of 3 "traditional" middle schools (though there are ways others can get accepted). The rest of us basically get the kids who live in our 'resides area.' 3) Manual is ranked as one of the highest academic-achieving schools in Ky. because of the high caliber of their magnet programs. Add to that they've recently added a program ("High School University") that can accept kids not in their Math/Science/Technology, Visual Arts, Journalism, or Performing Arts magnets and it really opens the door to many of the best athletes in the county. Kids graduating from there whether in a magnet or the "HSU" get a diploma from "Manual High School" -- one of the top schools in the state. Pretty nice thing to be able to tell a parent who wants the best for their kid. Has helped them pull some of the better kids recently that you might usually see go to a private school (pretty good pitch: come to maybe the best academic HS in the state and save $10K a year). Another plus to a lot of coaches is that your Principal would be a former head football coach (Jerry Mayes).

One of the toughest but most important jobs we have as a HS coach is recruiting...and by that I mean kids in your school. For many of us, it's the only 'recruiting' we can really do and must therefore take full advantage. Yes, sometimes you're going to have to go after kids your players think are 'soft' or 'lazy' or have some other negative...but that's what the OFF-SEASON is to figure out. If a kid we've tried to get play all off-season waits until the summer or spring practice to come out, we make sure he gets the LAST opportunity to win a job. The importance of recruiting the halls is also why it's necessary to have assistant coaches in the building. This is something very often not understood by administrators who aren't really aware of the ins and outs of football.

We do a written anonymous evaluation that asks for things like: 'Were there issues on the team the coaches wouldn't have known about that hindered our success?' ...we tell them to feel free to name names and be specific about the issues; then we bring these up when we do 'prescription' meetings. 'Which coach did you feel taught football the best?' 'Which coach do you feel needs the most improvement?' 'Which underclass player would you most want... '...with you in a street fight?' '...to help you study for a test?' '...to get you to work your hardest in the weight room?' "Name 5 kids in this school who didn't play football this year we need for next year." I ask the coaches to do a 'strengths/weaknesses' for each player at their position which I then turn into a "prescription." I write out what is needed from them between December and Spring Practice to give them the best chance to win their position and meet with them for 3-5 minutes going over the highlights. Usually will involve something about weight gain/loss, areas to focus on for specific strength training outside what we do as a team, skill work needed (pass catching, long snapping, etc.), and academics.

Came on here to post respectful comments about T's coaches AND players after being taken to the woodshed. To say a team plays above the level of their aggregate talent is, I thought, one of the biggest compliments one could pay to both that team's coaches AND players. Am very sorry it was taken as anything but a compliment. Rather than pick at nits, I'll go back to work on us and refrain from any further comments. Good luck the rest of the year.

Meant zero disrespect toward the KIDS at Trinity. They assuredly are VERY good 'football players' even though they won't empirically have the number of D1 signees as they have on their past teams. Shocked actually it was taken in any other way...meant only to emphasize how great a job their coaches do getting their very good kids to do what they know needs to get done.

Not the most "talented" Trinity team I've seen--that's NOT meant as an insult--because it's maybe one of the best T teams I've ever seen execute vs. one of mine. Have had many good battles with them over the years...but this one was over immediately. They had theirs ready and I didn't have mine ready despite weeks of hard preparation. To get more out of less is the sign of a well-coached team. "Well"-coached is an understatement about what happened last night. Their kids and supporters are fortunate to have what they have there. Going to be interesting to see how the rest of the season plays out--fortunately on our end, while I can't say the same about our 'supporters,' I know our kids won't quit and they'll work hard to improve on our mistakes going forward.